THEY say you should never meet your heroes but the large crowd who turned up to see John Giles at the Republic of Ireland supporters club meeting at The Crown in Cricklewood on Friday night will disagree with that statement.
Giles was the guest of the club and answered questions from the floor about his playing career in England which included spells at Manchester United, Leeds and West Brom as well as a number of questions about his time playing for and then managing Ireland.
The 73-year-old believes the FAI made the right call appointing Martin O’Neill as boss and although a tad shocked that Roy Keane joined as his assistant he believes together the duo will enable Ireland to perform to their maximum level when the European Championship qualifiers kick off in September.
The Irish management team are keen to secure the allegiance of several English-born players who qualify for Ireland and Giles believes it’s a wise move having done the same thing when he managed the team.
Giles said: “I don’t think you have to chase them.
“You just have to say, ‘Look I’d love you to play for us’, now they will either want to play for Ireland or they won’t.”
O’Neill has taken a look at West Ham United midfielder Mark Noble who qualifies for Ireland through his grandparents who hail from Cork. The Canning Town-born midfielder has spoken of his desire to play senior international football for England but Giles says he should still be approached.
He said: “I would swallow my pride on that if I felt he could do a job for the Irish team and ask him.
“I would have no doubts about the commitment. Once they are in, they’re in. That’s how it has been with the Irish team over the years.
“There was a lot of controversy when I was in charge of the Irish team and I selected English-born players like Chris Hughton. Shay Brennan I think was the first — those lads were great.
“All I was interested in was, can they do a good job for the Irish team?
“There were one or two we missed out on, I can’t remember exactly who they were, but some lads wanted to play for England, which is natural.
Eamon Dumphy and John Giles in 1991“I would ask though, and then if they want to play for England, then they want to play for England and they’d be no good to you anyway.
“The lads who did qualify for us and came on board gave great service to the Irish team.
“You look at the likes of Chris Hughton, Andy Townsend, Tony Cascarino, John Aldridge and Kevin Sheedy — I mean Ireland would not have made it to major Championships if it wasn’t for them.”
Giles lives among a large Irish community in Birmingham and while he is happy living in England he admits that Dublin will always be home.
He said: “It was a long time ago. I came over when I was 15 and it was ok.
“I wanted to be a professional footballer. I came over to Manchester United, I lived in digs.
“A lad came over with me called Jack Hennessey and Jack stayed for about a year or so but he wasn’t being offered any professional terms, so he went home.
“Players are great with players — it doesn’t matter where you come from. At Manchester United we had a few players from Ireland, a few from Scotland and players from different parts of England and I had no problem with that.
“I found English people great.
“I came to Manchester United in 1956. The Troubles as we call them started in the late 60s, early 70s.
“I found English people very, very tolerant and I think also being a professional footballer I was accepted.
“I went to West Brom in Birmingham, three or four months after the Birmingham bombing, as player-manager and I got no negative response at all.
“I like Birmingham. When I was moving from Leeds I had a vision of Birmingham that I wasn’t too happy about, but I found it great. The people were friendly, I settled in straightaway. I never had any problems during the Troubles.
“I always talk about Dublin as home even though I’ve been away a long time. I get back there a fair bit and I could move to Dublin tomorrow if I wanted to, but I like Birmingham. I like the privacy in Birmingham and I like the people.”
When Giles talks about football, he doesn’t waste a word; his knowledge of the game makes him a brilliant pundit for RTÉ — a role he enjoys far more than management.
He admits the situation at Leeds United where Brian McDermott is in limbo around his position as manager is tough to watch as a former Leeds star himself.
He said: “It’s a mess. You can’t run a club like that.
“I never enjoyed management. I think it’s worse now than it was in my time.
John Giles (left) enjoying one of his roles off the pitch, with George Hamilton, during an Ireland friendly against Scotland in 2000“You have new owners coming in like in Brian’s situation at Leeds and what can he do? He’s doing a good job; I know I wouldn’t be able to handle that.
“I think it’s sad for the supporters.
“These new owners weren’t there in my time so obviously I wouldn’t have any allegiance to them but the supporters are still there from my time and they are the ones paying their money week-in and week-out to support the team and I think it’s dreadful.
“They have no control over it.”
Giles has strong views about why Ireland struggle to produce players who are technically comfortable with the ball.
His major issue is the introduction of coaching badges which he says enables people who have little knowledge of the game to be standing on the touchline shouting out instructions and making the experience about them rather than the children playing.
He said: “What they have to get away from is the praise the managers get for winning the league or cups.
“Take that away from the coaches. There are no winners if that is the case.
“Just let the kids go out and play. When I was a kid in Dublin there was feller called Tom Tunney who used to set the game up for us.
“I would have been aged eight playing Under 14 for a team called Munster Victoria. We were allowed to go out and play for enjoyment but you’d never hear Tom shouting at anyone from the touchline.”
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