Manchester United

Ryan Giggs keen to move into management to prove himself

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 14 August 2016

Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs says that "being an assistant was great", but is now hoping to become a manager in his own right.

Ryan Giggs has revealed that he is now ready to move into management after seeing his coaching stint at Manchester United come to an end this summer.

The Welshman was not retained as part of new boss Jose Mourinho's backroom staff at Old Trafford, ending his 29-year association with the club.

Giggs has already been linked with the Wales job, which he has since declined, but the 42-year-old insists that he will be well equipped to move into management when a new challenge does eventually arrive.

"Being an assistant [manager] was great," he told The Telegraph of his time working under both David Moyes and Louis van Gaal at Old Trafford. "It was a brilliant education for me but if you want to be a manager then you can't stay as an assistant. I have had that good education.

"Not only with playing but with coaching as well - under Sir Alex [Ferguson], under David Moyes, under Louis van Gaal. It was always something that was thrown at me - 'You've only worked under Sir Alex'. But I have not. I have worked under three managers and also different national team managers [with Wales] and I can't emphasise how much of an education it was working under Louis.

"OK, it did not work out in the end, but what he taught me in such a short period of time, the different ways he looks at the game. Coaching is the next best thing to playing, and also I don't mind making decisions, tough decisions, and that won't be a problem for me. Because I played for so long I had that role in the dressing room - if I had to tell someone, I told them. People don't see that from the outside because I am quite a quiet person and I have never shown that on the pitch, but I have no problem making decisions."

Giggs made close to 900 appearances for United during his playing days, before hanging up his boots in 2014 to take up a coaching position.