Ryan's question time

"I've had hamstring problems and the last time I did it in training was the day before playing Bayern Munich (in the Champions League three years ago). It might sound stupid but it was one of the biggest disappointments of my career as I sat in the hotel in Munich knowing I was missing a massive game because of my hamstring.

"So I just looked at every aspect with the physios here. I've been doing yoga for the last 18 months which has definitely helped the flexibility and strength of the hamstring at the back. I've also looked at my diet, exercises before and after training.

"In addition, there's a few of us who are doing our B-badges at the moment. Coaching or management is something I think about as I've been in football since I left school."

Disappointment has been a feeling all around Old Trafford this season as United have had to watch unbeaten Arsenal rip the championship from their grasp. Giggs, though, does not think United are too far behind the Gunners despite all their upheavals.

"Alex Ferguson has brought six players in, players he's maybe looking at for three or four years' time and through injuries and suspensions some of them have played maybe a bit more than he would have liked," said Giggs. "But saying that, overall, we've definitely had the quality."

Going into the FA Cup semi-final with Arsenal, United knew it was their last chance of silverware and this obviously helped their motivation, as Giggs admits: "It was a big game for us. Arsenal were still going for the Treble and there was a lot of talk about how good Arsenal were.

"So we had to put on a performance and we did. A week earlier we drew 1-1 with them at Highbury and after that game we knew we could beat them in the semi-final, purely because we put them under so much pressure in the last 20 minutes and we knew we were able to do that again."

Of course, it was events in the first Premiership clash of the season at Old Trafford that dominated the headlines. There were ugly scenes at the final whistle as some of the Arsenal players surrounded Ruud van Nistelrooy, claiming he had been responsible for getting Patrick Vieira sent off.

Eight players - six from Arsenal and two from United - had to face the Football Association over the bust-up. These included Giggs, who was fined £7,500 for his clash with Lauren but the United winger admits he was stunned by the outcome.

"Yeah, it was a shock," he said. "I've had worse things than that in my career. If you go back through the years, the likes of Paul Ince, Bryan Robson, Mark Hughes, Eric Cantona, they'd been getting done every week nowadays.

"It's like Scholesy now (who was banned for three matches for his push on Middlesbrough's Doriva), it's just a push, you know. Okay so you're not supposed to raise your arms but sometimes it happens. Football's a physical game, it's a matter of putting things into perspective really.

"When I was in front of the FA they were looking at the video saying this is what happened, but they weren't actually there in the heat of the moment. We'd just missed a penalty, drew against Arsenal when we should have won really. They were playing it all in slow motion.

"They were like: "So what were you thinking when you were running over". I wasn't thinking anything, it happened in about two or three seconds, I saw someone pushing Ruud so I went over to help a team-mate out. If it happened again, I'd do it again."

For now his immediate aims are winning the FA Cup for the first time since 1999 when United take on Millwall at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday.

"It's good to be back, especially for me as it's in my home city," said Giggs. "If they doubled the allocation I still wouldn't have enough tickets. But I've got a lot of family down there and it will be great for them."

Giggs's time at United is intertwined with Ferguson since the day the Scot arrived at the 14-year-old's home to sign him up on schoolboy forms. As he recalled: "I was late, I'd been out with my mates, messing about, like you do when you're 14. I turned the corner and seen his car outside, a big Merc, and thought, '****' I forgot I was going to sign today." The most famous story of Giggs and Ferguson, though, is the time he supposedly raced round to break up a teenage party Giggs and Lee Sharpe had snuck away to attend. So what was the truth of that one?

Giggs laughed as he said: "It was 1992 and we were all at Sharpy's house, on our way out. The manager was at a dinner and someone had told him that we were in Blackpool on the Monday night, we'd just played West Ham and had a game on the Wednesday against Nottingham Forest. The gaffer thought we'd been on a night out but we just went on a few rides and that and came back. Shouldn't have done it but he thought we'd been on a night out when we hadn't.

"Anyway, we played on the Wednesday and on the Thursday the gaffer sent us to a charity dinner, we just gave out some prizes and that.

"So at the end of the dinner me and Sharpy thought: 'We'll go out afterwards'. We went back to his house, but his was a new house and didn't have a number on the door.

"I was in the kitchen, bottle in my hand talking to these two birds, Sharpy is upstairs getting changed when Fergie knocks on the door, but my mate didn't recognise him. I don't know why, he just didn't recognise him. The gaffer said: 'Is this number 15'?

"My mate said: 'I don't know mate', but the door was right in my eye-line, if he'd not have seen me he'd have just walked straight off.

But he's seen me, pushed my mate out of the way and barged straight in. Someone tells Sharpy that the gaffer is here, but he's like 'yeah right, 'course he is', thinking it's a wind-up.

"Word gets round the house that the gaffer is here so all the apprentices start hiding in the wardrobes and behind the curtains as he throws people out. Gaffer never found out who they were . . . still doesn't know. He hammered me and Sharpy and fined us two weeks' wages."