By David Robbins
Friday Jun 10 2011

David Robbins reports on the football legend who cheated on his family, his fans – and ultimately himself.

He could have been known as Ryan Wilson, Manchester United hero and the most decorated British footballer ever. But when he was in his teens his womanising father Danny walked out on the family — so, in revenge, he took his mother's maiden name and became famous throughout the world as Ryan Giggs.

How ironic then that the star who was a byword for intelligence and decency should be outed as a despicable sex cheat himself after a long affair with his brother's wife.

It is, by any standards, a dramatic fall from grace. PR guru Max Clifford has called it “the most spectacular own goal in history”.

Giggs, who should by rights be looking back on a career as football's most decorated player ever, is instead holed up in a Spanish villa, trying desperately to save his marriage.

There may be some awkward silences between Giggs and his wife Stacey (32) this weekend, but the press, the blogosphere and social media such as Facebook and Twitter will more than make up for them.

Giggs had originally planned to get away to the plush Marbella Club on the Mediterranean, but cancelled at the last minute and switched to a private villa instead. Their children, Libby (8) and Zach (5), are believed to have travelled with them.

The 37-year-old Manchester United winger will have plenty of explaining to do. It's difficult to know in which order he will deal with his indiscretions. Will his eight-year affair with his brother's wife Natasha (28) be first, or will it be his six-month affair with Big Brother contestant Imogen Thomas?

Or perhaps he'll take the most recent revelations first. An unnamed third woman has come forward to claim that she had an affair with the footballer that ended only on his wedding day.

Natasha went public about the relationship in the News of the World last Sunday. She claimed the affair began when the pair met in a Manchester nightclub, The Living Room, eight years ago, and ended just a few weeks ago, on April 9.

Giggs was carrying on an affair with Natasha before she began dating his brother Rhodri. In a bizarre twist to an already bizarre story, Giggs was set to be best man at his brother's wedding last summer, but pulled out at the last minute after a family row.

Natasha, who works as an estate agent, told reporters this week that her story is “100% accurate”. She claims she and Giggs had sex on the day after Giggs's daughter was born, and also on the day after his wife gave birth to his son.

“The day after his son was born, we met up and had sex,” a friend of Natasha's told the News of the World. “Stacey was still in hospital.”

After his last tryst with Natasha, rumours began to circulate that Giggs was the unnamed footballer who had taken out a so-called “super-injunction” to stop Imogen Thomas from going public about their affair.

According to Natasha's account, Giggs denied he was the footballer concerned. “No way. It's not me,” he texted her.

In a furious text message she wrote: “I know u may not have any loyalties towards me n my feelings, that's fine . . . now I no longer have any loyalties to u!

“Any kind of feelings or respect I may have had for u disappeared when I realised how much u have manipulated me! You're an idiot!' However Giggs allegedly responded: “What the **** u going on about? This has been the worst 2 weeks of my life!!!”

Little did he know it was about to get a lot worse. In taking out a super-injunction — which prevented the papers publishing anything about the affair, or even about the existence of the injunction itself — Giggs had inadvertently thrown down a gauntlet to Fleet Street.

First, he was outed on Twitter. Then he was named in the British parliament. And lastly, a Scottish newspaper printed a frontpage photo of him with the word “censored” over his eyes.

“When I found out he was cheating with Imogen too, I was really hurt,” she told the News of the World. “I know that sounds really strange, but he wasn't just cheating on Stacey, he was cheating on me too. Our relationship was just about sex to him.”

A central figure in the drama is PR agent Max Clifford, master at working the tabloid press. Clifford is representing both Imogen Thomas and Natasha Giggs, brokering newspaper deals and arranging TV appearances for them.

“Giggs has got swept up in the super-injunction battle and he's got a lot more of a kicking that he would have normally,” Clifford told reporters. “Taking out the injunction made his a huge target for Fleet Street's finest. It made it 10 times worse that if the story had just come out and it had been: he's a footballer, he's randy, he's got too much time on his hands, let's move on.

“I can think of 20 other footballers who could do this and you wouldn't really think twice about it — Wayne Rooney being one of them,” Clifford added. “Giggs has got a different image so it's far more damaging for him. He's coming to the end of his career and this will undoubtedly diminish what he can expect to do in the future. It's the biggest own goal I can remember.”

