God in football's dressing room

It is headlines such as this which has kept me excited over Manchester United for a very long time.

My first exposure to Man Utd was in 1967 after they had won the European Cup (before the competition was renamed as the Champions League). I was only in lower secondary school but I remember reading in the newspapers about their match with Benfica. Since the mid-1990s, my football hero in the Manchester United team has been this man, Ryan Giggs, a real wizard with his feet and a thinking man's footballer.

Giggs made his first appearance for Man Utd in the 1990/91 season and has been a regular ever since then. He holds the club record for competitive appearances and the club record for team trophies won by any player. Since 1992, he has collected 11 Premier League winner's medals, four FA Cup winner's medals, three League Cup winner's medals and two Champions League winner's medals.

According to latest news reports, Ferguson says that Giggs will be offered a new contract that will take him to the end of the 2010/11 season: "He is an example to young people because of his humility. He is in the best form of his career right now. He is God in the dressing room. You can see the warmth he generates and young players go to him and seek his advice. We will certainly be offering him a new contract for next season, when he’ll be 37. That is what we think of him. He has been amazingly consistent."

Oh yes, Paul Scholes too, will be offered a new contract. Says Ferguson: "Scholesy seemed to be uncertain about his future. Well, we are sure and we will be offering him a contract, too, and he knows that.”