How good was Ryan Giggs?

Cutch said:
Champions League nights at Old Trafford under the lights, they were the matches you couldn't wait to get home from school for to see Giggs tear some of the best right backs in Europe a new one
Click to expand...
Wow. Great comment. I actually got a bit sad reading that. I took it all for granted at the time since I’d never known anything else. It was unthinkable we’d drop anything below 2nd or 3rd in the league.

We were totally respected by Europe’s elite. Fergie in the dugout too we knew we always would be favourites at OT even if Real or Barcelona came to town. Truly great times. Football seemed very simple for our club back then & Giggsy was a big part of that.
 
esmufc07 said:
His legacy has been tainted for me by the fact he's a massive cu*t.
Click to expand...

You're a massive cnut, but you have no legacy.

You can't imagine the stir he caused when he burst onto the scene.

Personally, ranks only after Bobby Charlton as my favourite ever United player. SAF looked after him very carefully, when he was younger, for fear of him turning out like Best. Pity Gascoigne never came to United under SAF's wing.
 
An absolutely sensational player. Individually brilliant but at the same time the epitome of a team player. Had everything in his locker, along with a ferocious will to win. The amount of times he tracked back, won the ball and turned it into a dangerous attack is legion. World class for the best part of a decade, and top class for another. His use of the ball, and quality of his final ball was amazing.

Most players of his ilk are toast somewhere between 29-31. And by that age he had so many miles on the clock from being a first team star since he was 17 or 18. Yet he reinvented himself and went on for another decade. Pretty much unprecedented. To put the scale of that achievement into context; if we were linked with signing a 35 year old in January people would laugh at what a terrible idea it was. But 35 year old Giggs would walk into our team today and instantly be among our best 2 or 3 players.
 
Last edited:
Three days ago I watched the season review video from 1993/94, he was 19-20 years old that season and breathtaking. Can't imagine the hype and valuation he'd create today.
He was my favourite player right from the start, his goal against Juventus at OT in 1997 was one of the reasons I came a United supporter.

It was great when he equalled Charlton's appearance record in the last league game 07/08 while sealing the title with his goal and broke the record in Moscow, you couldn't have had it better.
To think he went on playing for us until 2014 and finished on 963 games, winning as many league titles as Arsenal really is insane.
 
Apart from his blistering pace and dribbling ability, He is the classic example of how far natural ability and a footballing brain can bring you. Could play in multiple positions across the pitch at the highest level even when he's past his 30s.

Looking at this pool of players we have made me realise how outrageously talented some of the players we used to have. A 35 year old Giggs can easily play in Lingard or Rashford's position today. He also had far more athletisim than Mata. Granted McT is more of a defensive player but against the smaller teams Giggs could just as easily play alongside Pogba.

Its just sad to see the staggering amount of excuses we have for this current crop. The specific positions and the partners they must play with in order to perform.This guy played LW, RW, CM, AM, SS. Could swap positions with Nani, Ronaldo, Rooney, Kanchelskis. Played in CM with O'Shea, Anderson, Fletcher etc.
 
Last edited:
Giggs was world class. In his teens and early to mid 20's, he was one of the top 5-10 wingers in the world. However, you have to look at the context of his ability at the time. English football in the early 90s was pretty sh*t, particularly in comparison to Serie A, which was the leading league at the time. The game was still recovering from the Hysel ban; the best players had left the league and there was a lot of semi-alcoholic cloggers playing on ploughed fields fueled by fish suppers.

In that company, Giggs looked imperious. He was so much quicker with the ball at his feet than anyone else in the league and would just breeze by defenders and leave them choking on dust. Until the likes of Bergkamp and Zola arrived (and Shearer, Keane and the rest of the class of 92 emerged), Giggs, Cantona and Schmeichel were the only players in the division that were genuinely top drawer. It's hard to understand if you didn't witness it first hand just how much of a gulf there was between them and the rest. Sadly for Giggs, he suffered from persistent hamstring injuries through his mid-20s and that gradually eroded his pace. By his late 20s, he looked finished but then, and massively to his credit, he reinvented himself a central player and became more of a number 10. For a good while he was our only player who could thread a through-ball; we desperately needed a veteran Giggs against Palace.

Would be interesting to see him come through today, as the traditional, flying winger is something of the past. I imagine he'd be more of an inside forward or inverted winger; probably playing a similar role to someone like Sterling or Sane at City.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Niall
Son said:
Wow. Great comment. I actually got a bit sad reading that. I took it all for granted at the time since I’d never known anything else. It was unthinkable we’d drop anything below 2nd or 3rd in the league.

