Why isn’t Ryan Giggs in the Premier League Hall of Fame? | OneFootball

Why isn’t Ryan Giggs in the Premier League Hall of Fame? The question came back to me after the latest set of inductees in 2025. You look through the new names, hear the debates, and your mind drifts back to the players who shaped the early years of the competition. And if you grew up watching United the way I did, Giggs was always one of the first names that came to mind.

He was my favourite Man United player as a kid, even though my own style of football looked nothing like his. I was a centre back for most of my youth football, the sort who got shoved up front late on if we were chasing a goal because I was tall and happy to cause chaos. Not too far off what United do with Harry Maguire these days. I even got into the dark arts at corners, standing on attackers’ toes because I once read Maldini did it to get in their heads.

The players I wanted to emulate were Andy Cole, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Jaap Stam, Laurent Blanc, Vidic and Rio Ferdinand, even though my ability level sat nowhere near theirs. In my head I liked to think I had a bit of Berbatov about me, a big lad with a good touch who played at my own pace. In reality, if I am being generous, I was more Lee Trundle, and if I am being brutally honest, more Jon Macken on a cold Tuesday night.

But Giggs was the one who stuck with me. That run against Arsenal in the 1999 FA Cup semi final still feels fresh now, added time, defenders tumbling over themselves, the crowd barely believing what they were seeing. Some moments just stay with you.

So when everything about his personal life came out, I lost a lot of respect for him. Not dramatically, just that quiet disappointment when you realise someone you idolised was different to the version you imagined.

The situation with his brother, Rhodri, was the moment everything started to shift. It emerged in 2011 that Giggs had been having a long-term affair with Rhodri’s wife, Natasha. The story dominated headlines for months and created a fallout that went far beyond football. Rhodri has spoken publicly about the impact it had on him, describing the betrayal as something that cut deeper than anything that could ever happen on a pitch. For a lot of fans, it was the moment the image of the quiet professional who represented loyalty and longevity at United shattered completely. Giggs went from being admired for his consistency to being seen as a contradiction, someone whose off-field actions undid much of the respect he had earned.

Then came the domestic violence case. In 2022 he stood trial accused of assaulting his ex-girlfriend Kate Greville and of coercive and controlling behaviour. The case ended in a mistrial when the jury failed to reach a verdict, and in 2023 prosecutors decided not to pursue a retrial. Giggs was formally cleared of all charges, but the details that emerged during proceedings left a lasting mark on his reputation.

Even though he was not convicted of any offence, the trial made people reassess how they viewed him. The private life of one of English football’s most decorated players was laid bare in a way that damaged his public image beyond repair. It is easy to see why the Premier League, a brand obsessed with image, might have chosen to quietly keep its distance. But that silence also exposes the contradiction, the League is happy to celebrate players with their own controversies, just not the one whose name would cause the biggest headline.

When I got older and started getting into films properly, my favourite actor was Kevin Spacey. Then the allegations surfaced and, whatever the legal outcomes were, the whole thing changed how people saw him. It taught me something. Never idolise anyone. People are flawed, no matter how talented they are, and sometimes what you fell in love with is only the performance.

It even made me think of Spacey’s character in The Usual Suspects, faking that limp through the whole film before straightening up at the end. Football has its own versions of that. The little bits of theatre players use to win fouls, waste time or unsettle an opponent. Giggs had flashes of that, Ronaldo perfected it, and after a while you realise footballers are performing in their own way.

But even acknowledging all that, his football career was extraordinary.

A career that should have made the Hall of Fame automatically

Once you lay out the numbers, the whole debate starts to feel surreal.

Most players would be lucky to have one of those lines on their CV. Giggs has all of them.

Which is why his absence from the Hall of Fame grows stranger every year.

Giggs has spoken about the snub

Even Giggs himself has admitted that the whole thing catches him off guard. Speaking on Rio Ferdinand’s podcast, he was asked whether missing out on the Hall of Fame plays on his mind.

