Footie's Other Giggs

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Byline: Charles Legge

QUESTION HOW many places in the football pyramid separate Manchester United's Ryan Giggs and his brother, Salford City's Rhodri Giggs?

RYAN GIGGS'S younger brother Rhodri is no mean footballer. He was born in Cardiff in 1977, but his family soon moved to Swinton in Greater Manchester after his father Danny Wilson, one-time Cardiff RFC fly-half, switched codes and went to play rugby league for Swinton Lions.

Giggs first played football for Salford Boys before joining Torquay as a YTS trainee, going under the name Rhodri Jones to avoid comparisons with his famous brother. His time as a trainee wasn't happy and he left halfway through the scheme.

Three years later, aged 19, he attempted to resurrect his footballing career, having trials in Scotland with Hearts and ending up playing with Livingston, though this lasted only six months. Rhodri returned to Manchester where he worked for a time as an estate agent.

In 1999, he was arrested, having been accused by the News Of the World of supplying cocaine to 'Fake Sheikh' Mazher Mahmood. He lost his job, but was found not guilty.

In 2001, Rhodri was imprisoned for assault for nine months, along with his friend Christopher Doyle, who received 15 months for an altercation between them and a group of Manchester City fans outside a nightclub.

Since then he has turned his life around. He is raising a son, Louis, …