We were totally respected by Europe’s elite. Fergie in the dugout too we knew we always would be favourites at OT even if Real or Barcelona came to town. Truly great times. Football seemed very simple for our club back then & Giggsy was a big part of that.
Click to expand...
Great post
 
Port Vale Devil said:
I thought he was really top drawer until you see what Ronaldo did at Utd then you see he was just a very good player but not at the upper echelons of football.


Even though he was a winger, to be thought about as world class he should have been more than a 1 goal in 6 games player.


Good player for sure with some brilliance.
Click to expand...

He was definitely world class. An absolutely incredible player. One of my favourite ever players and one of the reasons I fell in love with Manchester United. I can't find the quote at the moment but I read somewhere once that by Sir Alex that Giggs would have scored a lot more goals if we he had played as a wide forward than an out and out winger. Also he wasn't mainly about goals, he produced 162 assists in League and also had a 72% tackle success rate. https://www.premierleague.com/players/335/Ryan-Giggs/stats

This quote from Sir Alex from when he saw him the first time sums him up well "You knew right away, the way he ran across the ground, that he was something else. He was like a Cocker Spaniel chasing a piece of silver in the wind. His feet never seemed to touch the ground and that was the start of it all."

He was also held very highly by others in the game.

Bryan Robson: “The first time I saw Giggsy, he was playing for Salford Boys against United’s apprentices. He was thin and wiry, but he just glided past four of our apprentices as if they weren’t even there, then he put the ball in the back of the net. I just thought ‘This kid’s an absolute natural”

Luis Figo: “He has the most talent than any other football player. He is delicate and dynamic. He is the player chosen by god.”

Dunga: “Any manager in the world would want Giggs in their side”

Zinedine Zidane: “If he was French, Pires or myself would have been on the bench.” "Giggs is truly world class"

Allesandro Del Piero: “Only two players made me cry when watching football, one was Diego Maradona and the other Ryan Giggs.” :drool:

My father thinks England would have won another World Cup if he had played for them.




 
Last edited:
To this day there still isn't a player out there who could run with the ball at full speed and weave in and out of opposition players as good and as easily as Giggs.

Giggs was comfortably the most exciting player in SAF teams after Cantona and before Ronaldo. He was the player that got the OT crowd off their feet.

His shooting/finishing was blooming erratic,though.:D
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • Like
Reactions: SteveJ
Just look at videoclips of Ryan Giggs at his peak. You'll be amazed. The epitome of 'flying down the flank'. Pace, close control, skill, crossing, he had it all as a winger.
 
He was absolutely incredible. Used to be my favourite ever player before that whole fiasco.

I loved how he adapted his game in the later years, the man had brilliant footballing intelligence. I only wish he scored that free kick in his last ever game for us!
 
Port Vale Devil said:
You shoved up Robben as an example and for me he isn’t genuinely world class as I would probably only have 20 players from the last 20 years who were. I get this is a Utd forum but to the neutral I guess he wasn’t as great as you think he was and I get it as we are blinkered to our own team.

Does world class have an era? For me he was never the best player in any Utd team he played in and was never considered instrumental like Cantona was and was just another cog in the machine .

So where would you rate him in the ‘world class’ scale?

I say again he was a great player but I would have Bale above him personally.
Click to expand...

:lol:
 
A great footballer but I always got the sense that without the niggling injuries he could have been better. By the time he sorted out his physical conditioning to be injury free he was well into his 30's and had become a different player. The way he reinvented himself to continue playing so long is a testament to not only his talent but also his intelligence.
 
Sassy Colin said:
You're a massive cnut, but you have no legacy.

You can't imagine the stir he caused when he burst onto the scene.

Personally, ranks only after Bobby Charlton as my favourite ever United player. SAF looked after him very carefully, when he was younger, for fear of him turning out like Best. Pity Gascoigne never came to United under SAF's wing.
Click to expand...

I was too young to remember his breakthrough. He was always one of my favourite players growing up and his performance v Juventus away in Turin when we won 3-0 is one of the best I've seen.

However, I find it difficult to really appreciate the man given we now know what sort of man he actually is.
 
Surprised anyone who supports Utd needs to ask this question. Giggs was a legend, and that is not an overstatement in this case. He was superbly fit and rarely missed a game through injury and was rarely dropped. His pace and ball control were second to none and he knew how to finish. To my mind he was in the same league as Best, Charlton, Law, Cantona and others. Pity he had hamstring injuries, common among speed merchants. It is a great shame that his private life was not as exemplary as his football life and an even greater shame that he is remembered more for that by some people. The present team would not be in the position we are if a young, fit Giggsy were playing for us.
 
