Age no barrier to Giggs

AS he watched 21-year-old Amir Khan destroy his opponent in just 72 seconds from his ringside seat on Saturday night, Ryan Giggs must have been struck by the parallels in the careers of the two men.

Both shot to the world’s attention at the age of 17, Khan winning silver in the Olympics and Giggs immediately becoming a household name with his thrilling runs down Manchester United’s left flank.

Giggs has always been more Lancashire than Las Vegas and, despite the stardom he put up with in the mid-1990s, the fact that the boxing in Bolton is his idea of a night out is part of the reason why he is still a key man for Sir Alex Ferguson at the age of 34 and why, on Saturday, he became the 11th player in United’s history to chalk up 100 league goals.