Ryan Giggs is well known for his long tenure and many successes with Manchester United. Having been there since he was a young lad many people believe he is one of the most iconic figures in Premier League history – but those people would be wrong.
First off, good old Giggsy didn’t even start out at United. He was actually on the books at Manchester City for a brief period of time before moving on to pastures new at Old Trafford when he was 14. Sure it might seem like I’m picking at straws, but it’s certainly notable.
Over the course of his career the Welshman certainly had his moments of brilliance, most notably in the late 90s as he benefited from the quality of the players around him. Sure he was fast, but other than that his actual attributes in terms of his abilities as a winger were few and far between.
SEE ALSO: Jose Mourinho is just a budget Tony Pulis with a £300 million squad
The one thing you can say about him is that he’s dedicated to the club, right? Well, sort of. In all honesty, just how difficult is it to stay at the most successful team in England and not go elsewhere? It’s not as if there was much interest that could appeal to him, and the clubs that could claim to be bigger than United simply weren’t interested in his services.
That alone should tell you that he never reached that world-class level at any point throughout his career. As the years went on and the pace began to fade, he started to transition into a player who simply did a basic job as opposed to excelling in his role.
But that didn’t matter to Fergie and company, because at least he was in the team. At least they could continually wave around the fact that he had been there for years on end, as opposed to addressing the issue of him seemingly moving away from his position out wide that made him notable in the first place.
Everyone else around Giggs made him look better at so many different stages throughout his career, and the one time he won the PFA Players’ Players of the Year award it felt more like charity than an honour that he deserved at the time.
SEE ALSO: The incredible story of Alex Ferguson acting as an agent
Going back to him staying at United all that time – who gives a shit? It’s not like he was in the position of Steve Bull or Matt Le Tissier where huge clubs came in for them but they rejected the offers in order to stay at the place they loved.
I literally despise this image that he has created for himself. No matter what has happened throughout his career he is seen as untouchable, but that isn’t reality. Nothing about Ryan Giggs is legitimate and such a run of the mill footballer should not be lauded as anything other than what he is – average.
Stop putting him on a pedestal just because of the numbers and the statistics. You can’t define this game and a player’s quality by how many appearances they made, because even if Pele had played half of the games that Giggs did he would still be head and shoulders above him. Oh, and that goes for dozens of other players who aren’t even near Pele’s level but are still above the Welshman’s.
Giggs has hidden behind this mask of invincibility for years now, and it should be known that he really doesn’t have that much of a legacy at Old Trafford. Not one that he can laud about as one of the greatest ever, at the very least.
Start the discussion
Login to comment