ON Thursday morning, a photograph was published showing Titus Bramble, who had arrived at Cheltenham racecourse by private helicopter, flicking through a wedge of £50 notes thick enough to choke Kauto Star.

I mention it to Ryan Giggs later in the day. He laughs a mildly exasperated laugh. Giggs doesn't do flash.

Sure, there's a Bentley berthed outside but with a record number of appearances, 11 Premier League titles, two Champions League triumphs, four FA Cups, three League Cups, BBC Sports Personality of the Year, two decades of service to Manchester United, no red cards, it would be a bit churlish to begrudge him a decent motor.

A leading agent told me recently that with more commercially-savvy advice, Giggs could have been several times wealthier than he is. The agent, too, no doubt. He has the odd sponsorship deal, including a long-running association with Reebok. But Giggs is a reluctant icon. Records tumble, tributes multiply but Giggs remains uncomfortable with the by-products of truly remarkable success.

Less than three years ago, he married his long-term partner Stacey, the mother of his two children, Liberty and Zach. It would have been celebrity magazine gold.

"To be honest, I really couldn't think of anything worse," Giggs said. "Being a poster boy never sat easily with me. I've always wanted to keep my private life private. Of course, when you are a footballer playing for Manchester United, it is difficult. But I've tried to do it as much as I could. I went through a stage where I was doing a lot of commercial stuff but I actually felt it was affecting my football.

"It was making me tired. Not physically tired but mentally tired. Someone like Becks has always found that it has never affected his football and is probably a natural at it. He gets the right mix. Me? I never felt comfortable doing it."

Uncomplicated

Considering he is spending the afternoon promoting a football boot, it's commendably candid. But that is typical.

Giggs is an uncomplicated footballer, an uncomplicated soul, revelling in the golden autumn of his playing career and the spring of his family life.

He said: "My happiest years as a footballer have been since I turned 30. I've become a father, I've got married. They are the sort of things that take your mind away from it and bring a bit of normality into your life. I've always been quite level-headed, always had good family and friends around me. But since turning 30, I've probably found it easier to switch off. When you are going home and you've got kids around, it does change things.

"I think that has helped me carry on for this long at the top level. And I have come to realise how important rest is.

"Just to go home and chill out. My missus goes mad because I watch every bit of sport on telly. My dad was a rugby fan so I watch that and watch every other bit. And then pick my kids up from school and totally chill out."

He looks chilled out, Ryan, arriving for the interview without the sort of entourage that has become obligatory for most luminaries of the Premier League. Not long after breaking into United's first team back in 1991, Giggs recruited Harry Swales, a venerable agent who counted George Best among his early clients. Flamboyantly moustachioed, Swales has long since waved retirement age goodbye but Giggs has never seen the need to change. Loyalty is his strong suit.

"I was lucky," said Giggs. "Harry was looking after Robbo and when Bryan was coming to the end of his career, he took me on. I was only 20 and I think Harry was 70 or late sixties then.

"Now I feel sorry for some footballers who are coming through and for parents of footballers who are coming through.

"They've got agents knocking on their door when the kids are 13 or 14. Who do you choose? Who do you trust? Who is in it for themselves?" Maybe Giggs should become a mentor for young players. Professionally, that is, when he has brought the curtain down on the most distinguished playing career in the history of English domestic football.

It must be an option because, right now, Giggs appears to be having second thoughts about what many believed was a crushing inevitability, a transition to the coaching and management staff at Old Trafford.

He explained: "I've started planning in that I'm doing my coaching badges and stuff like that. But, to be honest, I have not got a clue what I am going to do.

"I think I might stay in the game.

"I was actually closer two or three years ago to knowing what I was going to do when I finish playing. I thought I would definitely go into coaching or into management but, at the moment, I don't know. In fact, I couldn't be further away from knowing."

Landmarks

That is probably because, even with his 37th birthday looming later this year, Giggs is still not contemplating an existence without a ball at his feet.

He said: "I have a one-year extension which takes my contract to 2011. But at the moment, I feel good, I feel fit, so I don't see why I shouldn't be able to carry on beyond that.