He could still play no.10 for us tbf.
 
The Boy said:
I always thought he was eligible to play for England as he had played for England schoolboys as Ryan Wilson and I have spent years blaming Mark Hughes for convincing him to play for Wales instead at a time when there was nothing England needed more than a left winger!

A quick check it turns out he played for England schoolboys because his school was in England, but he was born in Wales, to welsh parents with welsh grandparents. I'm thinking very differently about Mark Hughes now!
Click to expand...
Many of us thought the same thing for years:lol:
 
The Boy said:
I always thought he was eligible to play for England as he had played for England schoolboys as Ryan Wilson and I have spent years blaming Mark Hughes for convincing him to play for Wales instead at a time when there was nothing England needed more than a left winger!

A quick check it turns out he played for England schoolboys because his school was in England, but he was born in Wales, to welsh parents with welsh grandparents. I'm thinking very differently about Mark Hughes now!
Click to expand...
His father was a professional Rugby League player in England for Swinton. Giggs could have gone on to play rugby instead. We are lucky he chose football instead:drool:
 
Fantastic Footballer but lousy brother. Thank God I am a fan and not his Sibling.
 
Interesting about Giggs is he was a true winger, a left-footed player on the left WING, not a wide forward. Those comparing his numbers with Robben, Ronaldo etc must consider he played on the left of a midfield 4, and the goalscoring wide player in the modern sense, the inverted winger, those shackles lifted defensively, weren't a thing in the way the game was being played.
But in modern systems, a young Giggs would be a superstar on the left or right of a front three (I'm sure he could play on the right), a mature Giggs would be a superstar in a midfield three. He was just phenomenal and seemed to have 3 lives as a player. The way he came back after he had to rely less on his pace to become such a leader and passer, his positional sense, amazing. But really as a young winger he was often unplayable, in very different times.
 
Last edited:
He was unlucky that he played with Dennis Irwin and David Beckham for so long, in that his dead ball abilities were severely underrated - a truly sensational player, his technical ability was among the best on the planet. His pace in his youth was truly terrifying and how he modified his game was an accurate reflection of what an intelligent, accomplished player he was.
 
If there was a current winger I'd compare him with, in style/ balance, that feeling something could happen (not anything else, not necessarily to Giggs' quality), it would be Sane. I was very surprised when United didn't sign him.
 
Sassy Colin said:
You can't imagine the stir he caused when he burst onto the scene.

Personally, ranks only after Bobby Charlton as my favourite ever United player. SAF looked after him very carefully, when he was younger, for fear of him turning out like Best. Pity Gascoigne never came to United under SAF's wing.
Click to expand...

I remember thinking that Lee Sharpe was a brilliant find and was going to be a storming player, then Giggs came along and blew him out of the water, with hindsight there's no comparison. I genuinely think Giggs is one of the best ever and you're absolutely right, Gascoigne could have been to if someone had given him the same level of care.
 
Think his best season was probably 93-94, which is such a long time ago now, and so early in his career, that it might kind of get lost in what followed. Young Giggs was the best Giggs IMO, and the fact that he may never have really fulfilled the potential he showed in those early years tends to lead us to assume he underwhelmed later on.

After that it’s hard to pinpoint any single outstanding individual seasons he had. He could blow hot and cold at times, especially around the early 2000s. But he was ridiculously exciting and creative, never went hiding, consistently turned up in big games, and was just an all-round menace that opposing sides would always have to account for.

In terms of style, Leroy Sane comes closest of today’s players. In his own time I’d rank Giggs alongside or maybe just below Figo.
 
Amazing.

Giggs was the kind of player who would make you go out and buy his secrets and skills VHS in a desperate attempt to become anywhere near as good...

...just saying.

Those of you who did not see Giggsy running at full pelt down the left wing, before all his hamstring problems started, really missed out. When Giggs got the ball everyone expected him to destroy his man. He was a proper goalscoring winger too. Go past defenders like they weren't there. Really special.

Considering his muscle injuries its incredible he found a way to prolong his career the way he did. Yoga and all that. Plus even late in the day he was a damn good player. Still, Giggs between say 1993 and 1999 was the best Giggs.
 
He'd perhaps be higher-rated if he'd been a more showy, outspoken and egocentric person.
 
As a 38 year old, he moved to LB position against West Ham away when we were 2-0 down, it was Rooney's show on that day but Giggs dropping to LB position when he was 38 showed how good he was. His sliding tackle was very good too.

