Johnny Giles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Johnny Giles | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Michael John Giles | |
| Date of birth | 6 November 1940 | |
| Place of birth | Dublin, Ireland  |
|
| Playing position | Midfielder | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 1954–1957 | Stella Maris F.C. | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1957–1963 1963–1975 1975–1977 1978 1977–1983 |
Manchester United Leeds United West Bromwich Albion Philadelphia Fury Shamrock Rovers |
99 (10) 383 (88) 75 (3) 21 (0) |
| National team | ||
| 1960–1979 | Republic of Ireland | 59 (5) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Johnny Giles (born November 6, 1940 Dublin) is an Irish former association football midfielder who played for Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s, and is now known as a football pundit.
Giles and skipper Billy Bremner formed a central midfield partnership which was one of the best in club football and yielded several trophies in Leeds's finest and most controversial era.
Contents |
[edit] Playing career
Giles was spotted in Dublin playing for the famous Nursery Stella Maris Football Club in Drumcondra he began his English career with Leeds's rivals Manchester United, joining in 1957. He was given an early first-team debut in 1958 after eight of the team died in the Munich air disaster. He was in the Republic of Ireland team before his 19th birthday.
Giles was a regular first team player over the next four years, playing alongside Bobby Charlton and Denis Law. Manchester United won the FA Cup in 1963, where Giles played the defence-splitting pass which started the move towards a winning goal by David Herd.
He asked for a transfer shortly after that and joined Leeds for £33,000. He soon showed his worth, as Leeds won the Second Division title in his first season. In 1965 he was in the team which came close to a League championship and FA Cup "double" but which missed out on both, to Manchester United and to Liverpool respectively.
Giles formed a glittering partnership with Billy Bremner as Leeds manager Don Revie built a new team around them. The players had similarities in their styles and were a tremendous foil for one another. Giles was known as the creative force and Bremner as the ballwinner, but each was capable of doing the other's prime job. Despite his craft, Giles was later pinned down as one of the tougher and dirtier players in what was an often uncompromising Leeds side.
In the 1967–1968 season Leeds won both the League Cup and the Fairs Cup. That was the first season in which Giles was affected by injury. In 1970 Giles again had a magnificent season as Leeds chased three trophies but lost all three, the League went to Everton on the last day; the FA Cup to Chelsea after a replay; and the European Cup campaign ended at the hands of Celtic in the semi finals.
In the fifth round of the 1971 FA Cup when Leeds were unexpectedly beaten 3-2 by Colchester United, Giles scored Leeds's second goal as they almost came back from 3-0 down. Leeds regained the Fairs Cup but lost the League title on the last day, with Arsenal getting the victory they needed to earn the championship and form one half of a successful "double" bid.
Leeds won their first FA Cup and Giles his second when they defeated Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley in 1972, yet again they missed out on the League on the final day of the season after defeat to Wolves. Sunderland and A.C. Milan beat Leeds in the finals of the FA Cup and the European Cup Winners Cup in 1973, rendering Leeds trophyless again. Jack Charlton's retirement in 1973 also left Giles as the most senior member of the squad. In the same year he started to combine his Leeds duties with a spell as player-manager of his country.
In 1974, a 29-match unbeaten run at the start of the season helped Leeds coast to their second title, but then controversy reigned around Giles after Revie quit to take over the England team.
Revie recommended to the Leeds board of directors that Giles, nearly 34 and approaching the end of his playing career, should be his successor. The board instead appointed Brian Clough, a brilliant manager but a controversial choice as he had been publicly critical of Leeds in the past and was not an admirer of Revie.
Clough and the players never got on — the players had wanted Giles too — and the board realised their error, dismissing Clough with a big pay-off after just 44 days in charge. Giles still didn't get the job though (that went to Jimmy Armfield) and concentrated on playing as Leeds chased a place in their first European Cup final.
Giles was outstanding in Leeds' European campaign but was no longer an automatic fixture in the side. After appearing in the 1975 final, which Leeds lost 2-0 to Bayern Munich, Giles accepted an offer from West Bromwich Albion to become their player manager, while still playing for and managing the Irish team. He left Leeds after 12 years, 521 appearances and 114 goals, a quantity of which came from the penalty spot.
[edit] Player-manager
Under Giles's leadership Albion were promoted from the Second Division in April 1976, coming 7th in the First Division in 1976-77. Giles brought Laurie Cunningham and Cyrille Regis into the first team at a time when black players were only beginning to appear in the English League. He resigned as manager at West Brom on 21 April 1977, the same day as his former team-mate Jack Charlton resigned his managerial post as Middlesbrough, and moved back to Ireland to manage Shamrock Rovers until 1982.
He returned to the Hawthorns for a second spell as manager durin the 1983-84 season, steering the side to safety. The following season saw West Brom start well and were as high as 5th at Christmas, but 12th place eventuated. Following a terrible start to the 1985-86 season he left the job, leaving the reins to Nobby Stiles.
[edit] Republic of Ireland manager
As player manager of the Republic of Ireland for much of the 1970s, Giles oversaw a revival in the fortunes of the national side which had struggled for the previous decade. The 1976 European Championship qualifiers saw the international debut of Liam Brady and a more respectable showing. In the 1978 World Cup qualifiers, the side finished only 2 points short of qualification, though defeating France at home.
[edit] Shamrock Rovers
During his five and a half year spell in charge at Glenmalure Park Rovers won the FAI Cup in 1978, he scored 2 goals in 4 appearances in the European Cup Winners Cup [1] and captained Ireland nine times, scoring once. He resigned at Milltown on the 3 February 1983, after having left his Ireland job in March 1980, and ventured across the Atlantic for spells in charge of clubs in Canada and the USA.
[edit] Life outside football
Giles later returned to Ireland and settled into a much admired career in journalism and punditry on RTÉ's The Premiership and its international soccer coverage. Giles is currently the leading soccer analyst on the Irish radio station Newstalk 106. He is well known for his forthright opinions on the modern football scene.
His two sons Michael and Chris also played for Shamrock Rovers - Michael from 1981 to 1983 and Chris from 1993 to 1995. His father Dicky played for Bohemians in the 1920s.
[edit] Honours
In 1998 the Football League, as part of its centenary season celebrations, included Giles on its list of 100 League Legends.
Giles recently had a plaque erected in his honour at his birthplace at Ormond Square in Dublin. [2]
He was chosen as the best player from the Republic of Ireland of the last 50 years by the Football Association of Ireland in the UEFA Jubilee Awards in November 2003 [3].[4]
[edit] External links
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Tony Waiters |
Vancouver Whitecaps Head Coach 1980-1983 |
Succeeded by Alan Hinton |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Giles, Johnny |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Irish ex-footballer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 6, 1940 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ormond Square, Dublin |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
