Giggs: Robin van Persie is world class The man who has won 13 Premier Leagues, four FA Cups, four League Cups and two Champions Leagues, who has scored 168 goals in 951 games for Manchester United, is busy working out how he can deal with his mothers text requesting five tickets for Sunday. Its Cardiff City, the place of his birth. Its emotional, Giggs admits. And next Friday, he turns 40. Its just another day, Giggs says. It is a remarkable landmark but it is still all about the next game for Giggs. Its sad because as a footballer you dont really take a lot of it in with birthdays and Christmas. Usually youre in training. Christmas Day Ill be in a hotel in Hull. Its what Im used to. Ive been doing it for 22 years. He is still driven. Im always trying to improve myself, never settling for playing just well. Constantly, every season, Im questioning the sports scientists and coaches so I can get better. I know the feeling of letting myself down and not producing on a Saturday and I always want to prepare myself to play well. Ive never been one to think that was good. Im always looking forward. We finish a game, and its right, great result, whove we got Wednesday? Get yourself ready for Wednesday. I probably dont get to enjoy football as much as I could. I enjoy it for a split second, then Im on to the next game. I still get angry in the dressing room. Ill shout. Im a moaner. If someones made a mistake, Ill let them know - what were you thinking? - because I feel thats my job. I hope they learn from that. It made me stronger when Bryan Robson and the others did it to me when I was starting out. I remember, sitting on the coach thinking: This is the end of the world, the gaffer [Alex Ferguson] has had a go at me, weve just got beaten and Ive missed a chance and hes not going to play me next week. Robbo would come up and say: Dont listen to him, youre young, youll make mistakes, just come back the next game. This has been the perfect club for me, the perfect manager, giving young players a chance. He recognised the history of the club and could foresee young players playing in the first team from seeing them in the youth team. Just do what youve been doing in the youth team, he told me. Now a player-coach, Giggs is sitting in a side room at Carrington, still lean, still defying time, still shaped by his schoolboy days. I was a stand-off at rugby league playing against props physically bigger than me. That helped make me able to take the battering. My first game [in 1991] I came on up front against Everton and Dave Watson went right through the back of me. I wasnt intimidated. This Sheffield United right-back was kicking me one game, giving me a few verbals and it affected me a little bit. I said to Robbo: That right-backs just said hes going to break my legs. Robbo said: Did he? You come and play centre-midfield. Im going to play left wing for 10 minutes. We swapped positions. Robbo soon came back: Aye, youre all right now, go back over. Problem solved! I had this mentality that if Robson was playing wed never lose. He had that authority. Him and Brucey [Steve Bruce] were brilliant for me. That 94 side had characters, men. It had power and pace. Wed football you to death, wed fight you to death, it didnt really matter to us, wed beat you. We had players like Incey [Paul Ince] whod drag the team over the finishing line, just immense. There are definitely fewer leaders now. Im doing my Pro-Licence and we talk about the game missing characters like Tony Adams, Robbo, Brucey, Keane, leaders. There are those sort of players still like Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney and John Terry. But not enough. That 94 team had Eric Cantona. Because Eric had that aura, and with what he did on the pitch, everyone from the outside looked at him as completely different but within the dressing room he was one of the lads. Brucey, Keany, Incey would all take the mick out of him just like any other team-mate.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Nov 2013 10:40:00 +0000
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