Giggs backs Hospice walk

Report by Gemma Thompson

Ryan Giggs recently took time out to lend his support to a special Midnight Walk in aid of the East Cheshire Hospice.

The United winger, who is a patron for the charity, met hospice patients and staff at the launch of the event which takes place on Saturday 12 September 2009 starting at midnight. The 10k roundtrip walk will begin at Macclesfield Leisure Centre and pass through Prestbury and Tytherington.

Last year's walk raised over £72,000 and Giggs is urging people to get involved and help generate even more funds for the charity.

"The £72,000 raised last year went towards the cost of Phase 1 of the fantastic new development at the hospice which I was very proud to officially open a few weeks ago," said Ryan. "I’d encourage everyone to get their boots on this year to raise even more money."

Over 570 people took part in the 2008 walk and the charity are hoping to hit the 1000 mark this time round with the aim of raising in excess of £100,000.

"Fancy dress is very much encouraged and there will be a prize for the best outfit. We want to make it a real party atmosphere," added Chief Executive Jayne Bessant.

08/09 Review: Giggs

Form is temporary, and class is permanent. When the two collide, it's a special blend...

Slaloming through the midfield minefield rather than scorching the touchline turf, a re-invented Ryan Giggs played a major role in United’s success in 2008/09. His displays oozed the class and craft honed by 18 years at the top and earned him the PFA Player of the Year award.

From start to finish: It’s little surprise Sir Alex carefully considered his use of English football’s most decorated son, given that Giggsy's in his mid-30s. But it says much for Giggs’ enduring importance that he featured in some of the biggest games. The Welshman lined up against Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal for the umpteenth times, and was consistently influential, playing a big role in his, and United's, 11th Premier League title.

In position: Sir Alex re-purposed Giggs in centre midfield or a roaming role behind a lone striker. With his knowledge of exploiting space, and fitness levels befitting of one half his age, Ryan was a revelation.


Season highlight: The Welshman was magnificent in January’s win over Chelsea at OT. Handed a surprise start alongside Darren Fletcher, Giggs and his younger peer ran rings around the Blues’ midfield trio, Michael Ballack, John Obi Mikel and Frank Lampard, laying the foundations for a resounding 3-0 win.

Vital contribution: At West Ham in February, he was only back on the wing because of corner-taking duties but, when Paul Scholes drilled a crossfield pass his way, Ryan reverted to type by out-foxing two defenders, making his way into the box and drilling home a vital winner in one of the season's toughest away games... right-footed, no less.

Any lows: Nitpicking perhaps, but Ryan won’t have enjoyed being dispossessed by Javier Mascherano for Liverpool’s winner at Anfield. But hey, he’s still well in credit!

Any other business: The club appearances record goes on with Giggsy passing the 800 mark against Arsenal in April. With his contract extended, who knows how far he can go?

www.manutd.com










Legends Profile
Ryan Giggs

Born:29 Nov 1973
Signed:09 Jul 1990
Debut:02 Mar 1991 v Everton (H) League
Goals Total:148
Appearances Total:805
Position:Midfielder

Ryan Giggs has made more appearances and won more honours than any other United player in the club's illustrious history.

He surpassed Sir Bobby Charlton's previous record (of 758 matches) on the night he helped the Reds secure a third European Cup triumph - the second of his career - in Moscow on 21 May 2008.

United's most decorated player might never have graced Old Trafford, however, had it not been for Sir Alex Ferguson’s intervention. Cardiff-born Giggs was attending Manchester City's School of Excellence in his early teens, but Sir Alex made a personal visit to his house on

his 14th birthday and Ryan jumped at the chance to sign for his boyhood favourites.

Ryan turned professional at United in November 1990 and made his league debut in the old Division One against Everton at Old Trafford on 2 March 1991 as a substitute for Denis Irwin. His first league start in 1991/92 also proved a memorable occasion, as he also scored his first ever United goal that day (albeit via a huge deflection off Colin Hendry) in a 1-0 win over Manchester City.

Giggs' first senior trophy arrived in November 1991 as United beat Red Star Belgrade in the European Super Cup final - Giggs was a 71st minute substitute for Lee Martin. The Welshman picked up his second winners' medal of the campaign five months later as the Reds beat Nottingham Forest in the League Cup final. The following season, 1992/93, saw Giggs and United win the inaugural Premier League title.

