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The World at Their Feet: How Footballers Look After the Tools of Their Trade

The young fans who bought Ryan Giggs' first book, My Story, when it came out in 1994 got a bit of a shock when they reached page 54.

There, nestling amid images of Giggs celebrating goals for Manchester United, looking moody in Reebok leisurewear and peering out doe-eyed from beneath the curls of his floppy black fringe, was a double-page black-and-white photograph of his feet. And they weren't particularly pleasant.

Giggs' feet stood on a white plinth, his toes curled over its edges. His toenails looked scuffed and jagged-edged, and there was a small, dark bruise on the big toenail of his left foot.