Johnny Giles

Johnny Giles

Johnny Giles

Click here to listen to the show

Republic of Ireland and Leeds United midfield legend Johnny Giles - who represented his country for 20 years and who won medals at League, FA Cup, League Cup and European levels with Leeds United - is Colm Keane's guest on Ireland's Soccer Top 20, Friday 29 October, 7.02-7.30pm, RTÉ Radio 1.

Having travelled to Manchester United as a teenager in the late 1950s, Johnny began his career with the great Busby Babes - eventually winning an FA Cup medal with the Reds in 1963.  Moving to Leeds United in August of that year, he won virtually every honour in the game with the all-conquering Leeds United team of the 1960s and early 1970s.

"I wanted to leave Manchester United because I felt I'd have a better future somewhere else.  Matt Busby didn't want me to stay.  I went to see Matt and said that I felt it was better for me to go.  And he didn't disagree."

On the programme, Johnny talks about his time at Leeds United, his relationship with manager Don Revie, his games with Ireland, his involvement with Shamrock Rovers and his time as manager of the Republic of Ireland team.

"The main thing, when I took over the job as the Irish manager, was to get away from the inferiority complex of those days.  I always got the feeling that it was OK for everybody else to do it but it wasn't OK for us to do it.  Over the years we had loads of moral victories because people expected that.  What I tried to do in the Irish team, more than anything else, was to get away from that."

Still well known and widely regarded as a TV pundit, Johnny recalls a career that spans almost half a century.  "I feel very privileged to have realised dreams that I had when I was a young boy.  So if you ask me if football was good to me, the answer is it's been great to me."

The story of Johnny Giles is also contained in a chapter in the accompanying book Ireland's Soccer Top 20.  It's written by Colm Keane, published by Mainstream in conjunction with RTÉ, and is available in bookshops nationwide.