This was not going to be Ryan Giggs’s story. At the time, on a foul afternoon at Old Trafford, it felt more like the day that Anderson and Carlos Tévez defied the cliché about South Americans being fair-weather players, or even the day that Paul Jewell found hope in defeat for Derby County. But as the dust settled and the rain continued to lash down, the tale that emerged was all about Giggs, Manchester United’s man for all seasons.

If truth be told, Rio Ferdinand had something to do with that. Speaking afterwards, the United defender expressed outrage at the lack of recognition that Giggs receives when the greats of the modern game are discussed. “He will be appreciated more when he’s retired,” Ferdinand said. “He’s respected a lot more in foreign countries than in this country. It’s a shame we’re not appreciating a player who’s been the most successful footballer of our generation, probably.”

Ferdinand has a point, one that might have been ignored had this not been the day that Giggs scored his 100th league goal, but that is just another milestone in a career during which he has made 736 appearances and scored 143 goals for United. Sooner or later, either towards the end of this season or the start of next, he will eclipse Sir Bobby Charlton’s record of 759 appearances for the club. By May, he may also add to his own record of nine league championship medals. By any standards it has been an extraordinary career.

Giggs took his leave with 25 minutes remaining in this match, having scored United’s opening goal, hit a post with a volley and tormented Andy Griffin, the Derby defender, for much of the afternoon. As he left the field to a standing ovation, the mind went back to a January evening in 2003, when he was barracked by some United supporters as he was substituted in a League Cup tie against Blackburn Rovers. Briefly his future at Old Trafford looked bleak, as Inter Milan and others prepared to swoop, but ultimately it was David Beckham who left for warmer climes and Giggs who went on to become a true United great, a name that will one day be uttered in the same breath as Edwards, Charlton, Law and Best.

Jewell, the new Derby manager, had more pressing matters to worry about on Saturday evening, but he, too, stopped to pay tribute to Giggs. “The thing that sets these top players apart is not just unbelievable talent but also a massive desire to do well,” he said. “It may take time, but it’s something I want to try and instil into my own players.”

The challenge of turning Craig Fagan into Ryan Giggs, though, is one that could be equated to silk purses and sows’ ears. As Jewell dissected his second match in charge of Derby, he sounded frustrated by the limitations - mental as well as technical – of his team. “Our powers of concentration aren’t what they should be,” he said. “The thing that drives me up the wall is the goals we gave away. So many basic, elementary errors.”

Derby had looked relatively comfortable until the half-hour, but thereafter it seemed inevitable that United’s pressure would tell. It did five minutes before half-time, when Giggs scored from close-range after Cristiano Ronaldo’s shot had been parried, and then, in the dying moments of the first half came Tévez’s first goal of the match after Derby had squandered several chances to clear their lines.

Tévez scored his second on the hour with a low shot past Stephen Bywater after he had been given too much space in the penalty area, and would surely have claimed a hat-trick had Ronaldo not insisted on taking United’s penalty in the final minute.

By that stage Derby had scored their first away goal of the season, a goal set up by two substitutes, Gary Teale and Tyrone Mears, and scored by a third, Steve Howard. Jewell joked that the goal merited a public holiday in Derby. He was pushing it, but it says everything about their season that a 4-1 defeat gave them such much-needed hope for the long term.

How they rated

Manchester United

4-4-2

E van der Sar 5
W Brown 7
R Ferdinand 7
N Vidic 7
P Evra 6
C Ronaldo 6
M Carrick 6
Anderson 7
R Giggs 7
C Tévez 7
W Rooney 7

Substitutes D Fletcher 6 (for Anderson, 63min), L Saha 5 (for Giggs, 65), J O’Shea (for Ferdinand, 71) Not used T Kuszczak, Nani

Derby

4-4-1-1

S Bywater 6
A Griffin 5
D Moore 6
C Davis Y 6
J McEveley 6
C Fagan 4
M Oakley 5
A Leacock 6
S Pearson Y 5
G Barnes 6
K Miller 5

Substitutes G Teale 6 (for McEveley, 46), S Howard 6 (for Fagan, 46), T Mears 7 (for Barnes, 61) Not used L Price, R Earnshaw