Ryan Giggs Quotes

Celebrity culture, it's everywhere, isn't it? It's reality TV, Big Brother. I didn't become a footballer to be famous, I became a footballer to be successful. I didn't want to be famous. Now people want to be famous. Why? Why would you want people following you about all day?

I have always considered myself to be very fortunate. To play for the biggest club in the world, which also happens to be the team I supported as a boy, means I have never had to consider changing away from Manchester United.

I'm not comfortable being photographed, though I accept it is part of the job.

Messi is probably the best player of the last 20 years.

I just want to be as successful as I can in football.

My weight doesn't really fluctuate, but I make sure I don't eat late at night. It's about making sure I'm right physically because mentally I'm OK.

I had an early taste of fame. I was 20, going out with TV presenter Dani Behr and we'd have paparazzi chasing us. I'm not comfortable being photographed, though I accept it is part of the job. I had to ask myself, 'What comes first, being a celebrity or footballer?

In my career, there've been three stages really. There's been the stage when you come into a team, you don't feel the nerves, you just go out and play. Then through your 20s you start thinking a lot more about the games and what's at stake. And then, as you get more experienced towards the end of your career, you enjoy it a lot more and you're a lot more relaxed.

Every one is special. Especially after the disappointment of last year, losing out on the last day, it is a great achievement by the lads.

We will go back to playing like Manchester United.

Every footballer wants to play forever. And if you are going to keep on playing - to enjoy it to the full - you want to win games, and as a result, trophies.

I've always had people come up to me to say that they admire the way I play, and then they tell me they're not United fans. That's always been nice.

Where I grew up, people obviously knew my dad because it's a small place and he was the top player for Swinton - they'd go and watch him play, see him in the papers, so they knew he was black.

Ander is a fantastic young player, with great energy and creativity. We believe him to be one of the brightest young prospects in Spain and I am certain he will be a big hit with the United fans. I’m delighted he has made the decision to come to Manchester and play his part in the club’s future.

Too much money at a young age, it just takes your eye off the ball. And you're not as hungry as players used to be. You think you've made it before you've done anything.

I have played with some great players during my time at United but I would have to put Paul Scholes down as the best.

What you've got to realise is that footballers, and me in particular, have seen everything in the changing room. Everything. I've seen the manager kicking off with the players, the players kicking off with him, players fighting each other, managers fighting, everything.

As a footballer I can't imagine life without the use of one of my legs... Sadly this is exactly what happens to thousands of children every year when they accidentally step on a landmine.

When you lose a game or don't play well you can't wait for the next one, because it soon disappears, the disappointment.

I actually don't feel the years passing, although the younger players make sure to remind me of my age. If there's a clip of Bobby Charlton playing or a game's in black and white they'll ask: Were you playing in that Giggsy?

My dad played rugby, so I used to watch a lot of rugby union and rugby league.

When Cristiano Ronaldo gets the ball, you can just leave him to it while he beats player after player.

I've put myself forward to be involved. Whether I get picked, we'll have to wait and see. Obviously everybody is excited about it, about the Olympics coming to London and the football being played in different parts of Britain.

I’d go for Scholesy as the club’s greatest ever player. I’ve seen him do things that no other player can do. The way he can control the tempo of games, and his range of passing, are both incredible. We’ve seen over the years that players just haven’t been able to get near him. And you can’t forget his goals either.

A lot of people don't know that my father is black

I think after a big European game you're looking at four or five days. For two days afterwards I don't really do anything. I do a recovery the next day, which is bike work, a light stretch, some yoga and an ice bath after that. Then the second day I would just do the bike again for 20 minutes and then do some strides, which is box to box, just eight of them, just to get the legs going and the blood going again.

He was a professional rugby player in the area that I played as a youngster. So a lot of people who I went to school with knew who he was and knew that he was black. So I would get racist taunts in school.

European football games or evening games seem to take a lot more out of you because you don't sleep that night. And as you get older, it gets worse.

I am proud of my black roots and of the black blood that runs in my veins.

Many players want to make as much money as they can and change teams for ten grand. How is that going to make much difference to their lives?

I had my footballing heroes such as Bryan Robson and Diego Maradona but my dad was a rugby league star, and he was my real hero. But the relationship with my mum was rocky and we saw things that would affect any youngster.

Nelson Mandela is my hero outside of football. I was fortunate enough to meet him a couple of times. He was really clued up on his football and he knew me, so that was just unbelievable. It really stuck with me.

I like to let my football do the talking, I'm respectful of other good teams such as Arsenal.

Looking at me from the outside, it is not very obvious, I know half my family is black and I feel close to their culture and their color.

Where does it stop? You get offered money for your wedding, then for your kids, new houses, holidays... We earn enough from football and sponsorships, why do you need any more?

You get yourself prepared for a big game, you get yourself up for it. Then afterwards you don't sleep or eat properly.

I hope this match never ends. When the match ends, the memories begin.

As players, you just play for the club. I love Man United, I'm going to play for Man United, and that's what my focus is on.

There's never been completion in my football career because I've always been striving for that next thing. You listen to people who have finished and nothing replaces playing, but I'm still excited about not having to put my body through what I've put it through. And not feeling the disappointment that I feel.

If I feel I'm not influencing games, not scoring goals or making goals, then that's the time I'd pack it in.

I do not wish to hide my origins, nor do I seek to make it a subject of conversation. I am what I am.

There's never been completion in my football career because I've always been striving for that next thing.