Ryan Joseph Giggs OBE(born Ryan Joseph Wilson on 29 November 1973) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays for Manchester United. Giggs made his first appearance for the club during the 1990–91 season and has been a regular player since the 1991–92 season. He established himself as a left winger during the 1990s, and continuing in this position well into the 2000s, though he has been increasingly used in a deeper playmaking role in his latter years. He holds the club record for competitive appearances.
Giggs is also the most decorated player in English football history.He has won 12 Premier League winner's medals, four FA Cup winner's medals, three League Cup winner's medals and two Champions League winner's medals. He has two runner-up medals from the Champions League, three FA Cup finals and two League Cup finals, as well as being part of the team five times when it finished second in the Premier League. In recent years, Giggs has captained the team on numerous occasions, particularly in the 2007–08 season when regular captain Gary Neville was ruled out with various injuries.
Giggs has a number of personal achievements. He was the first player in history to win two consecutive PFA Young Player of the Year awards (1992 and 1993), though he did not win the PFA Player of the Year award until 2009. He is the only player to have played and scored in every season of the Premier League and he also holds the longest run of successive scoring seasons in UEFA Champions League history (11). He has been elected into the PFA Team of the Century in 2007, the Premier League Team of the Decade, in 2003, as well as the FA Cup Team of the Century.At international level, Giggs played for the Welsh national team prior to his retirement from international football on 2 June 2007, and was once the youngest player to ever represent his country.
In addition to the many honours Giggs has received within football such as being named in the Football League 100 Legends (the last active player in the list), he was appointed an OBE in the Queen's 2007 Birthday Honours List, and was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2005, for his services to English Football. He was named as BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2009. On 31 January 2011, Giggs was named Manchester United's greatest ever player by a worldwide poll conducted by United's official magazine and website. Sir Alex Ferguson presented him with the award.
Born as Ryan Joseph Wilson (he later adopted his mother's maiden name as his professional surname) at St David's Hospital in Canton, Cardiff, to Danny Wilson, at the time a rugby union player for Cardiff RFC who would go on to become a Wales international representative in rugby league, and Lynne Giggs (now Lynne Johnson). As a child Giggs grew up in Ely, a suburb of western Cardiff. His younger brother, Rhodri, manages non-league Salford City.He spent much time with his mother's parents and playing football on the roads outside their house in Pentrebane. In 1980, when Giggs was six years old, his father switched rugby codes and signed for Swinton RLFC, forcing the whole family to move north to Swinton, a town in Salford, Greater Manchester. The move was a traumatic one, as Giggs was very close to his grandparents in Cardiff, but he would often return there with his family at weekends or on school holidays. Giggs is mixed race – his paternal grandfather is from Sierra Leone – and has spoken of the racism he faced as a child.
After moving to Salford, Giggs appeared for the local team, Deans FC, who were coached by Manchester City scout Dennis Schofield. His first game for Deans ended in a 9–0 defeat to Stretford Vics but, nevertheless, many people commented that Giggs had been the best player on the pitch that day. Schofield recommended Giggs to Manchester City, and he was signed up to their School of Excellence. Meanwhile, Giggs continued to play for Salford Boys, who went on to reach the final of the Granada Schools Cup competition at Anfield in 1987. Giggs captained the Salford team to victory over their Blackburn counterparts, and the trophy was presented to him by Liverpool chief scout Ron Yeats. Yeats was impressed by Giggs's performance, and would have recommended him to Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish, had Giggs not already been picked up by Manchester United.
While playing for Deans, Giggs was observed regularly by local newsagent and Old Trafford steward Harold Wood who regularly recommended the young man to senior staff at Manchester United to no avail. Wood spoke personally to Alex Ferguson who sent a scout who was impressed enough for United to offer Giggs a trial over the 1986 Christmas period. Giggs played in a match for Salford Boys against a United Under-15s side at The Cliff and scored a hat trick, with Ferguson watching from his office window. On 29 November 1987 (his 14th birthday), Ferguson turned up at Giggs's house with United scout Joe Brown and offered him two years on associate schoolboy forms. They offered to waive YTS forms, and persuaded Giggs to sign by offering the opportunity to turn professional in three years. Using the name Ryan Wilson, Giggs captained England at schoolboy level, playing at Wembley Stadium against Germany in 1989. He changed his surname at the age of 16, when his mother remarried. His parents had separated two years earlier.
Giggs was offered his first professional contract on 29 November 1990 (his 17th birthday), by which time he was described by various sources to be the finest prospect in English football since George Best in the 1960s. He accepted the contract and became a professional two days later (1 December 1990).At this time, United had recently won the FA Cup – their first major trophy since the appointment of Alex Ferguson as manager in November 1986. After two precarious seasons in the league where they had finished mid table, they were finally starting to threaten the dominance of Liverpool and Arsenal, though they only managed to finish sixth that season. Ferguson's quest for a successful left winger had not been an easy one since the departure of Jesper Olsen two years earlier. First he had signed Ralph Milne, but the player was not a success at United and lasted just one season in the first team before Ferguson secured the Southampton winger Danny Wallace in September 1989. Wallace had failed to repeat the performances that had made him one of the highest rated flanksmen in his days on the South Coast, and by the time Giggs turned professional Wallace was battling with 19-year-old Lee Sharpe for the role of first choice left winger.
