Ryan Giggs: A class act

Ryan Giggs kickstarted his tenure as interim manager of Manchester United with a 4-0 win against Norwich

Old Trafford was crackling with excitement and anticipation, the fans were abuzz and and even the players seemed a little extra pumped up. The cheer and applause when Ryan Giggs walked out of the tunnel, as he had done for the last so many years, was deafening, but today was different; today was the first time he walked out as the manager of Manchester United.

As 70,000 pairs of eyes followed his walk to the dugout and fans cheered him on, the 41-year-old, who must have experienced such an atmosphere countless times before, couldn’t resist a smile as he took his place in the manager’s seat. In the dugout, he was accompanied by Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville, part of the legendary Class of ’92. The players seemed to have an extra leap in their stride and Manchester United were at their clinical best in a resounding 4-0 win over relegation threatened Norwich.

Yesterday, Old Trafford reached decibels it has failed to reach in recent times, with chants that hadn’t been heard in a while now once again starting to ring around the Theatre of Dreams. For a while, the recent problems looming over the club were forgotten, and the red part of Manchester finally united to give Giggs a reception worthy of kings.

It has been some week for Manchester United – losing at the hands of Everton, Moyes getting sacked and the Class of ’92 taking over. Moyes’s sacking sent ripples all around the footballing world. We didn’t expect a club of the stature of United to fire a manager within 10 months, a manager to whom they had given a six-year contract. Stepping into the boots of Sir Alex was always going to be difficult, and even the top managers in the world would have struggled to put together a worthy follow-up act.

Sacking Moyes may have been a mistake but appointing him was a bigger one. You don’t make a person, who has not won a single trophy in his entire managerial career and whose only experience in the Champions League is two qualifiers against Villareal, the manager of a club like Manchester United. Moyes lacked the mentality to be a manager of such a high profile club, and just didn’t have the winning mentality to carry out the job. That said, if you chose him, you don’t sack him before he has completed even one season.

The Class of 92 taking over almost seemed inevitable, but it has caused great excitement, none more so in the United camp; imagine a training session watched over by Scholes and Giggs. They will all command the highest respect from the players, which wasn’t the case with Moyes with many players questioning his training methods and also his CV. But it will still take some time for the players to get accustomed to taking orders from Giggs, who until Sunday was a team member.

It’s a bit like taking orders in school from a friend who has been made prefect; you joke around with him, but in the end know that he has full authority. Giggs will know exactly what the players feel, having been at the club for 23 years, and also what they expect and want from a manager. It seems likely that he, along with his team, will be able to get the best out of players like Cleverly and Kagawa.

The decision to appoint Giggs was certainly well-received by the fans; after all, one of their own was going to be taking over their club. The first game must have passed in a blur for Giggs, but will live long in the minds of the United faithful. United have had a treacherous season this year, but despite bad form in recent times, the result on Saturday seemed as if it had been decided before – there was no way United could lose.

Giggs chose an attacking side that was very easy on the eyes and yesterday, for the first time this season, they played like former champions. It is still unknown if Giggs will be given the post permanently, or if someone like Louis van Gaal will take over, and what the future is for United. But one thing is certain – the remaining two games of the season are going to be eventful for the fans, and more so for the players.

This post first appeared on this blog and was reproduced with the prior permission of the author.