An Evening with a Footballing Gent

Football fans turned out in force to hear ex-Baggies favourite John Giles reminisce about his career as a top-flight player and manager.

John was guest speaker at a “Brum’s Finest” event organised by award-winning Digbeth Dining Club and held at Hockley Social Club in association with Birmingham Press Club.

Putting the questions to John, who twice managed West Bromwich Albion and played for them 75 times in the 1970s, was author and award-winning journalist Brian Doogan.

Brian, who wrote Joe Calzaghe’s Sunday Times bestselling autobiography and spent 10 years as Head of Media and Communications at Aston Villa and Everton, described John as an “absolute gent and a legend of the game.”

He added: “John was in excellent form, speaking about the breadth of his remarkable life and career with clarity, authority and humour. There were West Brom, Leeds, Ireland fans, and other people present who had no associated allegiances, but the warmth and enthusiasm in the room was felt genuinely by all on a great and very memorable night.”

During his managerial career at West Brom, John won promotion from the then Second Division in 1976 and saw the Baggies finish seventh in the First Division the following season. As a player from 1957 to 1983, Dublin-born John, who won 59 caps with the Republic of Ireland, made a total of 620 appearances with West Brom, Manchester United, Leeds United, Phiiladelphia Fury and Shamrock Rovers.

A former FA Cup winner with Manchester United in 1963, John had an illustrious career with Leeds United where his midfield partnership with skipper Billy Bremner – hailed as one of the best in English and European club football – helped yield several major trophies in the most successful era in Leeds’ history.

Following his retirement from the game, John created a new role for himself in journalism, spending 30 years as a much-respected broadcaster and pundit with RTE Sport.