It’s been a big week for Ryan Giggs.
On Sunday night he was awarded the prestigious PFA Player of the Year honour and four days later he came
off the bench against Arsenal to make his 800th appearance for
United.
The Welshman took time out on Friday morning to speak to
ManUtd.com, BBC Radio, Key 103 and PA
Sport…
How significant was it for you to collect the PFA Player of the Year award earlier this week?
I was really pleased. The players vote for that so for your fellow
players to vote you Player of the Year is great. I’m really chuffed
to get it and to top it off I made my 800th appearance for United
against Arsenal. It’s been a great week.
Is there any sense that the award has been coming for some time
and what you achieved this season made your fellow pros look back
on your previous 18 years?
I don’t know. I’d like to think it was just for this season. Maybe
it is because I’ve been in the game for so long, but I’ve been
happy with my form this season and hopefully it was based on that
and the past year. I don’t know – you’d have to ask the players who
voted for me.
Did you enjoy watching those old clips at the PFA dinner? You’re not the kind of person who looks back
a lot on what you’ve done…
No, I don’t tend to look back. It was an emotional night, a great
night for me and my family. When you look at the old clips, which I
don’t tend to do, it’s nice to see everybody’s reaction.
Some of those goals… were you thinking: ‘I can’t believe I
scored that!’
[Laughs] Those were the quicker days when I could beat defenders a
lot easier than I can now! It’s great to look back on the goals
you’ve scored. Things have changed a lot since I first came into
the team. Sky were just taking over then and football’s gone on to
a different level. All the equipment’s changed – the stadiums, the
pitches… everything for the better.
When you came on against Arsenal on Wednesday an announcement
went around the ground to say you were making your 800th
appearance. How did that feel?
I had a great reception from the crowd and that gives you an extra
lift, an extra buzz. And coming on in a big game like that, I
wanted to make an impact. Overall, I was just thinking about
scoring or creating more goals for the team. Unfortunately we
didn’t do that but we’re pleased with the performance and 1-0 is a
good result.
Can you ever see anybody else playing 800 games for one
club?
I think there will be players who get near to it or maybe surpass
it. The way players look after themselves these days [there’s every
chance]. If a player gets into the first team at 18 or 19-years-old
and stays relatively injury free they can do it. It is a long time
and it is a lot of games but they probably said Sir Bobby’s record
would never be surpassed. But that one has and I wouldn’t be
surprised if somebody passed my record.
What would your advice be to younger players who are thinking of
being one-club men?
If you’re at a big club then why would you want to leave? If you’re
playing well then you’re going to stay for a long time. That was
the case for me. I didn’t want to leave. There’s always a challenge
at United. And you find that at other clubs, too, with the likes of
Raul [Real Madrid], Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher [both
Liverpool]. They’re all big players at big clubs and they stay for
a long time. It probably doesn’t happen at smaller clubs because
players want to move on and improve themselves.
Is it a combination of loyalty on the players’ part and the
success of the club?
I think loyalty does come into it, as well as different challenges.
If a player’s being challenged every season, which you do get at
big clubs, then they won’t want to leave.
If you can beat Middlesbrough at the weekend how close will you
be to adding an 11th league title?
Each game, if we get the right result, we get closer and closer.
The games are running out for other teams to catch us. We’ll be
trying to win. It won’t be easy but if we do get the right result
it will be a great opportunity for us.
