[GocartMozart]

It's a tad old, but I must have forgotten to post it when a read it a few weeks ago.

This is from today's Free Sport Magazine....

An entire career spent at Old Trafford has made Ryan Giggs the most decorated footballer in Premier League history. He took a moment away from polishing his medals to speak to Sport



In the shadows of the Mr Clutch autocentre in Manchester city centre, Ryan Giggs stands in the middle of an unremarkable industrial unit. He’s scowling. This is no place for Premier League royalty, and the down-at-heel location would be enough to see the dummy spat by several of the game’s most high-maintenance professionals.

But the scowl is all an act, pasted on for the camera as Giggs goes through the motions for his sponsors. The Welshman has been around long enough to know how this game is played and, after 16 years at the top, the poses and patience come naturally by now. But even so, the venue all seems a little basic for a man of his standing – the Premier League’s first superstar and a man with more than 700 first-team games and 100 goals to his name, Giggs has won more silverware than any other Premier League footballer and is the most decorated player in United’s history. Such sensational statistics didn’t go unnoticed down at Buckingham Palace, where the Queen (possibly after pawing through her Racing Post one morning) acknowledged Giggs’ contribution to the game by awarding him an OBE.

Today, and with his 34th birthday looming later this month, the searing pace of his early days may have waned a little – but Giggs remains a key component in the Manchester United machine. With the ink just dry on a new one-year contract extension that will keep him at Old Trafford until 2009, Sport has travelled north to ask the 33-year-old about his 16 years at the top – and to lightly pry into what he plans to do once the curtain finally falls on his career.

As the photoshoot draws to a close, the scowl is replaced by a smile and we head for a small office upstairs, where Giggs’ long-time adviser, Harry Swales, sits munching a biscuit and reading a copy of Sport. Giggs spots it and smiles. “Yeah, we have Sport at United,” he says. “It’s a good magazine.”

Swales himself is a colourful character – a genial old gentleman with white hair and a luxurious handlebar moustache that runs the full width of his face and joins up with his sideburns. He’s the antithesis of the modern agent – no designer suit, no beeping BlackBerry, no list of preposterous demands. Just a biscuit and a cup of tea. The truth is, Harry Swales is no agent at all, more of a trusted ‘adviser’ who took the fresh-faced Giggs under his wing when he first broke through at Old Trafford. He says Giggs is “like family” to him, wiping crumbs from his slacks, and says it’s been “a pleasure to represent him” down the years. And with that, he returns to his Sport and tells us to crack on with the interview – so we begin with an easy question about football.

How do you assess United’s season so far? You finally seem to be firing as you did last season?

“I think so, yeah. We had a slow start by our own standards, but there were reasons for that – Ronaldo missing three games after a red card at Portsmouth, Rooney injured and out for five games. We struggled to get a settled side during the first month or two of the season and, attacking-wise, that’s where we maybe struggled compared with last season. But that stands to reason, particularly when you take out two players like Ronaldo and Rooney, who can score and change games just like that. Defensively, we’ve looked as solid as ever, which is pleasing, and now we have a settled team the goals are starting to come. We’ve had a few good performances in recent weeks, more like the United of last season, so I think we’re moving in the right direction.”

What’s the priority for you personally this season: Premier League or Europe?

“I don’t think we can afford to think like that. It’s a cliché, I know, but you just try and win the games in front of you and see where it takes you. I suppose if you push me on it, you have to go out and win your own league, because you’re judged over a full season. The Champions League – and the FA Cup as well – is always more of a lottery.”

You have another year at United and you’ve said you’d like to stay longer. How long can you go on?

“Forever, hopefully, but that’s obviously not going to happen, so I have to look after myself in a way that will extend my career. I think it was about seven or eight years ago... I made a decision to do whatever I could to extend my career as much as possible, so I took advice from fitness advisers and dieticians that has helped me keep going. I’m disciplined in life, anyway – to be honest, I feel younger than ever.”

Is it harder to shake off the knocks these days?

“Yeah, but as you get older you expect that. Playing Champions League and Premier League games, often twice a week, does put a strain on you, but I’ve introduced things like fitness sessions in the pool that make a big difference. Retiring from international football was one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make, but it has helped extend my club career.”

Is it true you’re into yoga?

[Smiles] “Yeah, it is. Yoga helps loosen the muscles and takes pressure off your joints, and I think it’s one of the reasons I’ve had such a good run without major injury. I’ve been doing it for a few years, and it’s definitely helped my hamstrings and my back. You call it yoga, but it’s really just stretching.”

How superstitious are you – do you go through any pre-match rituals before a game?

“Not at all, no. I read in Sport about Rio’s superstitions, his jumps and all that. I’ve noticed him doing his jumps and pouring water on himself before he goes out, but I didn’t know he had to stir his coffee in a certain way [smiles]. I don’t do anything really. I’ve never felt the need to.”

What are your plans beyond football? Would you like to stay in the game?

“Yeah, I think so. There are so many options now for footballers to stay in the game, and I’d like to think I’d stay on in a coaching capacity. I’ve done my C and B badges, and hopefully I’m going to take my A badge in the summer.”

Any ambition to fill Fergie’s boots?

“I think... I don’t know, really. At the minute, I prefer the idea of coaching. Doing the badges, we were coaching the reserves and the schoolboys at United. I really enjoyed it, but it’s obviously a lot different from being the manager. I can see the appeal, definitely, but a lot can happen and time will tell.”