He even asked Ferdinand whether he had made the list, only for Rio to explain he had been inducted in 2023.

He laughed, but you could tell it stung a bit more than he first let on.

Adams, Terry and Ferdinand – three different stories, one consistent outcome

If you want to understand why Giggs’ exclusion feels so contradictory, look at three players who are already in the Hall of Fame. Tony Adams, John Terry and Rio Ferdinand. Three Premier League icons. Three completely different off field stories. And yet every single one was inducted without hesitation.

Tony Adams

Adams’ early career is well known. He went to prison for drink driving in 1990 and battled alcoholism for years. But he rebuilt his life. He spoke openly about addiction and mental health long before football was willing to take those issues seriously.

He founded the Sporting Chance Clinic, which has helped thousands of athletes deal with addiction, anxiety and depression. Whether you supported Arsenal or not, it is hard not to admire how he tried to turn his experiences into something that helped others.

John Terry

Terry’s story moves in the opposite direction. His controversies never really faded. The Wayne Bridge situation resurfaces online constantly, the racism related court case with Anton Ferdinand remains one of the most discussed incidents in Premier League history, and he still draws criticism long after retiring.

His involvement in the Ape Kids Club crypto project, which collapsed after heavy promotion, only added to it. His coaching career never really settled either, partly because every move drags old debates back to the surface.

Where Adams’ post career looks like a story of growth, Terry’s looks like a long run of controversies that never quite go away.

Rio Ferdinand

Then there is Ferdinand, inducted in 2023. One of the best defenders the Premier League has ever produced. But his career had its own off field moment too. He served an eight month ban in 2003 after missing a drugs test, one of the biggest disciplinary stories of that era. It dominated headlines. Yet when he became eligible for the Hall of Fame, the Premier League had no hesitation.

Three different lives, treated in exactly the same way

Adams made mistakes but changed his life.Terry kept making headlines long after retiring.Ferdinand served one of the longest bans in Premier League history, whilst always saying that he was innocent.

And all three were inducted with polished tributes and warm messaging.

Which is why the Giggs question stands out.

If Adams can be honoured for how he changed, and Terry can be honoured despite never really changing, and Ferdinand can be honoured despite a long ban,

Then why is Ryan Giggs still excluded?

The Premier League cannot pretend the Hall of Fame is a moral filter when their own inductees show otherwise.

The Premier League criteria are clear in some places and vague in others

There are defined eligibility rules. Players must have retired. They must have a certain number of appearances or milestones. Only Premier League careers count.

But the selection beyond eligibility is vague. The League says they consider factors like eras, positions, voting history and player influence. It leaves plenty of grey areas. Plenty of room for discretion. Plenty of room for decisions that do not always match the logic applied to others.

And that is why the Giggs omission feels less like a principle and more like an awkward exception.

Each new induction class makes the question louder

If Giggs had been inducted early, people would have argued then moved on. Instead, every new class highlights the contradiction.

Fans talk about it every year.Pundits hint at it.And the Premier League avoid addressing it.

But when the most decorated player in Premier League history sits on the outside while players with far more serious off field moments are celebrated inside, the silence becomes impossible to ignore.

The Premier League need to decide what the Hall of Fame represents

I grew up thinking Ryan Giggs was everything you could ask for in a footballer, only to learn years later that he was miles away from the person I imagined. That happens in football. That happens in life. People are flawed, and sometimes your favourites turn out to be nothing like the version you built in your head.

But the Hall of Fame is supposed to be clear, or at least it should be. It is supposed to be based on football. And when players with worse headlines are being celebrated while a player with Giggs’ record does not even get considered, you start to wonder whether even the Hall itself knows what it wants to be.

Until the Premier League decides what standard it wants to set, the question will keep coming.

Why isn’t Ryan Giggs in the Premier League Hall of Fame? And the truth is, right now, the Premier League still has no answer. At least publicly.