What is the current view on Ryan Giggs?

Todd said:
Honestly not sure how to feel about Giggs anymore. On paper he's a United legend and a Premier League legend. He's also an adulterer, which is bad enough, and an alleged abuser of women, which if true is absolutely damning and should be enough to make his name taboo.

And, to be brutally honest, as men (I get the impression the majority of us fans are men) we should be willing to hold other men to a higher standard of behavior, and not excuse men of low character simply because they're world class footballers who play at our favorite club.

Rooney is my favorite United player of all time. But he's also a serial cheater, and that's not admirable. At best, you'd have to say he's a great footballer but a shitty husband. But at least with him it sounds like it was consensual.

Ronaldo is almost surely a rapist, and not enough of us are holding him accountable for that. He never should've been welcomed back to the club, and I'll never wear my Ronaldo jersey again.

So when it comes to Giggs, yeah, great footballer, but I'd rather he never be involved with the club again.
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As my old man used to say, you have to separate the men from what it is they do. Giggs was a bloody genius of a player. That 1999 goal against the Gooners was one of the greatest I've ever seen. If I were a judge of his moral standards, I'd say he was in the gutter.
 
In an alternative universe Ryan Giggs would of had a tv court case for sleeping with his brothers wife, kind of like the OJ Simpson case. If the condom doesn't fit you must acquit!
 
His absence from the Premier League Hall of Fame is a joke that makes a mockery of the entire thing.
I could understand it if it was the Premier League Hall of Role Models Off the Pitch. He has won the Premier League 13 times!
 
lex talionis said:
In defense of sinners it's often argued that none of us are saints, but Giggs crossed a serious line with his off-pitch behavior. I'm not sure there's much to be debate here. Leave him be.
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Well, none of us are saints because none of us are sinners.
I am grateful we are rulled by men laws and not religions in Europe.
 
Without the DEI mob he'd still be considered soiled goods by many. He only has himself to blame.
 
last time I went to OT (west ham) he was doing a meet and greet at Nev’s hotel where we were staying, I asked my nephew if he wanted to go and meet Giggs and he said “who’s he?”… so we didn’t

loved him as a player though, shook his hand after the 2008 final in Moscow… amazing night
 
Great player, awful human being. That's all that needs to be said.
 
Redfrog said:
Well, none of us are saints because none of us are sinners.
I am grateful we are rulled by men laws and not religions in Europe.
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We have all committed wrongs against others, whichever word one wishes to use to describe it. The point is that even though we've all done things we regret, the seriousness of what Giggs is reported to have done suggests that it's probably best that he lie low and that we leave him be.
 
TwoSheds said:
Gary is a productivity wankstain with an aggressive need to please non-United fans to stay relevant in football terms, Butt had wife beating charges against him at one point, Scholes has a slightly strange personal life but tbf he's probably on the spectrum so I'm not for judging, Phil seems to live in his brother's shadow but is perhaps the nicest of the bunch, and Becks has a weird megastar lifestyle and thick kids but he seems very nice with it anyway.
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Now can you please expand on Scholes' personal life ?
 
He’s working for Salford? What does Mr Moral Gary Neville have to say about this?
 
Oranges038 said:
Don't think he'll ever work for or at the club again.

But then again, people don't seem to have an issue with the George Best statue.
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Did George Best sleep with his brothers wife or was he a woman beater? I’m genuinely asking because I don’t know.
 
IRELANDUNITED said:
I see, I never knew that, or if I did I must have forgot/ignored it. He had his demons George, not that that is an excuse for violence against women.
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Nobody mentions it about Gazza either. Seems like it just gets forgotten about over time.
 
Never fullfilled the potential shown in those early breakthrough years when it genuinly looked like finally we had the new George Best. Alot of that's down to injury but never-the-less, for me he never got to the standard I thought he would and thats how I remember him. That's more my problem than his, but its how I feel.
His longevity and quite brilliant move to midfield in later years helped counteract that underwhelming plateau we saw in the late 90s and that's why he (the player) is spoken off so highly.
For me, he should have been contending to be best player in the world by 96/97 97/98 but he never even made it into the conversation.
 
