With the departure of Louis Van Gaal and subsequent appointment of José Mourinho, Ryan Giggs has gone out the exit door at Old Trafford after being snubbed for the gig for the third time
There’s plenty of rumors abound as to where he’ll end up next. Will it be England? Will it be abroad? Will it be back in the arms of a supermodel? Probably not that last one.
But to pay tribute to the original Welsh wizard, we’ve dug up 40 great stats about Ryan Giggs.
1 – Man United’s game against Bournemouth was their 4,440th in the league since 1892. Ryan Giggs has played in just under 15% of them.
2 -The Red Devils have taken on Liverpool on 46 occasions in the Premier League games. 38 of them had Giggs in action. That’s the equivalent of a full season.
3 – He’s played in 632 Premier League games- which is more than 34 of the clubs to have played in the league.
4– He played against 117 teams in his United career.
5– Giggsy became a professional at United on the 1st of December 1990. Almost half of United’s 33 man squad in 2016 weren’t born then.
6 – His first goal came in his first start during his first Manchester Derby.
7 – He’s the reason that most football fans know what a super injunction is.
8 – He scored Man United’s quickest ever goal against Southampton in 1995 coming after just 15 seconds.
9 – In 1994 Giggs had his own programme on Channel 4 called ‘Ryan Giggs’ Soccer Skills’.
10 – He loves having his nipples touched.
11– He had the same win percentage as caretaker manager for four games as Ron Atkinson did for 292.
12 – Giggs was the second midfielder to reach 100 goals for one club behind Matt Le Tissier.
13 – He could’ve represented Sierra Leone through his grandfather.
14 – He shares a birthday with Imogen Thomas.
15 – He’s shared a bed with Imogen Thomas.
16 – NFL player Russell Wilson and wrestlers JBL and Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler also share a birthday with the Welshman.
17 – He and Becks auditioned for the lead roles in Titanic.
18 – By the time Beckham made his Manchester United debut in 1992, Giggs had already won a League Cup, Super Cup, and Young Player of the Year award.
19– He played in his own testimonial, which happened a full 12 years before he retired.
20 – Sir Alex Ferguson wrote in his book that had Giggs retired five years earlier, he’d have been Fergie’s successor – not David Moyes.
21 – He had 162 assists during his Premier League career, almost three quarters of which came from open play.
22 – He averaged a goal every five and a half games in his career.
23 – He wore leggings during a match. Bet you thought we’d forgotten that one!
24 – Giggs is the only man to have played in 19 Champions League campaigns. Making 151 appearances in the competition puts him level with Chelsea. Yes, seriously.
25 – He won 34 trophies in his career – more than Manchester City have in their history.
26 – The team Giggs has played most often in the Premier League and not scored against is Leicester City (12 fixtures).
27 – By contrast, he’s scored more goals against Spurs than any other side (10).
28 – He never scored a Premier League hat trick but got 11 braces.
29 – He’s won the Goal of the Season once. No surprise as to what goal it was.
30 – Despite playing for Wales for 16 years Giggs only scored 12 goals for his country.
31 – He entered the English Football Hall of Fame in 2005.
32 – He’s got an OBE for services to football.
33 – If Giggs and his wife got divorced, his wife would still have six more Premier League medals than Steven Gerrard.
34 – He is the 22nd person to receive the Freedom of the City of Salford and part owns Salford City FC with the rest of the Class of 92′.
35– He’s so good at yoga that he’s mastered levitation.
36 – He has his own football themed hotel. It’s creatively named Hotel Football.
37 – He allegedly impregnated his brother’s wife. That is bad form Giggsy
38 – His father Danny Wilson capatined Wales in rugby.
39 – PC World opened its first ever store the same year Giggs scored his first ever professional goal.
And finally 40 – His favourite past time is playing Ring a Ring a Rosie with Paul Ince.
So best of luck Giggsy wherever you may end up. 29 years of great goals and gagging orders is over. Never change.