Former Manchester United star Ryan Giggs has opened up on the heartbreak of having to resign from the Wales national team and miss the chance to lead out his team at Euro 2020.
The 51 year old is currently sporting director at Salford City, the club he owns with numerous other former United players such as Gary Neville.
Giggs has played more games than any other player in the history of the club, amassing a mammoth 963 appearances. He also won 13 Premier Leagues, two Champions Leagues and four FA Cups during his career at United.
He later became interim manager after David Moyes was sacked in 2014 and then Louis van Gaal’s assistant for two years.
Giggs was appointed manager of Wales in 2018 but had to step down in 2022 after facing legal issues, that he was later cleared of in court.
Speaking on Rio Ferdinand Presents YouTube channel (via The Daily Mail), he revealed his disappointment of missing out on the historic moment for Wales.
“Yeah, I mean, it was heartbreaking. It was obviously a very difficult time because I’m watching it on TV.”
Wales finished second behind Italy in their group and were eventually knocked out by Denmark 4-0 in the last 16.
Giggs also recounted when his side scored a vital late goal in the tournament and the mixed emotions that he felt as a consequence.
“And I’m like…who did we score against? We scored against, I can’t remember if it was Turkey. We scored late on, and I’m jumping around the front room, and then all of a sudden, I look at the TV, and it’s all the staff and players jumping in the dugout, and I’m gone.”
Ferdinand questioned if he felt it should have been him and Giggs admitted, “yeah, a bit of that. It was a difficult time.”
Giggs was in charge throughout the successful qualifying campaign but due to his arrest on assault charges, he was unavailable to manage at the tournament.
He has not returned to football management since but has suggested in past interviews that this is something he aspires to do in the future.
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
