Manchester United plan to retire Ryan Giggs number

Master -_- SG · 2009-04-12T14:12:25+00:00

well,i hope the will retire all numbers!

I-like-flings(m) SG

Since ur talking about practicality, then jersey numbers shouldn't be of a concern..Giggsy kept the number for years ever since he was still in the academy and it's certainly praiseworthy that he didn't make use of it for his own marketing rights (think DB7, CR7, R9)...

Regardless in Man Utd or the whole world, i simply couldnt think of anyone to achieve similar success the way Giggsy did in his own career and retiring that jersey number will definitely be an heirloom in the Man Utd annals that a football great did so much to have that honor in years to come and at least i can tell my grandchildren that in my times..grandpa have seen Man Utd's jersey 11 in action and his name was Ryan Giggs..

touching or not?

he will reply u...i also saw Mickey mouse in disneyland b4 wat.....touching bo? anyway.. ya he deserve it lah..who can forget that goal in 1999 FA cup?

zocoss SG

touching or not?

Yes, practicality is the reason why there is no need to retire the number for just one player... Sentimental feeling shouldn't preside over this kind of minor stuff. The numbers are still very important to the club's future players... That why I don't agree that it should be kept way in a memory box where 10 yrs down the road, most people will forget it.

B Charlton has achieved no less, Winning the league title and their first European cup, his goalscoring records for United remains and even helping England win their only WC to date as a United player... considered by many to be one of the greatest English players of all time... Isn't he just as deserving as Giggs? Did his number get retired? No but they built him a statue which will be remembered long after he is no longer around... I guess that is enough...

And also I find nothing praiseworthy at all, its all down to individuals like or dislike to market it... I don't find it a bad thing either, United the club have overriding percentage to whatever is generated from it... So I actually think its a very good deal... It also helps to promote the club brand too... How much extra Beckham have made for United we probably will never know the exact sum but when he left, Real over took United in the marketing revenue department... We must also remember that not ever one can do it... Some may want to but may not have that iconic image to deliver...

To you maybe Ryan Giggs is the greatest to wear the United shirt after winning all those stuff and deserve to have his number retired but most United fans don't view it that way (greatest to wear the United shirt)... You can win lesser and still be consider the greatest... I have to be honest with you Giggs as good as he was, never created or started a revolution in the fashion of G Best or E Cantona or even B Charlton... That why they are voted ahead of him as the greatest to put on the United jersey...

I don't think your grand children in 30 or 40 yrs from now would be too interested to know who was the one that wore the No.11 at United if its kept and forgotten for the next 30 yrs as they didn't live during his time and they could probably search the web in a min if they really wanted the info and it would just come across as another unfamiliar name to them which will have no meaning... Just like today we won't bother what G Best wore had his No.7 been retired long ago... We are more interested on the players of our times... The Beckhams, the Ronaldos... and the next number 7...

The Munich air disaster date, time, players, these are the sort of stuff to remember... Not just one single player... As we always hear, no player is bigger than the club... and in this instance, more rightly so...

Master -_- SG

even if man utd does not officially retire number 11...i can guarantee there will be an unwritten law that nobody will be given permission to wear that number much in the case of many players who have devoted themselves much to the club and country like Maradona, Pele, Zola, Maldini (even though he still playing but he expresses that only his sons should be able to wear that number should they play for AC), Cyruff and many more..Even the thai Kiatisuk Senamuang has his number retired for his club..

either way i guess only by posthumous means should the number be retired in the case of Phil O Donnel, Puerta, Feher and Vivien Foe..likewise should Fandi Ahmad pass away...

zocoss SG

I guess you have a point but its still very much in the air right now to me... It may happen then it may not... The official line is still not taken... But who knows, it may be given to a new youngster after Giggs retires or it will be left vacant until they buy another winger of player like what happen with Rvn... But one thing we can be sure of is the youngster who receive Giggs number will be honoured to be handed a great player of the club's shirt...

I personally don't support the retiring of important numbers... Like the 1,7, 9, 10 and 11s... Cos these numbers are significant unlike the 3,4 ,5 or 14, 18, 24, 25, 34 or 41...

True that Chelsea retired Zola's number but the number 25 any significance? I don't think players would be too keen to ask for such numbers compare to the 1, 7, 9, 10, and 11... Just like Beck requested for the No.7 and Rooney wanted the No.10... This will always be the case...

Some clubs retire numbers for their own personal interest while some do it for other reasons...In England, there are 6 clubs who have retired former players numbers... Of the 6, 5 are dead... 3 clubs are from in the Premiership while the other 3 are in the lower league...

Bobby Moore's number at West Ham did not get retired until 18 yrs after he left the club... It was only after he passed away that they gave him this honour... Zola is the only living one I belief but again, his number of 25 has no significance...

Marc-Vivien Foe wasn't even a City player to begin with, he was only on his first year loan from Lyon... Yet City retired his jersey but not Lyon who he had been playing for 3 yrs before his loan...

Again I say some clubs do it for their own interest... Some players are really bigger than their clubs especially when these clubs are really small clubs...

Roberto Baggio is one instance... who played more games and scored more goals at Juventus than at Brescia but it was at Brescia his last club where he was already in semi-retirement that retired his shirt number... But why not at Juve one might ask? when he was at the peak of his game...

The same can be said of Pele too... He played for Santos for 18 long years and over 400 matches... Winning the WC for Brazil 3 times I think but they didn't retired his number... But ironically it was at his retirement club, a little known club in the USA by the name of New York Cosmos that retired his number... Pele only played 3 season and 50+ matches for them... Compare that to the 400 over at Santos?

Diego Maradona you could argue could be another one... What is Napoli compare to Maradona? You can say having people know he once played for them is far better on them than for him... You can say the same with Brescia with Baggio and New York Cosmos with Pele too don't you agree? Perhaps one day LA Galaxy may also retire Beckham's number just to remind people they once had such a famous player at their club...

If you think about it, doesn't Real or Barcelona have any great or loyal players over the years? But I belief these 2 clubs have never retired any of their past players numbers simply because the club is bigger than the players... They didn't see the need to do so I guess... In fact, I think Spain don't even have a single club who retires players numbers (stand to be corrected)...

So, if some village club in Vietnam by the name of Hoàng Anh Gia Lai wants to retire Kiatisuk jersey... I would say, well its good PR for them cos the man is more well known in SE Asia than the club itself... At least we are now mentioning it because of the player in question and not because of the club...

So we can see that there are some beneficial returns to retire a player's number too but mostly at the smaller clubs level... For the big clubs, they must take serious consideration before doing so... As for big clubs, its solely for the player and not the benefits...

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