If you had to have a trade once you retired, like footballers used to, what would tickle your fancy?

[Laughs, possibly at the ridiculousness of a retired footballer having to work after football] “Blimey, what would I do? God, that’s tough... er... I don’t know.”

Milkman?

“Erm...”

Newsagent?

[Harry chuckles merrily in the background] “No, not really either of them.”

A colourful tinker selling flowers by the road?

“Hmm, no not really. I haven’t given it much thought, as you can probably tell. I haven’t got a clue.”

Could you run a pub, like all old pros used to?

“No. I don’t like pubs.”

[Harry: “You’ve got to do something, Ryan”]

“I know, but I don’t know what. Ah, hang on, I know. I could work as a waiter. Yeah, I think I’d like that, meeting different people. A waiter. No, wait, a restaurateur – yeah, I’d be happy doing that.”

It would be hard work and long hours, and the money’s not great – certainly not in the first 18 months, while you’re establishing the business...

“That doesn’t worry me, I think I could do a good job. I’d be like Marco Pierre White. I’d like that.”

Something to consider, then. Moving reluctantly on, was there an initiation ceremony when you joined Manchester United? Did they cut your clothes up or force you to drink a yard of ale?

“There’s always an initiation when you join a club. I joined quite early, because I was there as a schoolboy – every school holiday, I’d be training full time with the apprentices. So I sort of sneaked in, I suppose, rather than joining and being introduced to a new team. Back then, it wasn’t a one-off initiation – more a case of being in trouble if you did anything wrong. If you were late, you’d be thrown in a cold bath, fully clothed. That was never pleasant.”

How scary is Fergie’s famed hairdryer treatment?

“Frightening, it really is. I’ve had a few down the years, and from an early age – as soon as I first joined at 14 or 15. He’s calmed down a lot over the years, so you don’t see them so much these days. They were genuinely fierce, but only because he has this incredible will to win and doesn’t like to see players not fulfilling their talent. He gets very frustrated, which is fair enough, but because I had it from an early age, especially when I tried things that didn’t quite come off, I’d just shrug at him. The lads in the team now would not believe how he used to be, because he’s mellowed a lot.”

Did a Fergie blast have the desired effect?

“Yeah, it did, but he didn’t do it with everyone because he knew certain players would react differently to it. He knew that if he gave me the hairdryer at half time, I’d go out and want to prove him wrong second half. With others, he knew that would have a detrimental effect, so he’d put his arm around them... [smiles] I don’t know what I was playing at, really. I should have pretended I didn’t like being shouted at – I could have saved myself a lot of grief.”

What was worse: being on the end of an outburst from Fergie or one from Roy Keane?

[Instantly] “The gaffer. When I was 14, 15, seriously, you’ve never seen anything like it. Just ferocious. Keany was… no, he was never too bad.”

Where do you keep all your medals – you’ve got far too many to keep on the mantelpiece, surely?

“Mine are mainly in either the Manchester United museum or the one in Wales – I haven’t got any at home. I did have the last championship medal at home, but I think I gave that to one of them as well. They’re only on loan for display – I’ll get them back, but I don’t particularly want to come home from training or a game and look at a mantelpiece full of medals. I’ll look at them when I’m finished.”

What about your OBE – do you ever nip out to the shops with it pinned on your sweater?

“I haven’t actually been given it yet – I think they’re still sorting it, but I wouldn’t rule out going out and about with it pinned on. Why not? Could look good.”

The wonder goal against Arsenal in 1999: if you could score that goal and celebrate it again, would you still take your top off?

“I don’t know, but I’m neater on the chest these days [pauses to whip up his polo shirt and show us]. I’ve not gone for the full wax job, but it’s certainly better. Would I take the top off and swing it round my head again? No, definitely not. It just went to my head.”

Who’s your hero, in a non-footballing sense?

“Probably Nelson Mandela. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet him a couple of times. He was really clued up on his football and he knew me, so that was just unbelievable. It really stuck with me.”

What’s the worst item of clothing you’ve ever worn?

“Probably a shell suit, in my younger days. I think I was only about 16 and they were fashionable back then. But there’s no excuse, really, is there?”

No. What’s your favourite room in your house?

“Probably the play room, because I’m always in there with the kids. My little boy’s just got a trampoline, so I spend a lot of time in there.”

Rio Ferdinand said his favourite room’s the toilet...

[Harry looks up from his copy of Sport. “Who said that? Rio? [Chuckles] Oh dear, oh dear.”]

What’s the best thing you’ve ever bought?

“My house – I had it built from scratch.”



“Probably a Ferrari. It wasn’t bad, but it was a lot of money and just not as good as I thought it’d be.”

Sorry to keep banging on about him, but Rio said he couldn’t get into his. It was too small for him...

[Smiles] “Mine was fine on that count. I’d always wanted one, because I love cars, but I never really got on with it. I kept it about a year and then got rid of it.”

Sell it to Rio, by any chance?

[Laughs] “No, it wasn’t Rio.”

Okay, well, an obvious question to end on. Giggsy: The Movie. Who plays the lead role?

“Good question. Er... probably a young Robert de Niro, provided he can master the Mancunian accent and play football. Yeah, put De Niro.”