Ryan Giggs.

Consistency. It’s that one character trait that all football managers look for in their players. They are constantly trying to drill this into them, during breakfast, lunch, dinner, trainings, weddings and funerals. It is that important. Without consistency, many talented footballers have fallen by the way side and been forgotten, destined to be just a name in a football clubs list of past players.

Does anyone remember Denilson? For a short period in time, he was the next Pele, the next Maradona, the next big time. He had tremendous skill with the ball, but alas, he lacked that all so important trait, that is consistency (and probably a proper footballing brain!).

The complete and utter opposite of the poor almost forgotten Denilson, is the living Manchester United legend that is Ryan Joseph Giggs.


A quick check of his playing career revealed that Ryan Giggs turned professional on 29 November 1990 (his 17th birthday) and made his League debut against Everton at Old Trafford on 2 March 1991. In total, Giggs has been entertaining audiences all over the world for around 19 years! That is the sign of a true great, someone who has been consistent throughout his career. It is amazing to believe that he has been in the game for so long.

Amongst his many accomplishments:
• First player in history to win the PFA Young Player of the Year award consecutively (1992 and 1993)
• Has played and scored in every single season of the FA Premier League since its inception, also holding the league's record for most all time goal assists with 289 assists in 535 appearances.

• The most decorated player in British football history.
• First footballer to collect 10 top division English league title medals.


Ryan Giggs was an exceptional talent, and stood out from many of his peers during the early years. His potential was so great that on his 14th birthday, Sir Alex Ferguson turned up at Giggs’s house and offered him a 2 year on associate schoolboy forms, and assured him that he would turn professional in three years time. Giggs signed there and then and the rest is history.

Personally, my forever enduring memory of Giggs will be that famous FA Cup goal, when after Patrick Viera lost the ball well into the Manchester United half, he picked it up, ran up to the half way line, then proceeded to beat the entire Arsenal backline before slotting in the winner. We will probably never ever see another goal like that in the near future.

I also remember that during his early years, a lot of the media were saying that the last time they saw a lad this talented, it was a certain George Best. I think they were also expecting Giggs to take the same path down life: Football, Booze, Women.

Thank goodness for all of us that he did not, and thank goodness for Sir Alex Ferguson, who knew what had happened to Best, and did his best to guide Giggs down the 'right' path, without jeopardizing his footballing skills.

There' a rumours that Giggs might retire this year, if he feels he cannot play anymore, or can't play regular games. Either way, he's had an explicably wonderful career, littered with medals and cups. He's won practically everything there is to win, except the World Cup
. What a way it would be to end a magnificent career, if he could lift the BPL trophy one last time, at the end of the season.