Geography 5 - Ryan Giggs

Giggs was born on the 29 Nov 1973. He holds an amazing amount of records for the club. He was voted United's greatest player ever in a world wide poll conducted by http://www.manutd.com/. He was presented with the award by Alex Ferguson. He is known for his balance, pace, skill and ability to dribble past opponents.
Giggs was spotted as a 13-year-old by Manchester City scout Dennis Schofield. His talent became widely recognised, and Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson went to his house personally to urge him to sign for United instead of Manchester City, and he joined them on 29 November 1987 - his 14th birthday. Giggs turned professional on 29 November 1990 (his 17th birthday), by which time he was described by various sources to be the finest prospect in English football since George Best in the 1960s. Giggs made his League debut against Everton at Old Trafford on 2 March 1991, as a substitute for the injured full-back Denis Irwin in a 2–0 defeat. In his first full start, Giggs was credited with his first ever goal in a 1–0 win in the Manchester derby on 4 May 1991. Giggs broke into the first team even though he was still aged only 17, a mark of his skill and maturity, and paved the way as the first of many Manchester United youth players to rise into the first team under Ferguson. As the youngest member of the United first team squad, Giggs looked to the older players such as Bryan Robson for advice. He became a first-team regular early in the 1991–92 season
By the start of the 1992–93 season, the first season of the newly formed Premier League, Giggs was firmly established as United's first choice left winger, and became known as one of British football's most prodigious young players. Giggs, as the leader of this new revival of pacy and stylish football after the traditional years of long ball and route one styles of previous decades, played a key role in reshaping English football, and helped United to its first top division title win for 26 years, though they didn't go top until after Christmas and fought off competition from Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers and Norwich City.
His emergence and the arrival of Eric Cantona heralded the dominance of United in the new league. His manager was very protective of him, refusing to allow Giggs to be interviewed until he turned 20. The 1993/1994 season was when Man Utd won the double, and Giggs had a huge role in this achievment. Off the pitch, newspapers claimed Giggs had "single-handedly revolutionised football's image" when he appeared as teenager "with pace to burn." As a result of this, he was afforded many opportunities not normally offered to footballers at his young age, such as hosting his own television show, Ryan Giggs' Soccer Skills, which aired in 1994, and also had a book based on the series. Giggs was part of the Premier League's attempt to market itself globally, re forging its image after the hoolaginism years of the 1980's. Giggs became a household name and is hailed as the "Premiership's first poster boy". At the end of the 1993-94 season, Giggs won a second title in a row, and became the first player in history to win two consecutive PFA Young Player of the Year awards, a feat that has not been bettered. It is worth reminding that at this stage, he was still only 21 years of age.
Giggs proved to be a great goalscorer, many of his memorable goals being shortlisted for various Goal of the Season awards. Widely regarded as among his best were those against Queens Park Rangers in 1993, Tottenham in 1994, Everton in 1995, Coventry in 1996, and the most remarkable of all, his solo-goal against Arsenal in the replay of the 1999 FA Cup semi-final. During extra time, Giggs picked up possession after Patrick Vieira gave the ball away, then ran from the half-way line, dribbled past the whole Arsenal back line, including Tony Adams, Lee Dixon and Martin Keown before launching his left-footed strike just under David Seaman's bar and beyond his reach.
1994–95 saw Giggs restricted through injury to 29 Premier League games and only 1 goal, later in the season he recovered his form and fitness, though it was too late to help United to any major trophies. They lost the premier league to Blackburn, and a 1-0 defeat in the FA cup final saw them lose to Everton. In the 1994-95 season, Giggs did get on the scoresheet twice in the opening Champions League game against IFK Gothenburg, but Man Utd failed to progress to the quarter finals. Giggs managed only 4 goals in all competitions in that season.
In 1995–96, Giggs returned to full form and played a vital part in United's unique second double, his goal against Everton at Goodison Park on 9 September 1995 being shortlisted for the "goal of the season" award. Giggs played along some of the breakthrough youngsters such as Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Nicky Butt, David Beckham and Paul Scholes, who all signed for United. The following season, Giggs had his first real chance to shine in Europe. Having played a key role in United winning their third league title in four seasons, he helped them reach the UEFA Champions League semi-finals, the first United side in 28 years to achieve this. However, their hopes of European glory were ended by Borussia Dortmund, who edged them out by winning each leg of the semi-final 1–0.
In 1997–98, United were pipped to the Premier League title by Arsenal, following a dismal run of form leaving them without a trophy for only the second time since 1989. The following season, Giggs missed a lot of games through injury, but when he was fit his form was excellent and he played in both of United's cup finals that season. Memorable moments were his extra-time goal in the FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal to give United a 2–1 win, and his 90th minute equaliser in the home leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final against Juventus, a 1–1 draw which was followed two weeks later by a 3–2 win in Turin where United came from two goals behind.

