John Giles

In 1976 I worked for the Sunday Independent, then edited by the late Michael Hand. I asked to be allowed ghost a football column contributed by John Giles who was then possibly the best footballer playing in Britain or Ireland, as a member of the famous Leeds team of the period.

The ghosting involved me talking to Giles either in person or on the phone, making notes on what he wanted to say and then writing it up. Sometimes I was unable to get him and would write the column myself, without his assistance.

He frequently maintained that his credibility as a football analyst was fatally undermined by the views attributed to him in the column. Happily, the damage was contained, and he is now regarded by many as the best commentator on football on these islands.

The first impression he makes is how small he is. You wonder how he could have survived in the physically bruising world of professional football. The reality is that he was the one that did a lot of the bruising. He claims he had to do so to look after himself.

When the famous Leeds manager, Don Revie, became England manager, he wanted Giles to succeed him at Leeds. Instead the club appointed Brian Clough, who came out second-best in his confrontation with the most formidable group of players the game then knew. He was forced to resign within weeks.

Later John Giles went as player-manager to West Bromwich Albion, where he took them into the first division (that was the Premiership at the time). He then went to Vancouver as manager, back to West Brom for a while - an unhappy period - and then to Shamrock Rovers, where it was said he would take the Milltown team (Rovers were then in Glenmalure Park) to European glory.

It was not to be for many reasons. He had also been player-manager of the Irish team in the 1970s. He left an active involvement in football 20 years ago. The interview took place in the context of the virtual end of the football season.