Manchester United legend and family man
IT was a touching family moment when Ryan Giggs proudly held his two young children as he took to the Old Trafford pitch to celebrate Manchester United’s latest Premier League title on Sunday.
The joy was clear on the smiling faces of son Zach, five, and daughter Libby, eight. Yet their father – one of the legendary club’s greatest players – looked curiously uncomfortable.
As pampered multi-millionaire football stars are condemned for loutish behaviour, Giggs, 37, has been one of the sport’s finest role models, admired for his skills, family-man image and exemplary behaviour on and off the pitch in a career of more than two decades. He was awarded an OBE in 2007.
I hardly drink any alcohol these days. I have taken up yoga. I just lead a more boring life
He married long-term partner Stacey Cooke, 32, in a secret register office ceremony that same year. After the birth of Libby in 2003 he had said: “It’s not just you and your partner any more – there is someone else you have to care for.”
In an interview last year he compared his life today with his early 20s: “I hardly drink any alcohol these days. I have taken up yoga. I just lead a more boring life.”