The legendary Ryan Giggs - 900+ and gunning for 1000

The Legend – Ryan Giggs

Ryan Giggs is a Welsh footballer who plays for Manchester United. The ever agile Giggs made his first appearance for his only club during the 1990–1991 season and has been a regular player since that time. He kept on playing for his club and established himself as a left winger during the 1990s by developing his skills. He continued in this position well into the 2000s, and made this his favored position in the club. Under the supervision of Sir Alex Ferguson, Giggs matured as footballer with time and was handed the coveted role of a playmaker since then. With his outstanding ball possession skills, dribbling caliber, goal scoring abilities and tireless running Giggs has become a Football Legend. This 38-year old Welshman is still running strong as he aims to play 1000 matches for the Red Devils.

Giggs played for the Welsh national team from 1991-2007. He announced his retirement from international football on 2 June 2007 after playing for over 16 years and representing them in 64 matches. Giggs at the age of 18 became the youngest player to ever represent his country and held on to the record for seven years which was broken by Ryan Green in 1998. With 638 Premier League matches and a total of 909 matches under his belt for his side, Giggs has set his aim to play 1000 matches for Manchester United.

“If I finish this season well and play a lot next season, I should do it, which would be great because not many have done that,” he had stated.

Giggs was named one of the three over aged players for the Great Britain team for the London Olympics 2012. Without doubt he was named as the captain of the team and the country has high hope from him for the 2012 Games. Giggs has scored 163 goals in 909 matches for Manchester United and holds many other records.

Giggs has received many awards within football such as being named in the Football League 100 Legends (the last active player in the list). He was also appointed an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in the Queen’s 2007 Birthday Honours List. Giggs was also inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2005 for his great service towards English Football. His other awards include BBC Sports Personality of the year in 2009. Later on 31 January 2011, Giggs was named Manchester United’s greatest all time player by a worldwide audience poll conducted by the club’s official website and magazine. Giggs was honoured with the 2011 Golden Foot Award on October 10 2011.

After Denis Irwin, the longest serving player for United left in May 2002, Ryan Giggs became the longest serving player for the Red Devils. He kept on impressing Fergie and the world and his contract at Old Trafford kept renewing itself. For now at 38, Giggs is highly focused on the club’s success in the upcoming season and wants to keep going and reach the 1000 mark soon by setting another record. Other than being honoured many times, Giggs has many personal achievements.

Giggs was the first player in history to win two consecutive PFA Young Player of the Year awards (1992 and 1993). He had to wait till 2009 to win the PFA Player of the Year for the third time. Giggs being the only player to have played and scored in every season of the Premier League was elected into the PFA Team of the Century in 2007. He was also elected in the Premier League Team of the Decade, in 2003, as well as the FA Cup Team of the Century. Giggs, the ideal playmaker for every football team holds the record for the most assists of 271 in Premier League history. He would love to make it 300 in the new season which kicks off in a few weeks.

Ryan Giggs who is known for his invincible dribbling skills has been a big name in English Football for such a long period of time. Giggs is the most decorated player in English football history. Giggs has captained the Red Devils team on numerous occasions. During his 21-year long career with United, he has won 12 Premier League winner’s medals, 4 FA Cup winner’s medals, 3 League Cup winner’s medals and 2 Champions League winner’s medals. Apart from the winning medals, Giggs has 7 runners-up medals as well.

On aiming to reach the milestone of 1000 appearances for Manchester United, Giggs stated, “Wingers certainly don’t do that very often! If I did it, it would be another thing to be proud of and to cherish.”

On 26 February 2012, when Giggs made his 900th appearance for Manchester United, in a 2–1 away win against Norwich City and he also scored the winning goal for his team. After the match, Alex Ferguson told BBC Sport he believed that a player playing in 900 games for one club “won’t be done again”. Ryan Giggs has since played with 140 different players in the first team.

Every Manchester United fan would want Giggs to keep playing for the Red Devils and bring more glory to the club. Alex Ferguson is looking to bring some young midfielders t0 Old Trafford, and Giggs will have to play a very important role of a mentor in nurturing the young talents for the future of the club. At the age of 38, he is playing like a 19-year old teenager, and every football lover would want this Legend to keep playing and entertain everyone with this skills for another two decades!