*Says nowt*

Must have been a collection at OT.

The BBC still didn't have to put Giggs on the list, it's still their final decision.

Blimey, some outrage in here
Maybe he should have got a different award considering that he hasn't played a lot in 2009 but he is a fantastic example to kids everywhere not just footy fans.

To be able to perform at the top team in the country in the top league in the world for nigh on 20 years is astonishing and a testament to his dedication and hard work as well as talent
And I say all that as a Gooner.
I would have been happy for most of the others to win btw. I was far less happy that Capello got Coach of the Year - there must have been hundreds of people more deserving than him in lots of sports.
And it was a bloody joke that the Mens cricket team won when the women have had a far better and more consistent season. All the men did was scrape through to win the Ashes and since then have hardly shone. Team of the Year?? I don't think so

And breathe

Well said Veggie.  He's still making the first team and is one of the good guys.

The Ryan Giggs of this world have so much support in their training camps, outrageous wages, short working/training hours. There is no comparison to a Heptathlon world champion or our olympic cyclists.

Ryan Giggs won the Premier League title in 2009... again.
Add to that the League Cup, a runner up in the European Cup.


But naaaaaaaaaah, he's achieved nothing this year.

Zackly! It's sposed to be of the year. I'm not denying he should get anything but.............

Are you seriously suggesting that, after going to the trouble of arranging for an independent panel, the BBC should have overruled it?
Can you imagine the row that would have caused? (Leaving aside the fact that several on the panel will work for Murdoch, and would jump at the opportunity to stick the knife into the BBC.)


The voting for SPOTY has always been a thorny issue - long before "Reality TV" voting became controversial - and the BBC have always been extremely careful for the results to be seen as fair and free from interference.

Yes, it was a surprise result, but blaming the BBC seems rather unfair...

Also can I add that the award is 'Sports personality'

For me that means someone who has set an example to others by their professionalism, dedication and achievements in the particular sport. Ryan Giggs is as deserving as any winner. But lets face it people are always going to complain when a footballer wins, even thpough it's the most popular sport that millions and millions of people want to be professional at, so to be at the top of that sport for nearly 20 years, playing for a club who can afford to replace you with any younger player from anywhere in the world is an absolutely amazing achievement.

I was so sure Jessica Ennis would win

A young dedicated girl with a HUGE talent as an alrounder.........What a bleeding liberty she didn't  win


BTW how do you spell all rounder, cos spellcheck doesn't like any of my versions

"all-rounder"


Ennis was my favourite too, but even she couldn't dislodge Button as the bookie's favourite - he's led the betting almost all year, which is why Giggs' win came as such a surprise...

I know he was up against the Olympic winners, but if Button was to win it this year then Lewis Hamilton certainly should have last year. Lewis Hamilton at 24 being the youngest ever world champion in only his second season having only missed out narrowly the previous season.

23 year old Heptathlete wins hands down in my book..........not pampered  or sitting in a car going fast.

Out in all weathers , training, and slogging for SEVEN disciplines ....that deserves to win in my book.

Giggs definitely deserves some kind of lifetime achievement award, but him winning the sports personality of the year would suggest that this has been his best ever year, as he's never won it before, and not even the most diehard Man Utd fan would suggest Giggs has had his best ever 12 months this year.

He's nowhere near the player he was 10 years ago for a start.

damn it, i knew i should have backed him

well I voted for Giggs

this year he reached his 800th game for the team he has been playing for for over 20 years, if that is not some achievement in sport, I don't know what is.He was also voted player of the year in the  PFA by fellow professionals, Giggs is the most decorated player in the history of English soccer with 10 league championship medals, two Champions League medals, four FA Cups and three League Cups among his vast collection of silverware.  He broke Bobby Charlton's all-time appearance record and

His name is etched into United's glittering history and his team mate Edwin van der Sar thinks that no-one will ever match his achievements.

"It will be hard to beat his record," the Dutch goalkeeper was quoted as saying by the Manchester Evening News.

He is and always will be up there with the best IMO I am quite surprised by some opinions on here, but doesn't pay to all think the same way

and well said Veggie

How some can say is not a deserving winner is beyond me

THIS.

I got something in my eye when Seve was on. I loved watching him in my youth. It almost made me want to take up golf...Almost.

I'm not a Man Utd fan (although I LOVED their performance against us at the weekend ), but I'm still glad Giggs won. None of the others have been at the top of their profession for 20 years, and his peers also rightly gave him the PFA player of the year title earlier this year.

Quite apart from that, that's two years in three a Welshman has won - not bad from a country of just under 3 million people!

With the public choosing their favourite from the shortlist of 10 by phone on the night, Giggs received 29.4% of the vote (151,842 votes) ahead of Button (18.74% - 96,770) and Ennis (15.58% - 80,469) with a total of 516,473 votes cast.

I understand that Sir Alec is the first to coach two winners.