The Johnny Giles documentary left a lot of people with lumps in their throats

A fascinating insight into the character of the man

Darragh Berry

The Johnny Giles documentary left a lot of people with lumps in their throats

Johnny Giles, different class.

If we could build a time machine, the first thing we would do is go back and watch a few Ireland and Leeds United games to see Johnny Giles playing in his prime.

There was a huge build-up to the documentary which aired on RTÉ on Monday night at 21:35 and thankfully, it did not disappoint as football fans were taken through all the different eras of Giles’ career from thinking his playing time was over at Manchester United to becoming a superstar at Leeds United.

We are used to seeing Giles as one-third of the RTÉ Sports team alongside Liam Brady and Eamon Dunphy where he is a quietly spoken pundit (then again, it’s hard to be louder than Dunphy.)

However, in this documentary, we saw a different side to Giles. It was weird hearing him curse as he talked about his former manager, Brian Clough, but it just showed how honest he was being and if you wanted someone who was passionate about his career, you don’t have to look much further than Giles.

As the documentary began to get to the closing stages, Giles described his shock to learn that people were actually tuning into his and Dunphy’s punditry when they started off in 1990.

To hear that being said now is absolutely ludicrous and when you think of RTÉ Sport, you automatically think of Giles’ analysis and how the banter he had with Dunphy was second to none.

Pundit, player, manager. Johnny Giles had it all and this documentary will forever remind people of the fantastic talent that he had both on and off our television screens.

Get your retaliation in first. Life and death. This is brilliant stuff. Real insight into a genius #Giles

— DecoB (@DeclanB4063) July 3, 2017

" I never wanted to be a star. I wanted to be a great player" 💜 #Giles

— Sarah x (@SarswarrenW) July 3, 2017

#giles as a certain commentator would say "different class

— Eamonn (@Eamonn120) July 3, 2017

https://twitter.com/JustinAylward92/status/881987678660591617

"Have you got the ability to be a bit of a bastard if you have to be?" Couldn't imagine @Corktod taking that line today #Giles

— Mikey Stafford (@me_stafford) July 3, 2017

He was ruthless in the tackle, but by jaysus could he pass a ball. #giles

— Bob. B. (@Oirisheye) July 3, 2017

#Giles was one of the true greats of midfield in my humble opinion one of the 5 greatest of all time .the evidence is their lads look for it

— seamus (@breakfastrollma) July 3, 2017

https://twitter.com/vin30leixlip/status/881989591158452226