OTB (Off The Ball)

Culture
5027

I heard a classic John Giles interaction with Nathan whilst driving to training last night.

• John randomly backed Ross Barkley for POTY and waxed lyrical about how good he was last year before asking Nathan “what team did he play for again?”.
• John wasn’t aware of any of Spurs transfer business but gave a Tour De France dissecting Ange’s tactical approach on the basis of that infamous Chelsea game where they were reduced to 9 men. John has good time for Ange it seems.
• John gets a solid 2-3 minutes criticising Brian Clough when the topic of Arne Slot succeeding Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool is raised.

Unfortunately I didn’t get to hear his thoughts on Arteta organising pick-pockets or his general take on Ten Hag. I’d rank John at second behind the Dunph in my list of favourite old style RTÉ pundits. You’d have to admire the man for extracting the OTB coin while doing little to no research.

18 Likes
5028

I heard the Brian Clough bit - he repeated himself about 5 times in it

5029

John lives close by to me here in Birmingham. I’ve yet to see the great man but have been told he likes a 5pm walk everyday around the high st.
When John moved to Birmingham to manage WBa , he became friends with a friend in works father. Growing up, said friend would bring in some of John’s memorabilia into show and tell. When he was 10 he brought in a Pele shirt and FA Cup winners medal of Johns to show the class.

17 Likes
5030

I wonder when he got the Pele shirt? Pele wasn’t on the Brazil team that played the All Island Shamrock Rovers XI in Lansdowne Road in 1973.

5031

Didn’t John play in the US around the same time Pele was there?

5032

I thought Pele had retired from New York Cosmos before Giles arrived in the States. Could be wrong though.

5033

I’ll take your word for it. I was only guessing.

Sure they could easily have crossed paths at an oul exhibition or a testimonial or something

5034

That’s a fair point.

5035

I can’t imagine John racing over asking for it

2 Likes
5036

It was at a UNICEF game when Giles was manager of Ireland. Pele came to training in Dublin

1 Like
5037

That was my question too.

1 Like
5038

John Giles lives in Dublin no?

5039

No. Somewhere in the midlands I think.

5040

Lives in Harborne in Birmingham. Fine road to be fair. Some serious houses. One of his sons is high up in the West Midlands Police

5041

John is an ABSOLUTE LEGEND. It’s also ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS he’s still doing a weekly punditry slot though

2 Likes
5042

Dana White just made mincemeat of Eoin Sheahan there. I’m not a big fan of the bald motormouth but he dealt with him effortlessly

5043

Did Dana have anything to say on the speculation linking Rory Gallagher with a return to Derry?

5044

One of the talking heads there this evening claiming that nobody would mind a style similar to Jack Charlton’s teams if it proves effective. A real eureka moment

4 Likes
5045

Ken Early was on talksport earlier with Stuart Pearce talking about Declan Rice

5046

I heard that earlier. The wheel has turned fully.

Gobshites.

2 Likes