Ryan Giggs

MrJoeSoap

I think most people will know my feelings about Man United on here by now. Whilst I dislike many aspects of the club, I can't deny that they have churned out some absolute legends.

Ryan Giggs makes his 100th Champions League appearance tonight, what a brilliant achievement. One-club players are few and far between these days, and whilst it might be easier to do whilst at a club that wins things season after season, I don't think it should take away from the achievement.

He has never really made headlines off the pitch for the wrong reasons despite being seen as a superstar from quite an early age, and is a model professional. Hopefully the likes of Ronaldo, Nani and Anderson will learn from him and keep themselves out of trouble whilst doing their talking on the pitch.

Fair play Giggsy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/7253458.stm

Xavi6

Legend, great to get 100 appearances etc etc but definitely time to call it a day.

It's like that dog that you know needs to be put down but just won't out of loyalty despite the fact that his hind legs trail across the carpet

MrJoeSoap

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

He has never really made headlines off the pitch for the wrong reasons despite being seen as a superstar from quite an early age

Except for that brilliant story about him in Lee Sharpes house at a party they shouldnt have been at and Giggsy was hidin in his boxers in a wardrobe so Fergie wouldnt see him!



Fair play to Giggsy, he hasnt soared to his old standards this season but he's still a legend.

Mitch Connor

Xavi6 wrote: »

Legend, great to get 100 appearances etc etc but definitely time to call it a day.

It's like that dog that you know needs to be put down but just won't out of loyalty despite the fact that his hind legs trail across the carpet

I reckon he will call it a day once he gets the appearence record - which he could possibly get by the end of the season if we stay in contention for all comps and he gets some appearence in most of the games.

Absolute legend, but is well past his best and only produces teh odd moment of magic in between bouts of frustrating crapness.

kaimera

kudos Giggsy.

Magic winger in his day.

kryogen

one of the best to wear the jersey, but time for the swan song now, whoever said he will go after he gets the appearance record is right imo, thats all he is playing for now, hes achieved everything he could have wanted at club level, all thats left is the record, not too far to go but i think it will take until next season which worrys me....

Nunu

He's not having a scintillating season but Giggsy isn't quite finished yet despite everyone writing him off.
I was at the Blackburn game at Old Trafford in November and he was sensational - easily the best player on the pitch in a game where Ronaldo scored twice.
I think we will definetly see one more prolonged spell of great form from Giggs before he retires.

Sherifu

Great achievement. Model professional.

stepbar

Remember 99.... Remember 99....

grames_bond

yeah being honest we all know giggsy is past his best but the mans experience warrents his inclusion in the team, he is influential to the younger players and i think he's goin nower until they mature into the players they can become and that will occur only with fergie off the pitch and giggsy on it!

Chardee MacDennis

fantastic player but past his best before date, nothing but respect for him though. cant believe dunphy's crap about him tonight.

grames_bond

Call_me_al wrote: »

cant believe dunphy's crap about him tonight.

dunphy is there for controversy, hes not a proper pundit, he keeps flip floppin on his "beliefs" never mind what he says! next week in his eyes giggs will be a "constant professional, and a great player"

smemon

Legend of the game and can only be of value to the club - if only for the experience and professionalism he oozes.

The RTE panel are right though, he will never go down as a great player the same way Keane, Cantona, Schmeichael etc.. will.

Mainly because he didn't have the hunger and competitive streaks those players had. As Keane once said, every great player needs that 'nastiness' and ability to boil over and when you think about it, it's true...

Cantona, Keane, Bergkamp, Shearer, Gerrard, Henry, Terry... these guys were/are the cream of the crop of the english league and they all have the same thing in common - fighting spirit, fire in their bellies.

We look at Zidane in the world cup - one of the games all time greats losing it

Giggs is the Ronaldo version of Denis Irwin in that he keeps his head down, keeps a low profile off the pitch but remains loyal and consistent on the pitch and has the ability to pop up with one or two moments of magic.

evad_lhorg

a true legend but it pains me to watch him lately. he has just been crap

estebancambias

smemon wrote: »

Legend of the game and can only be of value to the club - if only for the experience and professionalism he oozes.

