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| No | 69% | 148 votes | Total: 214 votes | |
| Yes | 31% | 66 votes |
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Add to FavoritesTurn back the grey pages of soccer history and you will notice that Manchester United has always had great players in every generation.
Great names like Sir Bobby Charlton, Eric Cantona, Steve Bruce, Mark Hughes, Bryan Robson, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo have all worn the hallowed jersey of the Red Devils.
In this article, we are concerned with two players who are still in active service but can be considered legends already. Their names are David Beckham and Ryan Giggs.
The question is; does Ryan Giggs have David Beckham to thank for his soccer career? The answer is a stark, unequivocal NO!
It is a fact that both Beckham and Giggs spent quite a number of years together at Manchester United. In those days, Man. United were simply lethal. With Beckham on the right wing and Giggs on the left, most teams in England had no answer to this awesome combination.
But this is not to say that Beckham was the senior partner in the Giggs-Beckham combination. If anything, both guys were masters in their own right.
While David Beckham had his trade mark free kicks and pin point crosses, Giggs was simply a maestro with his trade mark dribbling runs. Again, while David Beckham was captain of the English National team, Ryan Giggs was captain of Wales. Giggs was also, and still is, the Vice-Captain of Manchester United.
It is also important to recognize that David Beckham left Manchester United in the summer of 2003. That is almost six years ago. In those six years, Giggs has continued to grow from strength to strength. Giggs is the most decorated premier league player of all time. He also holds the record as the man who has made the most appearances for Manchester United. He has broken Sir Bobby Carlton's record of 759 matches and is on course for an incredible 800 appearances. Giggs is also the man credited with having scored the goal of the century. He achieved this feat in an F.A. Cup match against Arsenal F.C. In this match, Giggs dribbled the entire Arsenal defence before unleashing a thunder of a shot into the roof of the bet.
Finally, it has to be noted that while David Beckham has moved from Man. United to Real Madrid and Madrid to L.A. Galaxy, Giggs has put in twenty years of meritorious service to Manchester United. And, he is still very relevant to Manchester United to boot! Sir Alex Ferguson confessed recently that he consults Ryan Giggs on major soccer decisions. It is also a fact that the younger lads in the United team refer to Ryan Giggs as 'Mr Giggs'. In the largely informal atmosphere of a soccer pitch, this is the ultimate accolade.
With all these points in favor of Ryan Giggs, I have to be a nut to see how the wizard from Wales has David Beckham to thank for his soccer success.
Learn more about this author, Emmanuel Osondu.
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Yes
Ryan Giggs can certainly thank David Beckham for the last few years of his career. Giggsy shot onto the scene as a teenager when he was built up as the next George Best. He was protected by his Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson from the glare of the media and it was a few years before he was allowed to give his first interview. Ferguson quite rightly wanted to keep Giggs concentrating on his football career. A lot of people don't realize how few non-competitive matches Giggs actually played for his native Wales. And now he has retired from international football in a bid to extend his career.
When Beckham came along, he was a dream for the media - a kind of Spice Boy. Millions of column inches have been dedicated to him and his family. Giggs has generally stayed in the background. Once Beckham upped and left for Real Madrid, people again started to realize what a talent Manchester United had in Giggs.
During Giggs's formative years, he was firstly protected by Ferguson and then put in the shade publicity wise by Beckham's emergence. He was given comparative anonymity while he was developing. But his ability was never in doubt. Only when he was getting older and already established did he start to come more into the spotlight as club captain and leading player. I reckon Giggs is a far better player than Beckham. But Giggs must thanks Beckham for deflecting much of the attention he would have been subjected to had Becks not been around.
Learn more about this author, Phil Hill.
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