Back in 1993, when soccer clubs were just cottoning on to the idea of exploiting the commercial value of their biggest players, Manchester United authorised a video documentary in which Ryan Giggs met George Best to compare notes on life as a teenage star at Old Trafford.

It was a pretty unremarkable affair but, given how little Giggs was permitted to speak to the press, it was the first insight into United's new prodigy.

He drove around Manchester with a Granada TV presenter wearing a purple Reebok jogging suit (Giggs, not the presenter) stopping off at his mum's house and his favourite clothes shop to try on some jackets.

It ended with Best taking Giggs to his old haunt in Manchester, the Brown Bull, once the epicentre of his hip 1960s scene.

By 1993 it was another tired, empty pub. Giggs had an orange juice; Best had half a pint. The presenter asked Giggs about avoiding Best's "mistakes". Diplomatically, Giggs swerved the question. No one mentioned the fact they were in a pub with Britain's most famous alcoholic.

On Sunday, Giggs will be 36 years old. That documentary, made when he was 19, was almost half a lifetime ago, just after his first Premier League title.

Now he has 10 more league titles, two Champions League titles and four FA Cups. All the promise that was hinted at 16 years ago has been fulfilled beyond anyone's imagination.

Giggs has had an astonishing life in soccer.

He was once again a central figure on Sunday in United's demolition of Everton, the team he made his debut against as a substitute in March 1991.

It was Giggs who picked out Michael Carrick for the second goal. Eighteen years on and Giggs is still a marvel; still a fixture in a team picked by Alex Ferguson, the world's most unsentimental manager.

Sometimes it takes a burst of nostalgia to remind you just what a great figure in English football he has become.

Giggs is the most successful player in the history of the English game and he has played at arguably its most powerful club for his entire career.

But it has not always been plain sailing. Roughly speaking, his career can be broken down to the periods before and after his 30th birthday.

The start of 2003 was the worst time for Giggs. He was so out of favour with United fans that they cheered when he was substituted against Blackburn Rovers in the Worthington Cup.

He missed a sitter against Arsenal in an FA Cup fifth-round tie United lost at Old Trafford. Although he had signed a five-year deal the previous season, all the signs were that United were finally prepared to cash in on the interest of Internazionale and their owner, Massimo Moratti.