The RTE panel are right though, he will never go down as a great player the same way Keane, Cantona, Schmeichael etc.. will.

Mainly because he didn't have the hunger and competitive streaks those players had. As Keane once said, every great player needs that 'nastiness' and ability to boil over and when you think about it, it's true...

Cantona, Keane, Bergkamp, Shearer, Gerrard, Henry, Terry... these guys were/are the cream of the crop of the english league and they all have the same thing in common - fighting spirit, fire in their bellies.

We look at Zidane in the world cup - one of the games all time greats losing it

Giggs is the Ronaldo version of Denis Irwin in that he keeps his head down, keeps a low profile off the pitch but remains loyal and consistent on the pitch and has the ability to pop up with one or two moments of magic.

Yep, spot on by you and the RTE pundits.

I agree with Nunu though, I think Giggs will have one last good spell.

Tusky

Great professional. Fantastic attitude to the game. I really think he should retire before he tarnishes his good name with too many bad ordinary/bad performances.

OPENROAD

A great professional over the years and he has been very loyal to United. The only time I read about Ryan Giggs it is on the sports pages and that sums the bloke up for me.

Nunu

smemon wrote: »

Legend of the game and can only be of value to the club - if only for the experience and professionalism he oozes.

The RTE panel are right though, he will never go down as a great player the same way Keane, Cantona, Schmeichael etc.. will.

Mainly because he didn't have the hunger and competitive streaks those players had. As Keane once said, every great player needs that 'nastiness' and ability to boil over and when you think about it, it's true...

Cantona, Keane, Bergkamp, Shearer, Gerrard, Henry, Terry... these guys were/are the cream of the crop of the english league and they all have the same thing in common - fighting spirit, fire in their bellies.

We look at Zidane in the world cup - one of the games all time greats losing it

Giggs is the Ronaldo version of Denis Irwin in that he keeps his head down, keeps a low profile off the pitch but remains loyal and consistent on the pitch and has the ability to pop up with one or two moments of magic.

I don't know? I can't really agree with all that - what about Zola?....and even Kaka now for Milan - true gents who conduct themselves in exemplary fashion on/off the pitch.

For me Giggs will go down as a great and can hold his head high in the company of the players you mentioned.

Quick fact about Giggsy - he's the only player to score in 12 consecutive Champions League campaigns - it'll be 13 if he gets 1 this season.

Edit: He can have his own nasty streak too...who remembers last season when Michael Brown nearly broke his leg and an incensed Giggsy chased him the length of the pitch to boot him from behind!...it was so out of character:D

kryogen

unfortunatly there is no room for sentiment in football and the simple fact of the matter is, if ryan giggs wasnt ryan giggs, if he didnt have the reputation and the love that he has earned over the years from fans he wouldnt get a look in the team based on his performances, its sad but true....he wont be gone until he beats the record, but i dont think he should be starting the big games anymore, as a team with big ambitions like united have we cant afford to be carrying dead weight

Xavi6

kryogen wrote: »

unfortunatly there is no room for sentiment in football and the simple fact of the matter is, if ryan giggs wasnt ryan giggs, if he didnt have the reputation and the love that he has earned over the years from fans he wouldnt get a look in the team based on his performances, its sad but true....he wont be gone until he beats the record, but i dont think he should be starting the big games anymore, as a team with big ambitions like united have we cant afford to be carrying dead weight

+1 to all that. He has been a dead weight all year. His main asset was his pace and now that he's lost most of that it's plain to see how ordinary a passer of the ball he is. It's time to go.

kryogen

Xavi6 wrote: »

+1 to all that. He has been a dead weight all year. His main asset was his pace and now that he's lost most of that it's plain to see how ordinary a passer of the ball he is. It's time to go.

jesus christ! we agree on something!!! the end is nigh people! :D:D

on a different subject xavi6, i was wondering why i didnt see Xavi tonight, is he injured??? always liked him and id be having him over yaya anyday, was he on the bench? i didnt get to see the game but i know he wasnt in the starting lineup??

