Yes, it is true. The
curly hair and the blistering speed comes from those paternal genes
of his grandfather. Yes, the proud Welshman is 25% per cent Sierra
Leonean. What a loss for the country, that he was born in Wales in
1973.
Two years later after
then 'just' Alex Ferguson had signed him from the books of Manchester
City, Ryan Joseph Wilson captained an England schoolboys side against
Germany in 1989. The same year, at the age of 16 he changed his name
to Giggs.
On his 17th
birthday he signed his first professional contract with Manchester
United. Fast forward some six months and on 2 March 1991 he made his
first team debut from the bench against Everton at Old Trafford.
Amazingly, on his first start for the club was against Manchester
City. Moreover he scored his first goal for the club in that game to
lead them to a 1-0 victory in the local derby.
Next season he was
already a first team regular, but also captained the golden
generation (eg Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, David Beckham) to FA Youth
Cup glory in 1992.
And now, after retiring
from international football with Wales (64 caps, 12 goals) in 2007,
and having had played 928 (!) competetive games for United, he played
the full game and scored against Everton on February 10th
to stay the only player who has scored in every single Premier League
season. Though it was his first league goal of the season, he
actually has 3 other goals this season to add to his total of 167
goals for Manchester United.
Another noteworthy fact
from his illustrious career is that he has NEVER been sent off for
Manchester United. In 929 games. That would make around 80 000
minutes of football without a red card. For Wales he has been sent
off once and once been suspended for two games for elbowing on video
evidence. Nonetheless these facts show what a great sportsman Ryan
Giggs is.
I am sure no sportsfan
begrudged him a place in Great Britain's olympic squad in London 2012
as it was Giggs' first involvement in an international tournament at
the age of 38. There will probably never be a player like him, who
has won 12 Premier League titles (13th on the way), 4 FA
Cups, 4 League Cups, 8 Community shield trophies, 2 Champions League
winners medals, a UEFA Super Cup triumph, a Intercontinental Cup
victory and FIFA Club World Cup victory. There is not point in
writing all his individual awards, but the ones that stand out are
BBC Sports Personality of the Year, PFA Players Player of the Year
and PFA Team of the Century.
And he is still going
strong. No, strong is too weak of a word to describe him. A superman
from Wales.
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