Ryan was an integral part of two Double-winning sides, in 1993/94 and 1995/96, before going one better in 1998/99 by adding the European Cup to the FA Cup and Premier League trophy. His contributions to the Treble-winning campaign included a superb solo goal to win the FA Cup semi-final replay against Arsenal at Villa Park, commonly regarded

as one of United's greatest goals of all time.

Ryan celebrated 10 years at Old Trafford with a testimonial match against Celtic in 2001/02. A year later he bagged his 100th career goal in the 2-2 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and became only the second-ever player to play 700 games for United when he helped the Reds to a dramatic 1-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield in March 2007. Two months later, he became a league title winner for the ninth time, beating the record of eight championship medals held by Liverpool legends Phil Neal and Alan Hansen.

In the interests of prolonging his club career at the highest level, Ryan retired from international football with Wales in June 2007 after 64 games and 12 goals. In October 2007, he extended his United contract to June 2009.

December 2007 brought two landmark achievements - Ryan was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) for his services to football and he scored his 100th league career goal in the 4-0 victory over Derby County at Old Trafford.

Ryan crowned the epic 2007/08 season, his 18th in United's first team, by scoring the Reds' second goal in the final day league win at Wigan and slotting home what proved to be

the decisive penalty in the Champions League final shoot-out in Moscow.

Giggs' career continued with a flourish during 2008/09 as he enjoyed a new role in the United team. Leaving the left flank where he made his name as a flying winger, he adopted a more central position in midfield or just off the main striker. His importance to the cause was recognised yet again in February 2009 when he agreed another one-year extension to keep him at Old Trafford until June 2010. In that same month he became the only player to score in every Premier League season from 1992/93 to 2008/09, when he netted in United's 1-0 win at West Ham.

Blog: Don't buy big, develop

I've seen a lot of people on the Talking Reds message board saying we should sign superstar players such as Ribery, Kaka, Messi, Benzema and Huntelaar, among others. I disagree.

Apart from the current financial situation, I feel there is another reason that we shouldn't bother trying to sign any of them - our history. United has a history of developing great players rather than buying them at their peaks.

David Beckham, George Best, Bobby Charlton, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville are all great examples of players who came through the Old Trafford youth system, while signings such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney were bought very early in their careers and have been well trained by Sir Alex and his coaching staff to become world-class players.

On the other hand, Juan Sebastian Veron is just one quick example of a player bought at a high price who failed to live up to expectations. Andriy Shevchenko (Milan to Chelsea), Michael Owen (Real Madrid to Newcastle) and Robbie Keane (Tottenham to Liverpool) are examples of what can happen when a big name transfers to another club in their prime, only to be an absolute flop.

United have traditionally produced - and are still more than capable of producing - world-class players. One of the reasons why Sir Matt Busby is regarded as one of our greatest managers of all time is due to the fact that he could develop a great young squad. Had Munich never happened, his Babes might have become the greatest squad of all time.

More recently, six of the Champions League final squad members in 1999 were from the youth system - seven if you count Paul Scholes who was suspended. Last year's Champions League final squad had five youth-team graduates. So probably our three most talented squads ever - Sir Alex's European champions (x 2) plus the Busby Babes - have all featured a significant presence of "home-grown" players.

With our current squad, guys such as Macheda, Welbeck, Gibson, Rafael, Fabio, Tosic, Ljajic, Evans, Petrucci and Possebon could all become players who develop to perhaps the same level as guys such as Giggs, Scholes and Neville, who they may replace.

I don't see the need to spend a ridiculous amount of money on someone like Kaka, Ribery, Messi, Huntelaar, Benzema or David Villa, when they may in fact play below the level expected of them.

I also think that by developing players, they go through the early stages of their career learning how United play, and they can tweak their playing style accordingly. When you buy a star player, you buy their playing style and as they are that bit older, it's harder for them to adjust their game to what is best for United.

So I say don't buy big this summer, keep developing players instead.
The views expressed in this blog are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Manchester United FC.

11. Ryan Giggs

The only surprise about Ryan Giggs being named PFA Player's Player of the Year in April 2009 was that it had taken so long for him to win the prestigious award.

After all, he'd previously received countless other individual gongs - including the PFA Young Player award twice in his early career - not to mention more team honours than any other United player in the club's illustrious history.

Ryan is also the Reds' record appearance-maker; he surpassed Sir Bobby Charlton's 758 on the night he helped the Reds secure a third European Cup triumph - his second - in Moscow on 21 May 2008.


