Ryan Giggs announced his retirement from football following his appointment as assistant coach to Louis van Gaal, the new coach for Manchester United.
Ryan Giggs has had a glittering career with Manchester United. He has been one of the strongest players of the club. After 22 long seasons, the 40-year-old midfielder has announced his retirement from playing football. He now wants to shift all his focus to his new role as the assistant of Louis van Gaal, the new coach of the Premier League club.
"My dream was always to play for Manchester United," he said, according to BBC News. "Although it saddens me to know I won't be pulling on a United jersey again as a player, I have been lucky enough to have fulfilled that dream playing with some of the best players in the world, working under an incredible manager in Sir Alex Ferguson and, most of all, playing for the greatest fans in world football.
Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward called Giggs one of the greatest players to have ever worn a Manchester United jersey. Long-time team-mate Rio Ferdinand echoed similar sentiments, joking that Giggs has so many medals that he'd put B.A. Baracus to shame.
Giggs made his first appearance for the club in the 1990-91 season. He made his goal-scoring debut against Everton in 1991 and has remained the most decorated player in the English game ever since. His sensational goal against Arsenal in the 1999 semi-final replay has been voted the greatest FA Cup goal of all time. He was voted the number one player in the Premier League era and, in 2009, was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
After the dismissal of former coach David Moyes, Giggs was handed over the responsibility of interim manager till the season end. The player showed his skills off-field too, leading the club to a 4-0 victory over Norwich City after a demoralizing previous week of play.
"I did enjoy it - 4-0, it's a dream day for us. I'm really pleased with the performance. It's always nice to end the game like we did, scoring goals and creating chances," he said at that time, according to Fox Sports. "The first half we were a little bit slow, so I just reminded them that the tempo needs to be quicker and we need to be a little bit faster. They reacted well to that."
Last Sunday (May 19), the club announced that Louis van Gaal will take over as manager of Manchester United from the 2014/15 season. He has signed a three-year contract. The 62-year-old coach has managed at the top level of European football for over 20 years and in that time has won domestic titles and domestic cups in three countries, as well as the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Cup, an Intercontinental Cup, two UEFA Super Cups and domestic Super Cups in Holland and Germany.
This season the club finished a disappointing seventh. Hopefully, the next season will be better for them.
