Manchester United’s record appearances holder Ryan Giggs spent 20 years thinking management was easy such was Sir Alex Ferguson’s success.
Giggs will partner another Champions League winning manager in Louis van Gaal when the Dutchman takes charge of United next season after the World Cup.
The Welshman envisages good times under the new regime though it may well be a few years yet until he takes on a management himself, after a career highlighted by a record 963 appearances for the Old Trafford club.
“For 20 years Sir Alex used to say ‘wait until all you lot are managers and you’ll find out how hard it is to pick a team, to leave good players out’ ”, Giggs said on his ITV documentary Life of Ryan: Caretaker Manager, to be screened on Thursday night.
“I was just sat there going ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever’.
“It’s like having your first baby, you can prep as much as you want but until it comes down to actually living it day in, day out, you can never prepare for it.
“I’ll be all the better for next time it happens.”
Over to Van Gaal to guide the three-times European champions back to the top, says Giggs.
“I liked him instantly and I’m looking forward to working with him and learning from him.”
One sour point for Giggs was his decision to stay on playing after United clinched their 20th league title in Ferguson’s last season, the Scot’s 38th trophy in a 26-year reign.
“It’s been a difficult year playing-wise, (I’ve) not enjoyed the results and the playing so have I contributed? Not as much as I have done previously,” said the former Wales winger.
“If I’d have retired last year I would have gone out on a high: it was the 20th title and everything would have been rosy, but life isn’t like that.
“I took the manager’s job without hesitation because who turns the chance of managing Manchester United down?
“For the first time in my career it’s going into what is going to be a different season, a different summer.”
Main image courtesy of Sky Sports via YouTube, with thanks.