United's most decorated player might never have graced Old Trafford, however, had it not been for Sir Alex Ferguson’s intervention. Cardiff-born Giggs was attending Manchester City's School of Excellence in his early teens, but Sir Alex made a personal visit to his house on his 14th birthday and Ryan jumped at the chance to sign for his boyhood favourites.

Ryan turned professional at United in November 1990 and made his league debut in the old Division One against Everton at Old Trafford on 2 March 1991 as a substitute for Denis Irwin. His first league start in 1991/92 also proved a memorable occasion, as he also scored his first ever United goal that day (albeit via a huge deflection off Colin Hendry) in a 1-0 win over Manchester City.

Giggs' first senior trophy arrived in November 1991 as United beat Red Star Belgrade in the European Super Cup final - Ryan came on for Lee Martin. He picked up his second winners' medal five months later as the Reds beat Nottingham Forest in the League Cup final. The following season, 1992/93, saw Giggs and United win the inaugural Premier League title.

Ryan was an integral part of two Double-winning sides, in 1993/94 and 1995/96, before going one better in 1998/99

by adding the European Cup to the FA Cup and Premier League trophy. His contributions to the Treble-winning campaign included a superb solo goal to win the FA Cup semi-final replay against Arsenal at Villa Park, commonly regarded as one of United's greatest ever goals.

Ryan celebrated 10 years at Old Trafford with a testimonial match against Celtic in 2001/02. A year later he bagged his 100th career goal in the 2-2 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and became only the second-ever player to play 700 games for United when he helped the Reds to a dramatic 1-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield in March 2007. Two months later, he became a league title winner for the ninth time, beating the record of eight championship medals held by Liverpool legends Phil Neal and Alan Hansen.

In the interests of prolonging his club career at the highest level, Ryan retired from international football with Wales in June 2007 after 64 games and 12 goals. In October 2007, he extended his United contract to June 2009.

December 2007 brought two landmark feats - Ryan was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) for his services to football and he scored his 100th league career goal in the 4-0 home win over Derby County.


Ryan crowned the epic 2007/08 season, his 18th in United's first team, by scoring the Reds' second goal in the last-day league win at Wigan and slotting home what proved to be the decisive penalty in the Champions League final shoot-out.

Giggs' career continued with a flourish during 2008/09 when he adopted a more central position in midfield or just off the main striker. He extended his contract by another year in February 2009, effective to the end of 2009/10. In that same month he became the only player to score in every Premier League season when he netted in United's 1-0 win at West Ham.

Giggs determined to bounce back

Ryan Giggs said "big teams have disappointments but they bounce back" after FC Barcelona outplayed Manchester United FC to usurp the Red Devils as champions of Europe.

Bright start
United started strongly at the Stadio Olimpico and Cristiano Ronaldo had three attempts on goal before Samuel Eto'o broke the deadlock against the run of play in the tenth minute. "Barcelona scored out of nothing and we didn't really recover after that," said Giggs. "Once they go 1-0 ahead they are the best in the business at keeping the ball and they can make teams look ordinary. We had chances in the second half, and if one of those would have gone in it's a different game."

'Fantastic season'
Instead the second goal went to Lionel Messi, the impish Argentinian finding space behind the United defence to loop a head over Edwin van der Sar with 20 minutes to play. Sir Alex Ferguson said Barça were deserved winners and his captain agreed, adding: "All credit to Barcelona, they deserved it tonight. It's been a fantastic season with what we've achieved this year. We won three leagues on the trot but have just failed at the final hurdle here."

'Bounce back'
United travelled to Rome full of confidence, with the Premier League, League Cup and FIFA Club World Cup in the trophy cabinet, yet fell short in their attempt to become the first team since AC Milan 19 years ago to claim successive European crowns. "It's a very difficult trophy to win," said Giggs. "Big teams have disappointments but they bounce back. That is what we will be doing."

'High expecations'
Fellow midfielder Michael Carrick lamented the fact the English champions lost their 25-match unbeaten run in the competition at the most inopportune moment. "We came here with high expectations but it hasn't worked out for us," he said. "We've gone unbeaten in this competition for two years and sadly it has come to an end on the wrong night, but I think we can be proud of what we achieved the last couple of years. We will go again in this competition, that's what we're here for."

Ryan: Still a fantastic season

Ryan Giggs is looking on the bright side of United's epic campaign, despite the major disappointment of losing a European Cup final for the first time.

