My wife frequently tells me that sport isn’t real. Don’t tell her this, but as we mourn the retirement of probably the greatest player there's been in the Premier League era in this country, I think she’s bang wrong. Sport is real. The billions of pounds and the thousands of jobs that it generates around the world tells us it’s real. The stadiums, the sponsors, the inundated coverage on the televisions, in the newspapers and on the internet tells us it’s real. The unbridled joy it brings – moments like Giggs’ ‘goal of the century’ against Arsenal in 1999 – tells us it’s real. When Ryan Giggs first emerged, I didn’t like him. I couldn’t stand the way he gazumped my then favourite player, Lee Sharpe, on Manchester United's left wing. I didn’t really like the celebration him and Paul Ince concocted circa 1993/94, where they did their own version of patter-cake beside the corner flag every time one or t’other scored goal. But then there was the fact that, actually, Giggs was an absolute genius with a ball at his feet. The thing with Giggs is that his career can be split into two equally-successful chunks – the wizardry winger and the masterful midfielder. It’s hard to define where one ends and the other begins. Giggs broke into the United side as a 17-year-old, making his debut against Everton in March 1991. Ralph Milne was the left winger before Sharpe and then Giggs joined the party – United suddenly had two superstar wingers, and a fine left-back in Dennis Irwin, let's not forget. Right-backs must have had a coronary every time they came up against United. Giggs was part of the 1991/92 side that missed out to Leeds in the old Division One title race, but was very much one of the protagonists that secured the inaugural Premier League title 12 months later. Eric Cantona is often remembered as the main reason United won the title that year, but Giggs role cannot be discounted. The Welsh winger's role in nurturing United’s fabled Class of '92 shouldn’t be forgotten either. The winger was first into the limelight from that group, and wasn't allowed to speak to the media until he was 20 by Sir Alex Ferguson. His route into the first team defined a course the likes of Scholes, Beckham, Butt and the Neville twins would duly follow when their time came along. He was skilful and quick, the two attributes any defender fears most. If you watch clips of Giggs in full flow, you'll notice that he doesn't actually touch the ball that much when he's attacking. Instead his feet gesticulate towards the ball but seldom touch it, while his pace and body movement have defenders bamboozled, not knowing whether to tackle, hold him up, or just give up and go home. Giggs was often compared to George Best, and while stories of parties and hiding in cupboards with Lee Sharpe while an enraged Alex Ferguson searched the premises did the rounds, the truth was Giggs was a model pro – he wouldn’t have reached 40 playing at the top without being so. The treble-winning year of 1999 will live long in the memories of all United fans. There were three defining moments that season for United. First was Roy Keane’s performance against Juventus in the Champions League semi-final, where the Irishman almost single handedly turned around a lost cause in Turin to take United to the final, even though a yellow card meant Keane would be suspended. The second was Giggs' wonder goal against Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-final replay at Villa Park. It wasn’t just that it was one of the best, most audacious and skilful goals ever seen in British football. It was the fact that, with United down to 10 men and the chance of an unprecedented treble slipping away with every pass across the Arsenal midfield, Giggs’ goal proved that the impossible was possible after all. “This is the one I’ve waited for,” the Stone Roses sang, a song that might as well have been written about the Reds in 1999 by the United-mad band. After that goal, the third and final moment of the season was that late double against Bayern secured an incredible treble. Will we ever see the like again? Possibly, but it's hard to see how a fairy tale could be better written than that. Of course United also won the Champions League in 2008, giving Giggs a second winners medal to sit alongside his 13 Premier League winners gongs, four FA Cup winners medals the PFA player of the year crown for 2008/09, and countless others. When Ferguson arrived at Manchester United in 1986, Giggs would have been just approaching his teenage years. The success of both men has been inextricably linked - it's questionable either men would be where they are today without the other. Giggs now embarks on a new career, taking the role of Assistant Manager at the club, under the tutelage of another great leader, Dutchman Louis van Gaal. Knowing the professionalism Giggs brought to his playing career, his work ethic and his reading of the game, van Gaal couldn't have picked a better number two for such a huge job. The only surprise perhaps is that Ferguson himself didn’t make Giggs his assistant before leaving Old Trafford in 2013. United face a crucial summer as they look to strengthen a depleted squad already shorn of Vidic, Ferdinand and now Giggs. But how do you replace a fairy tale player like Giggs? Maybe my wife was right – maybe sport is pretty unreal after all.
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