Giggs a true great

When you think of the greatest players in the English Premier League over the past 15 years you immediately think of excitement machines such as Eric Cantona or David Ginola, goalscoring phenomenons such as Alan Shearer or Thierry Henry, midfield generals such as Steven Gerrard, Roy Keane and Frank Lampard or even world-class defenders such as Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell and John Terry.

But for sheer consistency, longevity and delivering when it counts time and time again - it's hard to go past Manchester United's Ryan Giggs as the best player to grace the world's most prestigious football competition in recent times.

Giggs' effort on the final day of the EPL season ensures he will be remembered as an all-time legend, if he wasn't already.

The Welsh winger not only equalled Bobby Charlton's club record of 758 games for Manchester United but scored the goal which secured a 2-0 win over Wigan and delivered the Red Devils a 10th title in the past 16 years.

And Giggs has featured in every single one of them.

These days Giggs is more the icing on the cake for Sir Alex Ferguson's team with Portuguese wonderkid Ronaldo having taken over his mantle as United's playmaker and there is no doubt that Ronaldo's incredible 41 goals for the season is the main reason why the Red Devils successfully held off Chelsea and Arsenal to defend their 2007 title.

But Giggs, now 34, is still the man that Ferguson turns to when his side needs a lift and he showed just why yet again against Wigan.

United, which only needed to match Chelsea's result at home to Bolton on the final day of the season to clinch the title, was looking shaky midway through the second half - leading by just one goal to nil as the Blues led Bolton by a similar scoreline.

A Wigan equaliser there and then could have handed the title to Chelsea but as soon as Giggs was bought on as a second half substitute United settled and when Giggs found space inside the penalty box and accepted a perfect pass from Wayne Rooney with 10 minutes remaining, there was never any doubt he would make the most of it.

In so many ways it was fitting that it should be Giggs that sealed the title for United and even more fitting that he will break the legendary Charlton games' record on the biggest stage of all - the European Champions League Final against Chelsea in Moscow on May 22 (Australian time).

And after successfully defending their title, United surely have to be favourites now to do the double over a deflated Chelsea side - which could be without captain and defensive linchpin John Terry for that final after he suffered an arm injury against Bolton.

While the 2008 season has only just been done and dusted - it would take a brave man to bet against Manchester United continuing its dominance of the EPL next season.

Of England's top four clubs, the Red Devils clearly look the most stable on and off the field and will have the added incentive next year of knowing another title would see them equal Liverpool's record of 18 titles.

And to think when Liverpool last lifted the crown in 1990, United had won just seven league titles and none since 1968.

But Ferguson and Giggs have since guided United to 10 titles while Liverpool waits in vain for another and with the ownership tension at Anfield between warring Americans George Gillett and Tom Hicks and speculation surrounding the future of manager Rafael Benitez, it's hard to see Liverpool bridging the gap in the short term.

Equally there is uncertainly over the future of Chelsea manager Avram Grant while striker Didier Drogba is also reportedly on his way out of Stamford Bridge.

And Arsenal, which has long trailed the other big three clubs in terms of spending on players, has already lost star midfielder Mathieu Flamini to Italian club AC Milan.

As for the other 16 clubs, well Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan summed up it best recently when he said every year they are all playing to finish at best in fifth position given the huge gap between the top four clubs and the rest.

At least this season saw some other clubs get their hands on some silverware through the domestic cup competitions with Tottenham Hotspur beating Chelsea in the League Cup Final to land its first trophy in nine years while next Saturday there will be a fairytale FA Cup Final between Portsmouth - searching for its first FA Cup success since 1939 - and Championship side Cardiff - searching for its first FA Cup success since 1927.

And at the other end of the table Fulham deserve every accolade that will come its way in coming days after pulling off a remarkable escape act by beating Portsmouth 1-0 at Fratton Park on the final day of the season - thanks to a late goal from another experienced campaigner in Danny Murphy - to condemn Reading and Birmingham to relegation along with Derby.

Just a month ago Fulham was in second-last place on the table and six points from safety, having won just four of 33 matches to that point.

But incredibly the Cottagers then won four of their last five games to continue manager Roy Hodgson's proud record of never having been relegated as a manager.

However, while Fulham fans will no doubt be partying long and hard this week, the 2008 season will mostly be remembered as yet another triumph for Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson and the amazing Ryan Giggs.