Ryan Giggs

This is going to be long and wordy and badly put and I'm going to digress half a million times in the middle of it all.
But I want to write this.
I've been wanting to write a dedication to Giggsy for some time now, and today would be perfect to do it.

Ryan Giggs.

To be honest, for a very long time,
Giggsy was never my hero.

My first ever footballing hero was Eric Cantona.
I believe that's pretty self-explanatory. I mean, we're talking about Cantona here. The man is a bloody legend.

And after that, for a long time I worshipped David Beckham.
I didn't have a crush on him, I was too young to. I worshipped him the way you'd worship a hero.
He was my Man United hero after Cantona left.
I have that goal of his from the halfway line still imprinted into my mind. And that happened way back when.

Ryan Giggs on the other hand, was not so much pomp and flourish.
He was the quiet one, him and Scholesy.
Quiet, modest, and at the top of their game. (although Scholesy was a bit more hot-tempered)

But I've always had a soft spot for Giggsy.
Mostly because he started playing for United the year I was born.
I felt we had a bond, and so I loved him, but I just didn't see him as a hero...yet.


Today,
I can say that
Ryan Giggs has been playing for Manchester United for as long as I've been alive.
His entire footballing career, and he has never switched clubs.
That's 20 freaking years at one club.

If that isn't dedication, I don't know what it is.




Somewhere along the line, I grew to appreciate Giggsy.

I grew to respect him for never getting involved in any of the scandals that graced the back pages of the newspaper.

I grew to love him for his loyalty to the club I've supported for most of my life.



Today, Ryan Giggs is my hero.
As he has been for the past few years.

After Becks left, when people asked me who my favourite player from United was, I'd be rather at a loss.
Today, ask me who my favourite player is, and I'll tell you Ryan Giggs without hesitation.




I cannot even begin to express how much I love, respect and admire this man.

We call him United's finest servant.

Yet, we are the ones privileged to have him play for us.
We have been blessed to have a player like Ryan Giggs in United.




The story of how he left City's academy to play for us, because he always wanted to be a Red is something I'll never forget.
I can only thank God that he did leave City.
I cannot imagine Ryan Giggs playing for anyone else.
I cannot imagine a Manchester United without Ryan Giggs.


I am tearing up now, so the rest of this post will probably be all emotional.



I just cannot imagine him ever retiring.

I've only cried twice over football.
The first was when Becks left,
the second when Keane retired.

But when Giggs retires, I will cry buckets. I just cannot imagine a squad without Giggs.
or Scholes,
or Nevs (which is what I call Gary Neville).

I've always wanted Roy Keane to manage United after SAF retires,
but now I wouldn't mind Ryan Giggs becoming manager.
Or at least being part of the management!
If he just leaves completely I swear I'll cry for weeks.


This is horribly biased, but I'll always love the '97 squad more than I'll love any other Manchester United squad.

The boys we have now are as good, and they have the potential,
but somehow,
the boys from '97 were of a different calibre altogether.

I'd like to see them united again someday.



Becks, both the Nevilles, Scholesy, Giggsy, Keane, Butt, Ole...that lot.
In a perfect world they'd all come together and manage United one day.
Ole did, and then he left. :'(
I'll just keep hoping.


See how much I have digressed.



I love Giggsy in a way that I cannot explain.
I don't love him in the omg-I-want-to-marry-him kind of way, I just love him.
The way you would love a father.
Someone you look up to.
Someone you admire.

I adore Ryan Giggs.
And I admire him.
And I appreciate today, more than ever, everything he has done for this club.

And the day he becomes Sir Ryan Giggs, I might just die of happiness.

He deserves it.


He's already a knight in my heart, and I know he is in the hearts of so many die-hard United fans out there.


Ryan Giggs is a solid player, and an amazing human being.

He was the boy who played like a man and now he is a man who plays like a boy.
37 years old and still going strong.

Happy Birthday Giggsy.

May you stay young forever.

~vid~