Friday, July 23, 2021 at 6:17 PM• Jeroen van Poppel • Last update: 18:30

Ryan Giggs is accused of kicking his ex-girlfriend Kate Greville in the back and then throwing her naked from their hotel room, English media reports from a court in Manchester. The claim is part of “a pattern of controlling and coercive behavior” that 47-year-old Giggs allegedly indulged in his 36-year-old ex-girlfriend between August 2017 and November 2020.

The reason for the hotel incident is said to have been that Greville accused her then-boyfriend Giggs of flirting with other women. After Greville was evicted from the hotel room naked, Giggs allegedly threw her bag after it. The hotel room incident is just one of many humiliations that Giggs is accused of. The club legend of Manchester United, who retired as a professional footballer in 2014, is said to have inflicted physical injuries on the woman on November 1 last year at his home in Worsley, near Manchester.

Giggs is further accused of threatening to send emails to Greville’s friends and her employers about their sexual relationship. The Welshman is also said to have thrown her things out of his house when she questioned him about relationships with other women. He would constantly send unwanted messages and make unwanted calls to her and her friends whenever she tried to break up. After she tried to break up, he regularly showed up at her home, work, and gym unannounced and uninvited.

On Friday, Giggs appeared before a preliminary hearing before the Manchester Crown Court to make a supposedly not-guilty plea. The former footballer denies all allegations and said in court he was looking forward to “clearing his name”. Giggs will appear in court on January 24 next year in the criminal case. Another preliminary hearing will be held at the same court on 8 October.

Giggs is out on bail on the condition that he does not contact his ex-girlfriend and her sister. That bail was extended by the judge on Friday. Giggs is the head coach of Wales, but was suspended at the end of last year over allegations of assault. As a result, Giggs missed the European Championship and is temporarily replaced by Rob Page.