Why Ryan Giggs Should Now Leave Manchester United for the Sake of His Career

Ryan Giggs is one of the few people for whom the overused term "Manchester United legend" is genuinely fitting. But, having been at the club since 1987—longer than many of its supporters have been alive—it is time for the Welshman to move on to pastures new as he looks to build his managerial career.

It was not supposed to be like this, of course. When Louis van Gaal took charge with Giggs as his assistant, received wisdom suggested the former Wales international would be groomed for a role as his replacement. And not just received wisdom. In April 2015, Van Gaal told MUTV (h/t BBC Sport): "I expect that he will be the next manager after I am gone." 

It was a theme to which he returned at an event for supporters in September 2015.

Discussing the acquisition of Anthony Martial as he prepared to introduce Giggs, Van Gaal said, per Sky Sports: "I have not bought Martial for me. I have bought him for the next manager of Manchester United. And I feel I am introducing the next manager of Manchester United." 

After those statements, it is understandable that Giggs might feel disappointed given that Van Gaal's successor was Jose Mourinho.

Giggs may even have felt some mild disappointment that he was not given the permanent job after his four-game spell as caretaker manager in the aftermath of David Moyes' sacking in April 2014. That, though, would have been less reasonable, and it is purely speculative. He did not express any regret he may have felt publicly.

Indeed, in an interview for the Football Association website in June 2014, he said: "When I took the job, there were a lot of things that I was quite happy with, but there and was the odd thing where I thought 'I’m not quite ready for this.' Well it wasn’t that I wasn’t ready for it, but I could do with a little bit more experience."

Giggs added:

"

This year [2014/15] I can put everything into it and learn from someone who has managed at the top in so many other countries. It has been a good thing that I have been with Sir Alex [Ferguson] for so long but also I am now getting to see how other people work as well. I got a taste of David Moyes and now Louis Van Gaal this year.

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It was a pretty good plan. Critics of the idea of Giggs cutting his teeth as assistant before taking over pointed to Pep Guardiola's time away from Barcelona as key to his development.

However, Giggs had spent his playing career under Ferguson and was now getting on-the-job training from the man responsible for what Jonathan Wilson called "coaching's greatest seminar."

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In August 2014, Wilson wrote for the Guardian, "in 1999-2000, the present managers of Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Chelsea, Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Southampton were all either playing or working at Camp Nou."

Some of that pack have since been shuffled, but United, Manchester City and Barcelona are among the clubs currently managed by former players or staff of Van Gaal's. 

Regardless, that is not how Giggs' story played out. The Dutchman's methods had either regressed or been rendered less effective by the developments in the game. United struggled, and the former winger cut an increasingly forlorn figure, rarely speaking publicly.

As Kevin Palmer of the Irish Independent wrote in May:

"

Giggs has been a muted partner to his boss Van Gaal in his two seasons as United’s assistant manager, with the increasingly shambolic mess at Old Trafford encouraging to distance himself from a regime that he has been at the heart of.

All interview requests with the media and offers of to speak at charity events have been politely declined in the last 18 months, with the Welshman who celebrated a remarkable quarter of a century of service with United in recent days preferring to take up a role as back seat driver to Van Gaal. 

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However, biding his time, avoiding the direct glare of the spotlight and positioning himself as a potential successor to Van Gaal has not been a successful strategy. Neither of the regimes in which he has prominently featured have been a success, and it is time for the one-club man to get some experience elsewhere.

There are two caveats to this notion. The first is that if Mourinho is prepared to offer him a senior role in his management team, then the United stalwart should take it. It would be another apprenticeship but under a different kind of coach. There would be tremendous learning opportunities in that.

However, while it might benefit Giggs personally, it seems hard to imagine the new manager being prepared to accept that situation. The office politics would quickly get complicated. Knowing your assistant has obvious designs on your job is hardly conducive to building the kind of formidable siege mentality upon which Mourinho thrives.

There is also the possibility that Mourinho's managerial style would not translate well to teaching. After all, unlike Van Gaal, there is no great legacy of those who have studied under the Portuguese manager going on to great coaching careers of their own. 

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The second possibility for keeping him at the club would be if Giggs' ego could tolerate an effective demotion from assistant manager of the first-team squad to manager of one of the younger age groups.

Guardiola benefited enormously from his time in charge of Barcelona B. While that is not directly comparable to Giggs taking over United's under-21s given that Barca B play in the lower tiers of Spanish senior football, the experience of managing a team within the United setup would expand the Welshman's skill set. Of course, managing a senior team elsewhere would also do that.

Arguably, there are few jobs that provide the experience needed to take on a club of United's size, but Giggs has a deeper level of familiarity with Old Trafford than almost anyone else. Leaving to get some higher-level managerial experience than he would get at the club will not diminish that.

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The pros of learning the job of manager outweigh the risks involved in leaving the club's current staff. While none of the Ferguson alumni who have gone on to become managers were seriously linked with the job this time around, two things need to be considered before reaching the conclusion that leaving United now would deny Giggs a crack at the top job in the future.

First, Giggs the player was not like the other Ferguson alumni. None of them spent their entire playing careers at United, none of them were so entrenched in the Scot's system for so long. And second, none of them had a job on staff for as long as Giggs did.

If he fails elsewhere, that will hurt his chances, and management is an unforgiving profession. But having been close to getting the ultimate in special treatment, Giggs now has to follow a more normal path.

It looks as though that is what is happening. Mike McGrath of the Sun reported on Saturday: "Ryan Giggs will meet Jose Mourinho this week to sort out his Manchester United future. The Old Trafford legend is expected to leave after nearly 30 years at the club as a player, coach and assistant boss." 

It will be bittersweet to see him go. The fairytale ending of Giggs as a successful United manager will seem further away, but in truth, there has not been much evidence that it was coming.

Whatever happens next, though, for those who remember the flying winger he once was—watching him when he "floated over the ground like a cocker spaniel chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind," as Ferguson so memorably described it, per the Guardian—he will always be a Manchester United legend.

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Perhaps he will prove as adept at management as he was at beating full-backs and will return to prowling the Old Trafford touchline, just across the white paint he spent so much of his career getting on his boots. For now, though, it is time for Giggs to strike out on his own.