Also he had such a ridiculous pace that when he moved to CM, he was still quicker than most CMs when he was in his mid 30s. It was like Giggs running at 60-70% was still quicker than most CMs, especially the acceleration.
 
Last edited:
Haven't read the rest of this thread but I remember very well what he was like.

He was definitely better at 17/18 than Ronaldo and Messi were at that age. Which is why I'm disappointed he didn't improve enough later in his career.

It would be stupid to say he wasn't a great player for us over the years, but given the promise and ability he showed at 17/18, he should have been better.

I feel the same way about Rooney, but Rooney was a more extreme example.
 
You can't play 900 games for Manchester United at its peak and that too in an attacking role, without being anything but sensational. Cream of the class of 92 crop (though Giggs broke in before them).
 
roonster09 said:
As a 38 year old, he moved to LB position against West Ham away when we were 2-0 down, it was Rooney's show on that day but Giggs dropping to LB position when he was 38 showed how good he was. His sliding tackle was very good too.

Also he has such a ridiculous pace that when he moved to CM, he was still quicker than most CMs when he was in his mid 30s. It was like Giggs running at 60-70% was still quicker than most CMs, especially the acceleration.
Click to expand...

This is it - to protect his hamstrings he never sprinted, but he still was so quick, extraordinary.
 
Port Vale Devil said:
You shoved up Robben as an example and for me he isn’t genuinely world class as I would probably only have 20 players from the last 20 years who were. I get this is a Utd forum but to the neutral I guess he wasn’t as great as you think he was and I get it as we are blinkered to our own team.

Does world class have an era? For me he was never the best player in any Utd team he played in and was never considered instrumental like Cantona was and was just another cog in the machine .

So where would you rate him in the ‘world class’ scale?

I say again he was a great player but I would have Bale above him personally.
Click to expand...
Bale is not even in the same league as Giggs. There is zero comparison
Bestofthebest said:
Surprised anyone who supports Utd needs to ask this question. Giggs was a legend, and that is not an overstatement in this case. He was superbly fit and rarely missed a game through injury and was rarely dropped. His pace and ball control were second to none and he knew how to finish. To my mind he was in the same league as Best, Charlton, Law, Cantona and others. Pity he had hamstring injuries, common among speed merchants. It is a great shame that his private life was not as exemplary as his football life and an even greater shame that he is remembered more for that by some people. The present team would not be in the position we are if a young, fit Giggsy were playing for us.
Click to expand...
Up until the late 90s he missed a bunch of games every season through injuries, his hamstrings each ti e
 
Sparky_Hughes said:
Bale is not even in the same league as Giggs. There is zero comparison

Up until the late 90s he missed a bunch of games every season through injuries, his hamstrings each ti e
Click to expand...
Agreed (about Bale).
The injuries were very frustrating. There was also one season when he was fit but played absolutely awfully, complete loss of confidence. Some time in his very early 20's I think. Very frustrating to watch at the time.
 
Those comparing Bale to him... I adore Bale and think he is absolutely great but he isn't fit to lace Giggs' boots.
 
Port Vale Devil said:
I thought he was really top drawer until you see what Ronaldo did at Utd then you see he was just a very good player but not at the upper echelons of football.
Click to expand...

I'd agree largely with this. He was up there amongst the best for nearly 2 decades, which is an achievement in itself. He was a brilliant player, but he was not quite at the very, very top.

Maybe if he'd not had the injuries he would have reached that top tier. He was a lightning quick dribbler and a composed midfielder, but never both at the same time.
 
Relevated said:
I wasnt old enough to know what giggs was like during his younger days. I see everyone from that generation rates Giggs but I want to know exactly how good he was

Was he ever the best in the world? Or was he more consistently great more than anything else?
Click to expand...
I started watching United and Giggsey from season 2001/02,so I didn’t really get a chance to see him in his pomp.I”ve seen plenty of videos and goals of Giggsey from the mid nineties and my god,he looked like an incredible player.Unquestionably one of the greatest players to have ever played for our club
 
11101 said:
I'd agree largely with this. He was up there amongst the best for nearly 2 decades, which is an achievement in itself. He was a brilliant player, but he was not quite at the very, very top.

Maybe if he'd not had the injuries he would have reached that top tier. He was a lightning quick dribbler and a composed midfielder, but never both at the same time.
Click to expand...

Ruud Gullit thought he would have been a star in Serie A and would have played for the great Milan side.

I'll take that over any opinions on here
 
You must log in or register to reply here.