Ryan Giggs was my favourite footballer, growing up. My first official top was a Giggs one and although I'm right handed, I made a habit of dribbling and shooting with my left foot because I wanted to be Giggs.
Like Giggs, I have curly black hair and grew my hair a little longer because his was slightly long in the early 90's and I wanted to look like him. I'd try to dribble from the halfway line when we played football with friends because I wanted to recreate his QPR goal (which probably made me a nuisance to play with and a selfish player that caused eyes to roll). I pestered my dad to buy me Reeboks instead of the Adidas that my brothers had, because Giggs wore Reebok.
I was one of the (perhaps biased) ones who continually made the case that he was the greatest United player ever.
But as an adult, you lose the myopic hero worship and see people for who they are. He is an apodictically awful human being. Or at the very least, engages in some contemptible activities. When details of his affair with his brother's wife emerged, I found myself less into him as a fan. I genuinely couldn't understand how a human being could do that. And I echo some of the posts on here. That's a lot more malicious than a "mistake". It's an 8 year betrayal of your own brother. You cease being a "fan" when you can't respect that individual anymore, in my opinion.
Whenever I went back to watch our old footage or some of the Giggs documentaries over the years, I couldn't stop thinking of Giggs the person. I can't quite enjoy it as much as I used to.
I'm not sure whether these new allegations are true but it's no longer jarring to see his name associated with a heavy allegation because of his previous actions. It wouldn't be out of character for someone who has always been temerarious and selfish (even regarding his numerous affairs that predated the one with his brother's wife.)
In a way, it's sad that someone's private life can affect the way former fans view him - and I can see that there are some who still get a little defensive given how much they liked Giggs as a player - but I think that, for the most part, it's difficult to separate the individal from the athlete.
I've still got his old "Skills with Ryan Giggs" video tape. And the "It's a wonderful run by Giggs" Sky Sports documentary that was released after he broke the club's all time appearance record in the 2008 Champions League final. And old tops that I kept. But I never watch the footage anymore.
Let's wait for this to be investigated. I hope that it isn't true. If it turns out that it is, it would hardly be a surprise at this point. But I'd rather not have him tarnish his image even further than he is. That just might make his old stuff completely unwatchable.