page_title: Ryan Giggs
section_title: 2005–2010
hierarchical_section_title: Ryan Giggs / Manchester United / 2005–2010
caption_attribution_description: Ryan Giggs of Manchester United near the corner flag, Old Trafford, Manchester
context_page_description: Ryan Joseph Giggs OBE is a Welsh football coach and former player. He is the manager of the Wales national team and a co-owner of Salford City. Giggs played his entire professional career for Manchester United and briefly served as the club's interim manager after the sacking of David Moyes in 2014.
  The son of rugby union and Wales international rugby league footballer Danny Wilson, Giggs was born in Cardiff but moved to Manchester at the age of six when his father joined Swinton RLFC. Predominantly a left winger, he began his career with Manchester City, but joined Manchester United on his 14th birthday in 1987. He made his professional debut for the club in 1991 and spent the next 23 years in the Manchester United first team. At the end of the 2013–14 season, he was named as Manchester United's interim player-manager following the sacking of David Moyes. He was named as assistant manager under Moyes' permanent replacement, Louis van Gaal, on 19 May 2014; he retired from playing the same day. He holds the club record for competitive appearances.
context_section_description: Giggs signed a two-year contract extension with United when chief executive David Gill relented on his normal policy of not signing players over 30 to contracts longer than one year. Giggs benefited from being largely injury-free aside from a series of hamstring problems.
  Giggs scored his first goal of the 2006–07 season in a 2–1 victory over Watford on 26 August 2006, with his goal proving to be the winner. Giggs scored the winner in United's next game, a 1–0 home victory over Tottenham Hotspur on 9 September, scoring a header in the eighth minute. Giggs provided a goal and an assist in the final Champions League group game against Benfica on 6 December, with his free-kick being converted by Nemanja Vidić before Giggs headed in a Cristiano Ronaldo cross.
  In February 2007, Giggs scored the final three goals of his season. He scored the final goal in a 4–0 away win against Tottenham on 4 February which put United six points clear of Chelsea. On 20 February, Giggs scored the winning goal against Lille in the Champions League with a quickly taken free-kick that caused the Lille players to walk off the pitch in protest. Giggs later said he was amazed by the situation, as no rule had been broken. On 24 February, Giggs scored the equalising goal against Fulham in a game which United went on to win via a late Cristiano Ronaldo winner to go nine points clear of Chelsea.
  On 6 May 2007, with Chelsea only able to manage a 1–1 draw with London rivals Arsenal, Manchester United became the champions of England. In doing so, Giggs set a new record of nine league titles, beating the previous record of eight he shared with Alan Hansen and Phil Neal (who won all of their titles with Liverpool). In the 2007 FA Cup Final, Giggs had a goal ruled out in the 14th minute of extra time after referee Steve Bennett deemed him to have fouled goalkeeper Petr Čech in forcing the ball across the line.
  Giggs played a starring role in United's 2007 FA Community Shield victory after netting in the first half to bring the game to a 1–1 draw, which led to penalty triumph for the Red Devils after 'keeper Edwin van der Sar saved all of Chelsea's first three penalties; the goal was Giggs' first professional goal at Wembley Stadium.
  In the 2007–08 season, Alex Ferguson adopted a rotation system between Giggs and newcomers Nani and Anderson. Giggs scored his 100th league goal for United against Derby County on 8 December 2007, which United won 4–1. More landmarks have been achieved: on 20 February 2008 he made his 100th appearance in the UEFA Champions League in a game against Lyon and on 11 May 2008, he came on as a substitute for Park Ji-sung to equal Sir Bobby Charlton's record of 758 appearances for United. Giggs scored the second goal in that match, sealing his, and United's, 10th Premier League title. Ten days later, on 21 May 2008, Giggs broke Bobby Charlton's appearance record for United when coming on as an 87th-minute substitute for Paul Scholes in the Champions League Final against Chelsea. United won the final, defeating Chelsea 6–5 on penalties after a 1–1 draw after extra time, with Giggs converting the winning penalty in sudden death.
  At the start of Manchester United's 2008–09 campaign, Sir Alex Ferguson began placing Giggs at central midfield, behind the forwards, instead of his favoured wing position. Sir Alex Ferguson said in an interview, "(Giggs) is a very valuable player, he will be 35 this November but at 35, he can be United's key player. At 25, Ryan would shatter defenders with his run down the flank, but at 35, he will play deeper." Giggs has begun taking his coaching badges and Ferguson has hinted that he would like Giggs to serve as his coaching staff after retirement like Ole Gunnar Solskjær did.
  Following speculation earlier in the year, in February 2009, Giggs signed a one-year extension to his current contract – which was due to expire in June 2009. After a successful season, Giggs was short-listed along with four other Manchester United teammates for the PFA Player of the Year. On 26 April 2009, Giggs received the award, despite
caption: Giggs before a corner kick against Everton at Old Trafford in 2009
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