Alex Ferguson gave us some of the best one-liners in the history of the game. He could eviscerate his rivals – and his friends – with put-downs that were as beautiful as they were blunt. Paul Ince became a "big-time Charlie", Arsène Wenger "a novice", Rafa Benitez "an angry man", Dennis Wise "could start a row in an empty house", Filippo Inzaghi "was born in an offside position" and Manchester City were reduced to "noisy neighbours"

Much of Ferguson's wit was spent on chastising his challengers, but his best line was reserved for praising Ryan Giggs. When Ferguson recalled watching the splindly 13-year-old winger glide across a football field for the first time he said: “He just floated over the ground like a cocker spaniel chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind.”

Giggs is 40 now, but no one has ever summed him up better. Putting his achievements into words is not easy, so here are some numbers:

963 games for Manchester United

672 league appearances

151 Champions League appearances

109 league goals

45 opponents in the Premier League

34 trophies

13 Premier League titles

4 FA Cups

2 Champions Leagues

1 club

Has any player in the history of English football had a better career than Giggs? The numbers look impressive, but what about the devil between the details. He didn't win the Ballon d'Or – unlike Stanley Matthews, Denis Law, Bobby Charlton, George Best, Kevin Keegan, Michael Owen and Cristiano Ronaldo. He didn't captain his club for any length of time. He was at United for 23 years, but was he ever the best player in the team? Was he better than Eric Cantona in the mid-1990s, Roy Keane in the late 1990s, Paul Scholes in the early 2000s, Cristiano Ronaldo in the late 2000s, or Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie in the early 2010s?



His goalscoring record is nowhere near Bobby Charlton's. George Best scored more goals in half as many games; Wayne Rooney, who made his debut 12 years after Giggs, has scored more goals for United. He didn't last as long as Matthews, he didn't score as often as Charlton and he didn't lead his club to all those trophies. When compared to the greatest players in the English game, where does he rank?

Was Giggs' career the best in the history of English football?