Johnny Giles

Who is Johnny Giles?

Michael John "Johnny" Giles is a former association footballer and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s. Since retiring from management in 1985, Giles has served as "the Senior Analyst" on RTÉ Sport's coverage of association football.

The FAI voted Giles as the greatest Republic of Ireland player of the last 50 years at the UEFA Jubilee Awards in 2004. In 2006, he was chosen by supporters at Elland Road as a member of the best ever Leeds United XI.

After winning an FA Cup winners medal under Busby at United, Giles moved to Leeds in 1963 where he played in midfield alongside skipper Billy Bremner. The duo went on to form a central midfield partnership which was one of the best in English club football. Their pairing helped yield several major trophies in the most successful era in Leeds' history. By strange coincidence, Giles and Bremner would both score exactly 115 goals for the club, casting doubt on the modern penchant for "holding" midfield players.

In his later years in football, Giles pursued a managerial career which saw him installed as player-manager and manager of, among others, West Bromwich Albion, the Republic of Ireland, and Shamrock Rovers. Despite having an outstanding knowledge of the game, Giles personally never liked being a manager. He became disillusioned with aspects of the job, such as suffering at the hands of non-committal boardrooms, and left management permanently in 1985. He later declared that he had no regrets about quitting managerial life.