The 0-2 loss to Barcelona was the 66th result of a season in which the Reds have won four trophies - Barclays Premier League, Club World Cup, Carling Cup and Community Shield - and almost won three others - the Super Cup, FA Cup and Champions League.

"It’s been a fantastic season when you consider what we’ve achieved this year – including our third league title on the trot," Ryan told MUTV.

"We just fell at the final hurdle. No team has defended the Champions League, it's a very difficult trophy to win. We deserved to get to the final but we didn’t deserve to win.

"Barcelona did deserve to win. They are a good team and if they go one-nil up, they’re the best in the business at keeping the ball. They can make teams look ordinary.

"We didn’t really recover after conceding the first goal. In the second half we improved a bit but it just wasn’t to be."

Giggs and co will now strive to reclaim the trophy next term, when the final's in Madrid.

"That’s what we’ll be aiming for," said Ryan. "Big teams have disappointments but they bounce back. That’s what we’ll be trying to do.”

Ryan Giggs

Ryan Giggs

Giggs: We can rule Europe

United have been undoubted rulers of the English game in the Premier League era, but Ryan Giggs believes the continental schooling undertaken by the current squad could see the Reds reign in Europe for years to come.

First up, the wise old Welshman is targeting a second Champions League triumph in as many seasons. The Reds would be the first club to retain the trophy and Giggs feels victory over Barcelona could see the dawn of an era of dominance on the European stage.

“Everything is in place,” he said on Wednesday. “The age of the team is relatively young if you take out me, Nev, Scholesy and Edwin.

"We’ve proved this season that we can get to the final again, and hopefully that gives us the confidence to carry on and dominate. That’s what we’ve done in our own league and we want to do that in Europe. We’ve got everything in place to do that.”

Barcelona will no doubt have similar designs of taking up residence on European football’s throne, and Giggs believes there couldn’t be a tougher final opponent.

“This match determines the best club in Europe this season,” he said. “It’s the two best teams in England and Spain, and also from performances in the Champions League.

"It’s the dream final, two fantastic, massive clubs who play football the right way. Everyone’s looking forward to it, including the players.”

That United have reached consecutive finals is no stroke of luck. The emergence from the harsh lessons of semi-final defeat to AC Milan in 2005 has only made the team stronger.

For Giggs, already into his thirties at that point, it was just a case of putting his faith in Sir Alex allowing the team to evolve.

“We had the players to get to a Champions League final then,” Giggs adds. “But the likes of Wayne [Rooney] and Cristiano [Ronaldo] had just come to the club. They hadn’t matured into the world class players they are now.

"With the players the manager has brought in, we’ve just got better and better since. From the first trophy this team won - the League Cup where we beat Wigan - we’ve gone from strength to strength.

“I just put my trust in the manager. He’s won so much. At that time we were saying the team was evolving and we were trying to get the age of the team down. That takes time. We probably did it quicker than we thought we would.”

Ryan Giggs

Date of birth: 29.11.1973
Country: Wales
Position: Midfield

Ryan revels in home rule

For all his trophies and medals, Ryan Giggs has rarely been able to savour his success in front of a packed Old Trafford. Little surprise, then, that English football's most decorated player was delighted to secure his 11th Premier League title in M16.

While the Reds were jittery and nowhere near their best against Arsenal, the title-tipping point was procured to see off the lingering challenge of second-placed Liverpool - much to Giggs' elation.

"It feels brilliant," Ryan told MUTV. "We've been talking about doing it in front of our own fans, and that's what makes it so special. Not relying on someone else losing or doing it away from Old Trafford, it was brilliant to do it today.

"It was agony for the second half, if I'm honest, and it probably was for the fans as well. The one team you don't want to play against is Arsenal, because they keep the ball so much and they're a top side, and they came to spoil the party. We defended brilliantly as we have done all season and managed to get there."

Giggs has never been one to dwell on his multiple successes, and he is already contemplating the possibility of more silverware next season.

"It's been a special time at the club since the manager took over and we've managed to win so much. Hopefully we can carry that on. I don't think anyone's ever done it (won the league title) four times on the trot before so there's another record that hopefully we can break."

1988/89 - Mark Hughes 1990/91 - Mark Hughes 1991/92 - Gary Pallister 1993/94 - Eric Cantona 2000/01 - Teddy Sheringham 2001/02 - Ruud van Nistelrooy 2

Ryan Giggs was named the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Players’ Player of the Year at a gala dinner in London on Sunday night.