"But, then again, in a year's time, I might feel completely different.

"I don't set myself targets. I don't dwell on landmarks I achieve. I will do that when I have finished. I'm obviously proud of what I have achieved but I am constantly looking forward."

One of those landmarks will, hopefully, come in March 2011 when he will celebrate 20 years of first-team football with United. Not surprisingly, he has no regrets about his singular devotion to the club, saying: "I don't look back and think 'what if' when it comes to playing for another club or playing abroad. I think I'm in the strange position where I am at a big club, I grew up in the area, I was a United fan and have been successful. All those things have made me want to stay. I don't think there's ever been a serious possibility of me leaving this club. I went through a sticky patch around 2002/2003 and there were stories linking me to Inter but it was never close. Certainly not from my point of view anyway."

And not from Sir Alex Ferguson's point of view. The pair are inextricably linked. Perhaps they will call time simultaneously.

Naturally, their dynamic has altered. Fear has become fondness, from teacher-pupil to one footballing brain picking the others.

Giggs explained: "The relationship with the manager changes over such a long course of time. When you are younger, you think of the manager of Manchester United as unapproachable. But now I'm more relaxed, we talk about different things. Some people say it might have been nice to work with different managers but as far as I'm concerned I've worked with the best manager for all these years. So I have been very lucky.

"When I first got into the team, he always spoke to four or five of the more senior players. And ask for their opinions. And nothing has really changed. He has done that with me for the last five or six years now." The game has changed since Giggs played in the Premier League's first season. But he is not necessarily convinced it is of higher quality.

He said: "If you say to me the game has got quicker, more athletic, then you are probably right. Technically, I don't know if it has got any better. Can you say there are better players now than there was ten years' ago? Zolas? Bergkamps? Cantonas? Probably not."

Affection

Giggs has lived through several generations of United greatness, finding it difficult to compare the differing - but always successful - teams assembled by Ferguson. But just like his boss, he has a special affection for the Robson/Bruce/ Hughes era, the squad who Ferguson proudly claimed would have killed their grannies to win a football match.

Giggs said: "The '93 team that won the first Double was just full of men. Full of power, full of experience. A very aggressive team, totally different from the one that won the Treble.

"In the dressing-room, they would be fighting each other. That was because of the desire and the character within the team. It was old school."

You suspect Wayne Rooney would have fitted in perfectly. In fact, Giggs sees something of Eric Cantona in the player likely to equal or even surpass the Welshman's myriad United achievements.

He said: "Everyone has been in disbelief this year because of his goalscoring has taken him to another level. I don't think he is actually playing any better because his play since he came to United has been brilliant. This year, he's had the expectation and pressure of scoring the goals for us since Cristiano (Ronaldo) left and Carlos Tevez left. He has taken that mantle on for us and scored important goals for us.

"That's what Eric used to do for us. We went through a stage where we were winning 1-0 and Eric scored the goal or made it. That's what Wayne is doing."

And Giggs thinks the burden of national expectation on Rooney heading into the World Cup is actually a good thing.

He said: "It's great for England to have that (the reliance on one player). Argentina have got that with Lionel Messi, Portugal have Cristiano Ronaldo. It means that he is a world-class player and is one of the top three players in the world. And England haven't had that.

"You've had great players such as Terry, Gerrard, Lampard, Ferdinand. But he has taken his game on to the next level. That is no disrespect to the other players but it's good to have that focal point."

Buzz

Rooney will be the focal point at Old Trafford today when United face Liverpool. Giggs is desperate to play a part, having missed a month with a fractured arm.

"I still get a buzz, it's still there," said Giggs. "In fact, it might be even more. At this stage of your career, you think: Is this the last time I am going to play in these great games against Liverpool?

"Is this the last time I will get the chance to win another Premier League? Will I play in the Champions League?

"All those sort of things go through your head.

"And when I do finish, this sort of match against Liverpool is what I will miss most about not playing."

And this sort of match will miss Ryan Giggs.

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> Posted by: Iconic Magazine