Over the past 25 years, it was a sheer privilege for any player to represent Manchester United. Sir Alex Ferguson transformed the club from an also ran in the 80s to a well-oiled winning machine in the 90s and the early part of the 20th century.

There has been plenty of stories over the years about how the inner workings of the club contributed to their monumental success and legacy that they built.

One man who was a central figure to that ongoing success was Ryan Giggs. The Welsh winger was an icon of the club during his career and remains United's highest appearance holder, turning out an impressive 963 times.

This spell yielded an unmatched 13 Premier League titles, four FA Cup and two Champions League titles, amongst others.

So you would imagine that Giggsy absolutely loved every minute of it. However, while that would be a safe assumption to make, you'd actually be wrong.

Yep, that's right, Giggsy admitted in his column in The Telegraph that he actually didn't enjoy the pressure or many of the games he featured in.

The expectation to deliver trophy after trophy at Old Trafford meant he could never relax and enjoy his football when he was on the pitch.

"As for the life of a footballer itself, I can say that it does come with stress of its own," he said.

‘I have to admit that I never really enjoyed the games.

"There was too much at stake playing for United. Unless you were 3-0 up with 10 minutes to go you learned that football had a habit of tripping you up. It was never wise to look around and relax and to enjoy the moment.’

Giggs made the admission after the new broke that England winger Aaron Lennon had been detained under the Mental Health Act and pointed out that while wealth and fame came as a bonus of being a footballer, but that didn't make them immune from mental health issues.

However, the former Wales international did reveal that it wasn't all doom and gloom, and that there were aspects of his career that he did enjoy.

"I did love training,"he added.

"Although it was always intense, there was not the pressure of matchday and you were with people you liked and respected playing the game you loved. We ate well, we were well looked after and that daily hit of endorphins from exercise has a big effect on your mood."