The highpoint in the 1998–99 season was when Giggs set up the equalising goal scored by Teddy Sheringham in the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final that set United on their way to the Treble. Striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored the winning goal with the last kick of the game, which saw Man Utd win the treble that season. Giggs became United's longest serving player when Denis Irwin left in May 2002, and he became a part of the club, despite still being in his twenties. Giggs continued to excel in the four years that followed the Treble triumph of 1999. United were Premier League champions in three of the four seasons following the treble, as well as reaching the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals three times and the semi-finals once. He celebrated his 10-year anniversary at Old Trafford with a testimonial match against Celtic at the start of the 2001–02 campaign. He scored his 100th goal against Chelsean in 2002.
Giggs has reinvented himself and continues to contribute positively to the United cause even after team-mates like David Beckham and Roy Keane had left. Giggs has also benefited from being largely injury-free aside from a series of hamstring problems which, according to his autobiography, prevents him from running at full throttle to this day. December 2007 brought two landmark achievements - Ryan was awarded the OBE for his services to football and he scored his 100th league career goal in the 4-0 victory over Derby County at Old Trafford.
On 11th may 2008, he scored the second goal which saw Man Utd win the league title. On 21 May 2008, Giggs broke Bobby Charlton's appearance record for United when coming on as an 87th minute substitute for Paul Scholes in the Champions League Final against Chelsea. United would go on to win the Final, defeating Chelsea 6–5 on penalties after a 1–1 draw after extra time.
On 8 February 2009, Giggs maintained his record of being the only player to score in every season of the Premier League since its beginning in 1992 by netting the only goal in a 1–0 win over West Ham United. He got the PFA player of the year in April 2009. In 2009, Man utd and Giggs won their 11th title.
Giggs still has the pace and skill that he had 20 years ago today. He is Man Utd's longest serving player, and has never played for any other team. He has never been sent off for United, which shows his dedication and respect to the game. He has won the most awards for United and has the most number of apperances - 874. This number will continue to grow though, as will his goals tally- 159.

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital and largest city of Wales. Cardiff is a significant tourism centre and the most popular visitor destination in Wales with 14.6 million visitors in 2009. The development of the Cardiff Docks played a major part in Cardiff’s development by being the means of exporting coal from the South Wales Valleys to the rest of the world, helping to power the industrial age. It was the worlds largest coal port. The coal mining industry helped fund the growth of Cardiff to become the capital city of Wales and helped the Third Marquis of Bute, who owned the docks, become the richest man in the world at the time. From the 1850s coal replaced iron as the industrial foundation of South Wales, as the Cynon Valley and Rhondda Valley were mined. In 1862, 2,000,000 tons of coal were exported from Cardiff Docks; by 1913, this had risen to 10,700,000 tons. By 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression, coal exports had fallen to below 5 million tons. It was an era of depression from which Cardiff never really recovered, and despite intense activity at the port during the Second World War, coal exports continued to decline, finally ceasing in 1964.
Cardiff has a maritime climate. Summers tend to be warm and sunny, with average maximum temperatures between 19 °C and 22 °C. Winters tend to be fairly wet, but rainfall is rarely excessive and the temperature usually stays above freezing.
The centre of Cardiff is relatively flat, but is bounded by hills on the east, north and west.