Bruce: Teenage Giggs Took Mickey Out Of Viv

Steve Bruce has spoken about his first memory of Ryan Giggs as a teenager taking the piss on the training ground.

“My first memory of Ryan was Fergie nicking him from City,” said Bruce. “Ryan would have been 14 or 15 at the time. Sir Alex was saying, ‘We’ve got this young kid coming over today, he’s going to train with the first team, so just be careful with him.’ We thought, ‘Oh well, he’ll just fit in,’ but then he took the mickey out of Viv Anderson, dribbling round him three times and we were all thinking, ‘Who is this?’ He murdered Viv. He was a kid and Viv was England’s right-back. That was my first memory of Ryan. I just went ‘wow’. Even if I’d wanted to kick him I couldn’t have got near him. I’d never seen anyone as natural. He’s the only kid who, at 14 or 15, you knew would be a superstar, the only one you were entirely sure about. I don’t mean this disrespectfully to Gary or Phil Neville, Nicky Butt, Scholesy or even David Beckham but the one absolute certainty when we first saw him was Giggsy. I’ve never seen anyone as natural. Running, dribbling, passing – he could do it all. It was just effortless for him. Ryan could cope with any running session, he would just glide along – and he was just as quick with the ball as without it. What a great piece of business, nicking him from City, it was on Sir Alex’s part. Everything came so easily to Ryan.”