20 Years of Ryan Giggs

I've been a football fan for about twenty years: for the whole of Ryan Giggs' career.

I remember him in his mop-topped, spindly limbed early career - up against the likes of Ray Wilkins and Neville Southall. I remember the middle-phase of his time at Old Trafford as he helped inspire United to treble glory in arguably the finest midfield English football has ever seen alongside Paul Scholes, Roy Keane and David Beckham. And of course, i remember his latest incarnation as the most admired footballer in the land - a man who has extended his career by reinventing himself as a player, adapting his game and living an exemplary lifestyle.

For as long as long as i've watched the game i've watched Ryan Giggs: the man who's made more appearances for Manchester United than any other, the man who's scored in every season of the Premier League and the man who's won more league championships than anyone else in English footballing history.

It had always been my intention to write such a piece when the Welshman brought down the curtain on his playing career. But with no end in sight and one day short of twenty years since he made his debut in a defeat to Everton here are my top three Ryan Giggs moments:

1. A perfectly executed sliding tackle robs Henning Berg of possession out on the left wing. Immediately leaping to his feet Giggs sweeps in a superb cross which Eric Cantona heads into the roof of Tim Flowers' net. A vital goal in a title run-in which perfectly illustrates the combination of tenacity and skill which has characterised Giggsy's game for so long.

2. THAT goal against Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-final of 1999. Picking off a stray pass from Patrick Viera he ran at the Gunners backline, twisting his body this way and that before arrowing a shot past David Seaman. And then unveiled his magnificently hairy chest.

3. If you thought his yoga DVD was embarrassing have a gander around youTube for footage of Giggs' Quorn adverts. Looking thoroughly unconvinced he stares blankly into the camera as he tries to persuade the watching world that Quorn truly is 'a tasty alternative to meat'. The mind boggles.