Giggs discovers fountain of youth

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Storied veteran Ryan Giggs (left) is widely admired by both teammates and opponents. Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images The Limey's Mailbag Keep the banter flowing to The Limey. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

In this early stage of the English Premier League season, experience has played a major role in two contrasting ways. The club at the top of the league is reaping the benefits of it, with Ryan Giggs flourishing for Manchester United. At the other end of the standings, judging by its current plight, rock-bottom Portsmouth hasn't taken heed of history.

The evergreen Giggs is an EPL legend, with records that are unlikely to be matched for years. Eleven league titles, four FA Cup wins, three League Cups and two Champions League titles make the Welshman the most decorated player in English football history. He's the only player to have scored in every single season since the EPL's inception in 1992, and last season his peers voted him PFA Player of the Season, an accolade he describes as "the big one."

That award was a testament to his transformation from the once lightning-quick winger, famous for his mazy runs, to the central midfield maestro who now relies more on creativity, accuracy and speed of thought to produce the magic his legs once afforded him.

Despite his ever-advancing years Giggs, 36 next month, has continued where he left off last season. His sublime pass put Michael Owen through to score the injury-time winner in the Manchester derby two weeks ago. He also came on as a substitute against Stoke and within six minutes transformed a game in which United was struggling by setting up both goals in the Red Devils' 2-0 victory.

In Wednesday's Champions League game against Wolfsburg, Giggs scored the equalizer (his 150th goal for the club) that set United on the road to a 2-1 win. His recent form has softened the blow of Cristiano Ronaldo's departure to Real Madrid. "It is not a matter of him defying his age," Sir Alex Ferguson told Man. United's Web site this week. "It is more a case that there is no discernible deterioration in his game at all. It is remarkable."

Previous Man. United sides also have been influenced and driven on by an elder statesman. At 35, Peter Schmeichel was barking orders at his defenders when United won the treble of the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup in 1999. Also on that team was Teddy Sherringham who, as a 35-year-old in the '00-01 season, led the club with 21 goals, and was voted the Football Writers' and PFA footballer of the year.

A 36-year-old Steve Bruce and Éric Cantona were the older heads on the 1996 team that was famously written off by former Liverpool defender turned TV pundit Alan Hansen when he declared, "You'll never win anything with kids." As United threw egg in the direction of Hansen's face, Bruce and Cantona led a team of spotty upstarts to the EPL title, with David Beckham, Paul Scholes, the Neville brothers, Nicky Butt and a certain young Welsh wing wizard confounding their critics and establishing themselves as top EPL players that season.

A club run into the ground

That older players have much to offer is just one of soccer history's many lessons. Another is that poor off-field management spells disaster for a club's league position. Many clubs have learned this lesson, notably Newcastle United (whose relegation last season had much to do with the ineptitude of owner Mike Ashley) and Leeds United, which bear testament to the dangers of spending beyond your means. Financial troubles left the Yorkshire club playing in the third tier of English football only six years after appearing in a Champions League semifinal.

Portsmouth currently sits in last place in the EPL, having lost all seven of its games. On Wednesday, the club was forced to announce that, due to a delay in a refinancing deal, the players' pay was delayed. "All the money from all the player transfers and the Sky TV money, all of the [$56 million] from January, has gone straight to the Standard Bank," Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie told ESPN Soccernet. "There is no money left."

So serious is the situation that London daily The Independent reports the Premier League has drawn up plans to seize control of the club to prevent it falling into administration. Much of the blame for this situation lies with former owner Alexandre Gaydamak, whose attitude at the end of his reign, as Storrie told The Sunday Mirror, was that "he just couldn't care less anymore." Gaydamak overspent on players and wages, then, with the club reliant on his funding, he withdrew it, leaving Portsmouth on the brink of bankruptcy. Is new owner Sulaiman Al-Fahim a likely savior? We're unsure.