Sir Alex Ferguson has never seen Ryan Giggs lose his temper and he was "best example" of a footballer the former manager had ever worked with at Manchester United, a court heard yesterday.
The 80-year-old entered the witness box to give evidence in the trial of his former protege, who faces charges of coercion and assault against his ex-girlfriend Kate Greville, 36.
He said Mr Giggs had a “fantastic temperament”.
"To have a career as long as he had in a difficult position, in terms of energy, he fulfilled everything we ever wished for," he said.
"He was the best example I’ve had at any club. Everyone looked at Ryan as the number one." Asked if he had ever seen Mr Giggs lose his temper during his 27 years as manager, Sir Alex answered: "No, no."
The 80-year-old recalled how Mr Giggs, now 48, was regularly at the receiving end of the manager’s famous dressing room tongue-lashings as he got older.
He told the court: "I used Ryan a lot in the sense of when I lost my temper about the performance, I'd use Ryan as an example sometimes and he got the sharp end of the tongue.
"He could take it. He was strong enough," Sir Alex said before exhaling sharply, mimicking his former players sitting up and taking notice, and continued: "Everyone else in the dressing room would think: ‘If Ryan Giggs can take it, we can all take it’."
The jury were told how Sir Alex swooped to sign the 13-year-old Welsh schoolboy from under the noses of rivals Manchester City when he and his then assistant Archie Knox went to the Giggs family home.
Sir Alex dealt with Mr Giggs’ mother, Lynne, who he described as "very good and accommodating".
He told the jury how he had to "look after" Mr Giggs, adding: "The thing was the press, the media started comparing him to George Best and we had to face a lot of media attention on the boy and I said to his mother, ‘If you trust me I’ll look after him’ and if anyone from the media wanted him, they had to come through me.
"The next George Best, that’s a big thing, a big issue. But the boy was great, no problems."
Before Sir Alex’s appearance, the court heard a letter Kate Greville had planned to send to Mr Giggs called "The Final Goodbye", which detailed the ex-footballer’s infidelity.
She shared a draft with friends, telling them she planned on leaving Mr Giggs "in a week" when he was away on Wales managerial duty, and one responded: "Better than watching Jeremy Kyle, that."
In it, she wrote: "They say your gut is your second brain and my gut has always told me you were a compulsive liar and serial cheat… I think you underestimated my ability to find things out."
Ms Greville listed eight women that she said Mr Giggs had been with during their relationship. They were Helen, Zara, Natalie, Suzie, Kelly, Charlotte, a redacted name and Steph.
Helen, she said, "met the kids several times" and Mr Giggs had told his ex-wife Stacey he was in a relationship with her. She also accused him of being in a "full-on relationship" with Zara, who he bought shoes, bags and dresses for.
Ms Greville said she hadn’t "brought these things up" because "the outcome" would be "you deny it... attack me for asking questions" about his infidelity.
She wrote: "Well I’ve taken that away from you, and you will never lie to me or cheat on me again."
Ms Greville goes on to say that she wants Mac the dog, and that "if you want to fight me for him, that’s your prerogative… if you want to get legal about Mac you can get in touch with my lawyer".
She ended the letter saying: "I was living one life with you and you were living multiple lives with dozens of women."
Ms Greville signed off: "Goodbye, Ryan, it’s been extremely emotional. K."
The jury also heard two hours worth of messages from the couple declaring their love for one another, during which Mr Giggs described Ms Greville as "the jam in my doughnut, the salt in my tequila, the truffle in my pasta".
The exchanges revealed that during his tenure as Wales manager, Mr Giggs handed over a copy of his itinerary to Ms Greville which detailed "every minute" of his daily routine so that she could cross-reference it.
There was more poetry read out in court, too, with Ms Greville having penned a rude verse about their sex life and Mr Giggs’ acrostic poem.
Mr Giggs denies all charges against him.
The trial continues.