Giggs's decision to apply for a superinjunction certainly added to the media frenzy that has surrounded his downfall. But even without it, the disconnect between his public persona and his private live was enough to ensure that this was a story that would run and run.

Giggs signed for Manchester United as a schoolboy, turning professional with the club in 1990. He was paid UK£29 a week. He now earns £80,000 (€90,000) a week. He made his first-team debut aged 17, and soon became a favourite of the Old Trafford crowd with his dashing style of wing play.

He became aware of the downside of fame early on, and he has spoken about the “culture shock” of being recognised, being followed and being the subject of kiss-and-tell stories in the papers.

“I rapidly realised it was something I didn't really like so I made a conscious effort to settle down and keep a lower profile,” he said in an interview.

He lives in a Footballers' Wives-style mansion in Worsley, near Manchester, and has admitted to enjoying the trappings of wealth. He has pursued the clichéd footballer’s love affair with fast cars, having owned Porsches, Ferraris and an Aston Martin.

His personal fortune is estimated by the Sunday Times Rich List at £34m (€38.2m), an increase of £2m (€2.24m) over the past year. His company, Ryan Giggs Ltd, has assets of £4m (€4.49m) on its books, according to company returns filed for 2009. He is not short of money, yet his earnings do not quite match those of Wayne Rooney (£49m — €55m) or David Beckham (£165m — €185m).

Throughout his career, Giggs has cultivated the image of a serious sports professional. His management of his health and body is admired by many players from other sports. He is often cited as the model of a modern pro who has managed to play at the top level for over 20 years.

He came across as a steady, earnest player. He left the bling to his younger teammates. This image was reflected in the companies who saw something in him that could help their brand.

Quorn vegetarian burgers, Patek Phillippe watches, Fuji electronics, all saw something in him, as did sportswear giant Reebok. He became involved in a UNICEF project at the club, and was then appointed as a celebrity ambassador for the UK branch of the children's organisation. He visited Thailand to visit UNICEF projects there, and campaigned against the use of landmines.

In 2007, he was awarded an OBE for services to football, and won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2009.

With his charity work, and his clean-cut, family-man image, he was set for a lucrative career after retiring from football. Now, his fall from grace is being compared to that of fellow philanderer Tiger Woods.

Reebok, who have paid him £20m (€22.4m) in sponsorship deals, are believed to be considering their position. “A little like Tiger Woods, he had this untouchable air about him,” marketing consultant Nigel Currie told the media, “he was almost Mr Perfect. Once that image goes, he is likely to find that his whole unique selling point has gone too.”

Currie pointed out that Giggs's case differs from that of teammate Wayne Rooney, who cheated on his pregnant wife with a prostitute. “Rooney already had something of a bad boy image, so while that will have affected family brands it won't necessarily worry more lad-orientated brands,' he said. “But for Giggs at this stage of his career, these are pretty damaging accusations to recover from.”

For now, it's open season on Ryan Giggs. His brother has accused him of stabbing him in the back, his aunt thinks he should be treated for sex addiction, and his family have even accused him of trying to chat up Natasha's 49-year-old mother at a party.

Natasha herself has branded him a tightfisted miser, leaving her to pick up drink and hotel tabs, and insisting they have sex in vacant flats to which she, as part of her work as an estate agent, had the keys.

Even his low-key wedding to Stacey in 2007, which was originally reported as classily unostentatious, is now being recast as yet another manifestation of his miserliness.

“Giggs has kept himself out of the way,” David Pleat, a former manager of Tottenham Hotspur, said. “He has seemed to have an understanding with the Manchester media; he's been around for 20 years and he's been out and about in the clubs and so on, but you never hear anything of it.

“I imagine with the injunction he simply didn't know what he was getting himself into. He must have imagined he could keep this quiet but this new technology, Twitter and Facebook, it has completely enveloped him.”

There are many tragic elements to this story, and at least one ironic one: Giggs spent his life — and a large chunk of his money — trying to be private. In the end, it was that very desire for privacy which ensured his ruin would become so public.

- David Robbins

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