Nunu

Ah come on, he's not quite dead weight!
He should have had 2 great assists tonight but for poor finishing from Scholes and Rooney. He was Utds best player in the first half.

Xavi6

kryogen wrote: »

jesus christ! we agree on something!!! the end is nigh people! :D:D

on a different subject xavi6, i was wondering why i didnt see Xavi tonight, is he injured??? always liked him and id be having him over yaya anyday, was he on the bench? i didnt get to see the game but i know he wasnt in the starting lineup??

Let's never agree again!

The man himself came on after 65mins for Declan. It's been a tough call between him and Iniesta for Rijkaard at the moment as he seems to like Yaya as the holding midfielder, especially in an away Champions League game. Hopefully Deco fecks off in the summer and they can both play in the team

kryogen

o0o0o0o0o thats a nice headache to have though isnt it, iniesta or xavi, im not a huge fan of yaya yet, he didnt impress me at all in the ACN, thanks for clearing that up though!

Peyton Manning

Last season Giggs put in a sensational performance once every three games. With the lack of options we had, he was our best choice for left winger. Now however, those performances are becoming more scarce - he still pulls them out of the bag, but its more of a 1 in 5, 1 in 6 type thing now. Add to that out extra attacking options this season and I think its coming to the end for Giggsy. He'll break Bobby Charltons record though.

United legend.

_blank_

Xavi6 wrote: »

Declan.

rofl. Hilarious.

mike65

Top chap although you might question his commitment to the Wales side over the years. Pity he was'nt English as he would have had the left side to himself for a decade.

Speaking of ton-up in europe Carra reaches that milestone next game.

Mike.

Spud83

mike65 wrote: »

Top chap although you might question his commitment to the Wales side over the years. Pity he was'nt English as he would have had the left side to himself for a decade.

Speaking of ton-up in europe Carra reaches that milestone next game.

Mike.

Carra reaches it in Europe competitions, I think he still has a while to go to get to 100 in the champions league.

mike65

mike65 wrote: »

Top chap although you might question his commitment to the Wales side over the years. Pity he was'nt English as he would have had the left side to himself for a decade.

Speaking of ton-up in europe Carra reaches that milestone next game.

Mike.

I think thats a bit unfair on him. He lined out for Wales regularly until he retired aged 32/33. Commitment enough IMO. He missed friendlies here and there but he was always thetre for the competitive games.

mike65

alanmurphy83 wrote: »

Carra reaches it in Europe competitions, I think he still has a while to go to get to 100 in the champions league.

Fair point that.

Mike.

PHB

Ryan Giggs was never eligible to play for England. He played English school boys because he went to school there. He was never able to play for English. It's a myth propagated by his publicist so he can get the Reebok ad

PHB

PHB wrote: »

Ryan Giggs was never eligible to play for England. He played English school boys because he went to school there. He was never able to play for English. It's a myth propagated by his publicist so he can get the Reebok ad

Just checked that out there, its true, I thought he was eligible! My bad, either way, he played for Wales well into his thirties, commitment enough.



This is funny from Wikipedia:

Alessandro Del Piero said this about Ryan Giggs: "This is embaressing to say but I have cried twice in my life watching a football player; the first one was Roberto and the second was Ryan Giggs".

astrofool

Inter wanted him for years, every summer there was at least one Giggs in £25m to Inter Milan story. Massimo Moratti definitely rated him. I think people forget that he got Utd out of jail in the treble winning season with a last minute equaliser against Juventus at Old Trafford.

LostinBlanch

A legend of the game but his sub par performances are becoming too regular and are in danger of tarnishing his reputation. He should be used from the bench more, rather than starting games.

Nunu wrote: »

Ah come on, he's not quite dead weight!

He's getting there unfortunately.

Nunu wrote: »

He was Utds best player in the first half.

Maybe you and I were watching different games last night. He was far from the best united player last night. He gave the ball away too much; and as for his continued hitting the first defender at the near post from corners!

I'd like to think you're right and that he'll go out in a blaze of glory, but think he'll end up going out with a whimper and not a bang.

PHB

He was amazing in the treble season, not least his equaliser against Juve, but his goal against Arsenal.

