Life of Ryan: Caretaker Manager

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RYAN:
What's the question I get asked most?

"Are we going to win the league this year?"

I always get asked that.

INTERVIEWER:
What's the answer?

(SCOFFS) Not this year, no.

(CHUCKLING) Pretty easy this year.

Sometimes it's, "Mmm..." I hope so.

"What's Rooney like?"

Used to be, "What's Cantona like?

What's Ronaldo like?

"What's Beckham like?"

They're all right. (LAUGHING)

No, I'll tell you what. The most the last

five years, "Are you going again this year?

"Are you going again next year?

"When you finishing?"

Manchester United symbolises,

for me, the bedrock of my life.

Been there since I was 13. I learnt so much.

Winning, never-giving-up attitude,

the history, meeting new friends, the fans,

learning things every day

and just a great place to be fortunate

to go every day for over 20 years.

DAVID BECKHAM:
He was

one of these players that,

once he stepped on the field,

you know that something special

was going to happen,

and that's one of the reasons

why he's had the career that he's had.

It's one of the reasons

why he's been able to play

up until the age of 40

at the highest level in football.

PAUL SCHOLES:
Sometimes you get players

who make you look better than you are,

and I think Giggs would be the best one

I've ever played with.

HENRY WINTER:
If he played on snow,

he wouldn't have left footprints.

You won't see a player with that athleticism,

with that intelligence

and to have that hunger

season after season, to turn up

to push your body through

chasing trophy after trophy.

Thirteen Premier League trophies,

two Champions Leagues as well.

Ryan Giggs will be remembered

as the greatest player

to have graced the Premier League.

GARY NEVILLE:
You don't sometimes

recognise greatness whilst it's happening.

You usually have to wait 20 years

or when you're dead to get a statue,

but he shouldn't have to

for what he's achieved.

SIR ALEX FERGUSON:

There's no player in the game today

that can get up and down that touchline

as an outside left,

attacking but willing to go back to defend,

the attitude to winning all the time.

There's no player in the Premier League

who gets anywhere near that.

CROWD:
# Giggs

Giggs will tear you apart again

# Giggs

Giggs will tear you apart again

# Giggs

Giggs will tear you apart again #

(CROWD CONTINUES SINGING)

(FANS SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)

(ALL SINGING INDISTINCTLY)

This was off Gary, Gary Nev, Gary Neville,

a nice bottle of red wine.

Yeah, Italian, but I think

Roy Hodgson and Graham Souness

have got him

into a tracksuit as well.

STACEY:
No, pyjamas.

Oh, Pyjamas, sorry.

Yeah, that shows my age

that I'm getting excited when I get pyjamas.

(BOTH LAUGHING)

This was off the club, Paul Smith bag,

so that was nice.

I mean, I started when I was 17,

and I'm looking at people like Mark Hughes,

who was probably, at the time, 28, 29,

as old, Brucey Robson,

32, 33, and I'm thinking, God, they're ancient.

So God knows what the likes

of Adnan and Phil Jones

and Danny Welbeck, people like that,

are thinking of how old I am.

It's killing me. Like making debut

before people are even born and... Yeah.

I'll be glad when it's over.

(LAUGHING)

When you were younger, 17, 18,

you'd just go out and play

and it's no problem, you feel fit.

But then after 30,

especially toward the end of your 30s,

you can play in a game

and you just feel absolutely rubbish.

Maybe your preparation hasn't been right,

or maybe it's your first game,

or even your second game,

and you just don't feel match fit.

Then you start thinking,

are you ready to do it all again?

Have you still got the buzz? Have you...

Do you still feel fit?

Are you still contributing?

Are you still happy?

I've come in from training, walked in

and they've all got their Giggsy masks on,

and then around the dressing room

was just different pictures of me

throughout my career, some not

too flattering. Stuff like this, which...

Bit embarrassing.

Great cross, that's my Arsenal goal,

claiming it was a cross.

That sort of thing.

So, yeah, I took a bit of stick today.

Few of these pictures have ruined me,

haven't they? (LAUGHS)

He could switch from being Elvis

and rapping at a party

where we've just won the league,

and then he's on the field and totally focused

in exactly what he needs to do.

That's one of the great things about Giggsy.

RYAN:
This season, obviously

it was always going to be difficult

because Sir Alex had left

and he'd been here for so long.

As a player, yeah, you know

that the results ain't going right

and you want to do better,

both as an individual and as a team.

At the moment,

well, I'm not playing and

we're obviously not winning

every game, so, yeah, it's, uh...

Yeah, it's been an obviously

disappointing season all round for me.

Can I tie my shoelaces

without dropping the ball?

INTERVIEWER:
Go on, go for it.

- There you go.

-(LAUGHING)

Suddenly, when you get to 38, 39,

you have to say...

You say to yourself,

"When is he going to quit?"

And he probably has asked

the same question himself,

but he's such an exceptional human being

that he carried on, and that's quite amazing.

FEMALE NEWSREADER ON TV:

After this short break,

we'll have more reaction to

the managers' press conference.

What did il:
say there? MU I V?

STACEY:
He did mention retiring

quite a few times last season

and he was on the verge,

um, because he said,

"I could be going out on a high,"

which we all thought, "Great,"

and then he was persuaded to stay.

I think he's going to really struggle

when he finishes

because he's had that same routine

for 25 years,

and to then have, well, maybe nothing to do,

it's going to be really hard.

The kids bought him these, and the club

sends him one of them every year,

and I think that one's from the BBC,

this yoga one.

- That one's good.

-(ALL AGREEING)

(LAUGHING) Because that's him.

(CROWD CHEERING ON TV)

RYAN:
Just spotted this. What is this?

Lunch with the Nevilles?

That's getting recorded.

"Gary and Phil Neville join together

for a special Q&A event

"to raise money for their hometown club

Bury FC, hosted by Mandy Henry."

I'll be watching that.

First memory of him was an overhead kick

he scored at The Cliff

against Lewisham when we were Under 15s,

and thinking, "I've got a long way

to go to get to that level."

He was just streets ahead of everybody

that we'd ever met, really, in terms

of football. Never seen anything like it.

The ball was stuck to his feet.

His left foot, sorry, not his feet. (LAUGHS)

He can't dribble with his right.

As a United fan, you never think anybody

can beat Sir Bobby Charlton's record.

Growing up, you just think that

it's a mountain of games over 20 years.

The achievements of him are just incredible.

It'll never be beaten. No one will ever win

as many Premier League titles as Ryan Giggs.

RYAN:
I've got very few stuff around

the house, but this is presented to me

by the Barclay's Premier League.

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