Latest news with #JohnGiles
The Irish Sun
10 hours ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Fans all say the same thing in tribute to ‘breath of fresh air' John Giles after retiring from 30-year punditry career
FANS expressed their gratitude to John Giles after he announced his retirement from punditry. The Republic of Ireland legend, 84, Advertisement 2 John Giles has retired from punditry after 30-year career with RTE and Off The Ball Credit: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile 2 Fans paid tribute to a legend of Irish football Credit: PA:Press Association Prior to his time in radio , Giles was an acclaimed part of And in response to his retirement, fans flocked to Mark said: "Best of luck to John Giles and happy retirement. "Will be sadly missed by the OTB listeners, a great player and a great football pundit. Advertisement Read More on John Giles "His views on football were always a 'breath of fresh air'." Mairtin hailed: "John was a brilliant pundit… "He knew the game so well and was eager to explain simplify and give an understanding of the game to the viewer or listener. "John always called the game as it was and as he saw it. He really believed in the old traditional fundamental values of the game" Advertisement Most read in Football Exclusive Ronan declared: "An absolute gift from god John was" Jim Gray said: "Loved Giles as player and pundit. RTE viewers in stitches at John Giles' cheeky one-word answer to Patrick Kielty on The Late Late Show "Had the cheek to ring him for interview few years ago when Leeds sent a team to @SligoSuperCup. "When told it was underage football, he couldn't have been nicer,went out of his way to help. Advertisement "Definitely one of the good guys. Happy retirement, legend." "Thursday night football with John Giles" has been a staple of the evening Off The Ball show since inception in 2002. His final appearance was preceded by a touching and poignant tribute featuring the best bits of his broadcasting career, both in RTE and Off The Ball. He goes down as one of the most influential men in the history of Irish football with a Advertisement And speaking on OTB for the final time, Giles said: "I was really lucky. I fell into the television . Eamon [Dunphy] helped me a lot in that. "When you're doing the job I was trying to do, you have to watch all the matches. You can't make it up as you go along. "I think it got to the stage where I was getting a bit stale trying to watch as many matches as I could and it became hard work . "Football has never been hard work to me, I have always loved it but there are so matches. Advertisement "Even in the summer now, you see the teams over in America [for the Club World Cup]. "I have had a good run of it. I am 84, nearly 85. "I have enjoyed it. I loved playing. I fell into to the television, I had no intention of doing that when I was actually playing the football. "No complaints whatsoever." Advertisement Off the Ball are going to hold a night of celebration in his honour in Dublin 's Sugar Club on Thursday August 14.
Irish Examiner
11 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Football's Open University has closed down. John Giles has retired from punditry
Football's Open University has closed down, having taught a Masters course for almost 40 years. On Thursday night, John Giles gave his last lecture as a football pundit, completing his run on Off The Ball, nine years after finishing an iconic run on the RTÉ football panel after Euro 2016. The Ireland and Leeds United great has elected to retire from punditry, aged 84. Over his time as an educator, he has taught us many important things. He has told us who the great players are and explained what made them great. On every sad occasion one of these greats has left us, it has been a privilege to have an inside man in the pantheon, able to give us the lowdown, speaking as a peer. John Giles has told us all there is to know about moral courage and honesty of effort. He has assured us, contrary to received wisdom, that there is never a bad time to score a goal. And he has reminded us that the right thing to do at one-nil up is still the right thing to do at one-nil down. And indeed if it is nil-nil. That is what he means by taking each game on its merits. Over four decades of John Giles punditry, there have been many advances in technology and science and statistics. Indeed John Giles played a part in importing some of those advances by telling RTÉ about the telestrator gadget - or 'scratchpad' - he'd seen on Canadian TV during his spell with Vancouver Whitecaps. So for many years we were blessed to have Gilesy scribbling loosely but authoritatively on a screen and advising people to 'stop it there'. But even with all those advances and means of evaluating players, there remained no substitute for having John Giles watch a guy for 20 minutes and deliver his assessment. This knack was most valuable during the co-commentary years, when Giles lit up gantries with insight, working alongside George Hamilton. John Giles with Liam Brady at RTÉ's Euro 2012 launch. Pic: Cathal Noonan, Inpho In his fine autobiography A Football Man, Giles recalls the simple words of advice given to him by then RTÉ Head of Sport Tim O'Connor. 'Don't talk unless you've got something worthwhile to say. Even if it means nothing is said for five or six minutes of a game.' Another pearl of wisdom seemingly lost in the modern game. There wasn't initially high hopes for Giles the pundit. His great pal Eamon Dunphy had to twist O'Connor's arm by threatening to bail himself ahead of the 1986 World Cup if Giles wasn't brought on too. Giles the manager had gained a reputation for not having much to say to the media. Dunphy credits Bill O'Herlihy with some early man-management. Writing in his memoir The Rocky Road, Dunphy says: 'John was his project for the '86 World Cup Finals. With extraordinary skill, Bill got John talking about the games as if he were sitting in his own front room. The tentative John was but a memory by the tournament's end. He came across as a man of great character and rare intelligence who happened to have been one of football's great players.' Giles has said he has never felt nervous doing punditry 'I just regard it as talking football, and I am comfortable with that. I didn't fully appreciate at first, that I had already done most of the preparation and training I would need on the football fields of Dublin and Manchester and Leeds and beyond.' John Giles, left, and Eamon Dunphy at an RTÉ launch in 2007. Pic: David Maher, Sportsfile. Ger Gilroy, Managing Director of Off The Ball saluted a 23-year stint on the show. 'John Giles, Senior Analyst, is a titan of Irish sport. His weekly explanation of football truth on Off The Ball helped deepen what the country knows about football. His ability to see through bullshit and his love of the game shone through in every contribution." That responsibility to the truth was partly a duty to the great players. For as he often put it, "if everybody is great, nobody is great."