Xavi6

PHB wrote: »

He was amazing in the treble season, not least his equaliser against Juve, but his goal against Arsenal.

Seaman went down far too easy. Great run alright but a quality keeper of 6ft 4 should save shots like that.

Nalz

PHB wrote: »

He was amazing in the treble season, not least his equaliser against Juve, but his goal against Arsenal.

he was even better the following season... He was poor in 1997/98 though I thought.

I hate to admit it but I dont think there is life in the old dog yet

james123

What every pro should aspire to , a gent


Hi Mum

grames_bond

well he is studying for his coaches badges atm so i think we are seeing the end of him as a player, he is a constant proffesional and id like to see him stay on at utd in some capacity but that prob wont happen!

homerjay2005

has been awful this season, but he is not finished. i just think united current squad is now very young and the pace of uniteds play is passing him by.

at this moment in time i think certain players should be in ahead of him,like nani, cos they are producing. himself and scholesy are no longer the most important players in the team, but they will still start the majority of big games this year.

grames_bond

homerjay2005 wrote: »

at this moment in time i think certain players should be in ahead of him,like nani, cos they are producing. himself and scholesy are no longer the most important players in the team, but they will still start the majority of big games this year.

for the big games we still need plyers like giggs and scholes for their experience if nothing else, with the young inexperienced squad its great to have some tried and tested veterens in there to help!

PHB

We don't need Giggs for experience. He doesn't bring it anymore, just look at Lyon away. We have experience at the back, and experience in midfield. Hargeaves and Scholes have won a lot of things between them, both of them have won CLs.

Our attack can be dictated by Scholes without the need for Giggs to be honest. Also Rooney and Ronaldo have gotten a good bit of experience at the top levels at this stage.

herbieflowers

I still think Giigs should play as often as possible, Nani's too naive to be thrown in every game, despite his visible improvement over the last few months, Giggs is a safer bet for the time being imo

grames_bond

herbieflowers wrote: »

I still think Giigs should play as often as possible, Nani's too naive to be thrown in every game, despite his visible improvement over the last few months, Giggs is a safer bet for the time being imo

yeah nani seems to panic in certain situations, something giggs doesnt! but for a fast paced game which we need to play, giggs unfortunatley is obsolete!

herbieflowers

true but Giggs is more intelligent, which counts for more imo, althoughI'd agree with you about pace etc

Mr.Nice Guy

I'd recommend checking out Giggs' autobiography. It's a great read and one of the better football bios out there. I read it the other day. It's got lots of funny stories too including one from his first or second season where he talks with the older United players like Robson and Bruce about getting a club car like they all had. They urge him to go and talk to Fergie about it and when he does Fergie absolutely blasts him out of it! "Club car? I wouldn't give you a f*cking club bike!" All while the United players are listening outside and laughing their arses off.

Giggs - legend.

KdjaCL

Easily the greatest player ever in the entire world when it was contract time.

Fair play for getting so far but only consistent in that the only time he played well was when contracts where being drawn up, if hes out of contract this season united will win the league and CL based on his performances.

in fairness tho a pacy winger will only be pacy for a certain amount of years, he can actually pass and carry the ball.

Also he at the stage where he cant play for another club, he will retire after united.

Well done tbh.

kdjac

Dave!

I'm sure he'll join the coaching staff at United, he's goin for his qualifications in June according to the ManUtd site.

grames_bond

DaveMcG wrote: »

I'm sure he'll join the coaching staff at United, he's goin for his qualifications in June according to the ManUtd site.

id say he'll be a great coach, dunno if he will stay at utd but we'll see! i hope he does!

Mitch Connor

thread resurrection...

I'm sure all the United fans are glad he is still going!!

Y2J_MUFC

Xavi6 wrote: »

definitely time to call it a day.

It's like that dog that you know needs to be put down but just won't out of loyalty despite the fact that his hind legs trail across the carpet

I think its fair to say you got this one spectacularly wrong to be fair. Nearly a year later, player of the year title under his belt, an 11th league medal and playing some brilliant stuff this season, one of our most influential players.

Giggs = Legend