He may be Manchester United’s longest serving player. He may be perceived as part of the furniture. He may have scored some great goals over the years. He may also have slept with his brother’s wife and changed his name from Wilson to Giggs because he preferred his mother to his father.
Over the many years Giggs was turning out for United he achieved a great deal. He did lots of things, some positive and some negative. When all of this is taken into account, from where does he get the impression, (if indeed he has the impression), that he should be the next Manchester United manager, whether that was following Ferguson, Moyes or van Gaal?
Where is the experience at lower league level? In fact, where is the managerial experience at ANY level?
Under David Moyes Giggs gained little or no experience other than a bit of coaching. Van Gaal at least made him assistant manager, although it appeared to be a title with little responsibility where it counted. Giggs was tasked with briefing the players about the opposition, mainly because he knew them better than van Gaal, but this appears to be as important as it got. Doubtless he would have been involved in training and tactical discussions but the final word would always lie with van Gaal.
The simple fact is that not many assistant managers go on to be good/great managers. The problem is that Giggs thought he should be given the manager’s job without bothering to try his hand at being assistant manager. It was only when the arrival of Louis van Gaal became inevitable that Giggs decided he would spend some time learning the trade, no doubt thinking that he would replace the Dutchman at some stage.
Now Jose Mourinho has arrived on the scene and guess what? He doesn’t want Giggs as his assistant manager. He already has one he prepared earlier. Rui Faria has been with Mourinho through thick and thin and was never going to be cast aside in favour of Giggs.
So the ball is now firmly in the Giggs court. He can swallow his pride and take a coaching role and gain more experience under one of the most successful managers ever, or he can throw his toys out of the pram and wheel it away from Old Trafford in the general direction of anywhere.
What he should do, in my humble opinion, is take a job at a lower league club and find out if he can do it. As yet nobody knows whether Giggs is another Pep Guardiola or another Wilf McGuinness and the place to find out which he will become is not Manchester United. He can always return at a later date.
Taking a job as a pundit for the remainder of the Euros is a good step away and will give him time to take stock of the situation, if he hasn’t already. Then a look in the situations vacant for Championship and League One clubs who need an ambitious young manager and who knows? Two or three years down the line and he could be sat in the manager’s chair at Old Trafford. Alternatively, he could be sat in Gary Lineker’s chair at the BBC.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 