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The Boy said:
Congrats @Berbaclass on the most uncontroversial thread ever with pretty much the whole caf agreeing on amazing on the pitch, amazing twat off it.
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Fine. I'll save it.

Giggs was a poor man's Depay but his post-football life is an inspiration.
/s don't ban me
 
Solius said:
Incredible player, legend of the game and obviously a massive cnut of a person.

I do find it odd how he's basically been whitewashed from PL history though. Acknowledging he's a hall of famer/most medals, great goals and performances he's scored doesn't mean you agree with everything else he's done. They don't have to glorify him but I find acting like he never existed a bit weird, especially since his charges were dropped so those "in the eyes of the law" folks should be all over it.
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Yeah it's weird, a bit like old Soviet photos editing out people who had gone to the gulag.
 
Giggs one of many United PL legends who are criminally underrated.
 
More than a great player. He produced absolutely phenomenal performances in his teens, his 20s and well into his 30s (destroyed City in the 2009 4-3).

We'd kill for a 1 in 2 striker, but he did better than that: 13 Premier Leagues out of 23. That's all the ones we got, we haven't won a single one since he retired. Only Liverpool and us have more league titles.

Let that sink in. He had more pride and winning mentality than our entire squad these days.

Only an exceptional character can keep that perennial hunger and, unsurprisingly, it came with the sort of flaws/demons/insensitive bastardness that made him do things we find disgusting.

I'll stick with the awe inspiring memories. It takes two to tango, two consenting adults at that. Unsavoury as it may be, it's none of my business.
 
One of the most phenoemenally talented players I think most would agree they have seen, who despite his longevity and star studded career maybe didn't hit the highest of highs he maybe should have individually. But I think most can agree that when he played at his absolute peak he was unstoppable because he had it all, pace, power, technical ability, tough, dribbling skills etc

Absolute dickhead of a person though and the main reason he's been dropped like a lead weight. Which, if half of the things are true about him is probably the correct thing.

Giggs is a curious case though because it's not like other footballers -- who are still revered to this day -- didn't do equally shitty things in their personal lives and yet it's forgotten about. Best being a prime example as mentioned above. The debate around Giggs' footballing ability shouldn't be linked to his personal life because it's not the same thing, however we also shouldn't absolve him of his personal responsibilities of which he failed dramatically as a person.

Even now on Twitter he is widely discredited footballing ability wise, that Saka etc are way better than Giggs ever was. All I can think back on was how Giggs in his youth I thought he would be one of the greatest of all time. Largely forgotten now it's quite sad.
 
rcoobc said:
Man Utd legend.
Welsh not a legend (sadly)
As a man... Lacking
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By that logic, how is he not a Welsh legend? He's probably their best ever player, maybe worst case top 3. Other contenders are Charles, Bale, Southall, Meredith, Rush, and Sparky. Maybe only Charles and Bale are rated higher?

If he qualifies as a United legend then he should also be a Welsh legend. You either don't have him as a legend in anything due to his off-field issues or have him as one in everything despite him being a horrible cnut.
 
At his peak a brilliant player. That goal against Arsenal - just wow.

However he now seems to be paying a bit of a price for being a scumbag away from the football field. Which is fine by me.
 
Why should there be a way back for him at all? Are we short of mediocre managers? Since he retired from playing he doesn't exactly seem to be "best of the class". So the only other reason we would hire a great former player is using his reputation as an ambassador or something. But he successfully managed to destroy all of his reputation, so there is no point in that either.
 
The reason I started to watch football. But a lot of it has been erased in my mind.

Legend of the game regardless
 
Seems to have been cancelled hasn't he.
Would love to see him on the Overlap talking about his football career and his love life.
 
TwoSheds said:
Gary is a productivity wankstain with an aggressive need to please non-United fans to stay relevant in football terms, Butt had wife beating charges against him at one point, Scholes has a slightly strange personal life but tbf he's probably on the spectrum so I'm not for judging, Phil seems to live in his brother's shadow but is perhaps the nicest of the bunch, and Becks has a weird megastar lifestyle and thick kids but he seems very nice with it anyway.
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Was there one who went and became a priest? Or was he a different year?
 
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