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John Giles: A Football Man - My Autobiography: The heart of the game by [John Giles]

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John Giles

John Giles: A Football Man - My Autobiography: The heart of the game Kindle Edition

by John Giles (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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'The dream was football . . .'
John Giles had a gift. At the age of three, he could kick a ball the way it was supposed to be kicked. And he knew that every hour that passed without kicking a ball was an hour wasted.

'It was the same dream that most of the kids had at that time . . .'
In A Football Man, Giles tells the story of a dream pursued and realised beyond his wildest imaginings, from his humble beginnings in Ormond Square in 1940s' Dublin,counting down the minutes to his next game of football, to that unforgettable moment when the original football man - his dad, 'Dickie' - announced that his young son, at just fourteen, was on his way to Manchester United.

'What I didn't realise was that my dream would come true.'
Full of anecdote, insight and wry humour, Giles recounts his rise through the ranks at Manchester United, before and after the Munich Disaster; the great players he knew, the good and the bad times under Matt Busby; his sensational debut for Ireland which he served as player and manager; his starring role in the brilliant, controversial Leeds United of the '60s and '70s; and his challenge to the portrayal of himself and Brian Clough in The Damned United. He also describes his enduring friendship with the 'kid from across Dublin's Tolka Park', Eamon Dunphy, and his career on RTÉ2's football panel, where Giles' intelligent and insightful analysis have made him an even more well-loved and respected national figure.

Print length

336 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date

November 11, 2010
File size

843 KB
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Giles was born in Dublin in 1940. A prodigiously gifted young footballer, at just 15 years of age, Giles signed for Manchester United. He moved to Leeds United in 1963 where he became the linchpin of one of the great sides of the 60s and 70s. He played for the Republic of Ireland for almost two decades. John is now a well-known and greatly respected football analyst. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN : B004CRT69S
Publisher : Hodder & Stoughton; Reprint edition (November 11, 2010)
Publication date : November 11, 2010
Language : English
File size : 843 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 336 pages
Lending : Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #2,264,548 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #492 in Soccer Biographies (Kindle Store)
- #1,434 in Soccer (Kindle Store)
- #1,635 in Soccer Biographies (Books)

Customer Reviews:
99 ratings

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5 star		64%
4 star		23%
3 star		7%
2 star		3%
1 star		4%

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ashton

A great read! Fascinating look at early '60's professional socer in England.

Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2011

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This is a well written, engaging story of John Giles professional career as one of the best soccer players in England in the '60's and '70's.

He grew up in a working class area of Dublin in the 1950's, obsessed with soccer in a country where it was often regarded as a "foreign" game. He was invited by a scout to go to Manchester United as a 14yr old. He describes in wonderful detail leaving Dublin, on his own, to navigate the boat and trains to Manchester to meet a representative of the club at the train station. His mother so worried about him that she pinned a pound note inside his coat with his address in case he got lost!
He describes the camraderie of the other Irish players at Manchester looking out for him, and eventually moving there at 15 as a trainee, and signing on fully at 17; soon he was playing with the legendary side coached by Matt Busby. Along the way he endured living in a rented room in Manchester with a landlady who allowed only one bar on the electric fire at night, sometimes Giles slept in his clothes he was so cold in the attic bedroom!
The details of what the young players endured at the time, the tragedy of the Munich air disaster and how poorly it was handled by Manchester United, are all revealing and fascinating stories Giles tells very well.
He recounts in vivid detail playing for Ireland at Dalymount in Dublin, only a few years after he was going there himself as a boy with his father to watch soccer games. His elation at scoring with a volley from outside the box, any boys dream come true. The excitement helped erase the memory of the FAI's ridiculous disorganisation and crazy selection process (Giles only heard he was selected because one of his friends saw it in a newspaper article a few weeks before the game!).
Moving to Leeds United in the early sixties was the beginning of a remarkable career, and an unprecedented period of success for Leeds. Giles and the Leeds team developed a reputation, at the time, for hard play, and as Giles says, he was well able to "look after myself" on the field. It's interesting to read his take on football at that time, the roughness that went on, not just at Leeds and the gamesmanship that went on to gain any advantage possible in the game. I suppose it's ironic that Giles is now often a vocal critic on TV of the diving and flopping often seen in professional games now!
He genuinely loved the game, and realised over and over, how lucky he was to be able to continue playing avoiding serious injury over the years (he played his last game as a 40 yr old for Shamrock Rovers in Dublin).
The book is well writte, and a great read, especially if you're familiar with the clubs in England in the 60's and 70's. It's also a great social history of Dublin, and the soccer club training system in England in the late '50 and '60's.

4 people found this helpful

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Patsy O'Neill

Totaly Football

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2014

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I have watched this great Irishman do his Job on the Football Pitches of the World and to read about his efforts to become a world class Soccer player
I could never imagain Becham or Wayne Rooney jumping off walls to strenthen their legs all for £20 PW No Not£300,000 pw
i enjoyed his total recall of players names he met over 40 years ago, it is a very hard book to put down Thank You John for the memories

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Jdb Quinn

You'll get a kick out of this.

Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2012

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Now we're going somewhere. A great book told with humour and just like the player himself, Johnny Giles doesn't hold back. We get a great insight into what it was really like in the beautiful game. This is one of the best football books I've read and is a must read not just for Leeds fans hankering after a bit of nostalgia, but for anyone who is interested in football in general.

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corrib5398

Cold have been so much better

Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2012

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I bought this hoping that we wouldget a glimpse into the behind the scenes of a player and a manager. It was way to anecdotal. In a way it was too amateurish. It could have been so much better - much too simple, no character development etc
Disappointing for such a legend of the game

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Gerard Harris

... I am not a Leeds United fan I really liked John Giles as a footballer and later still as ...

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2016

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Although I am not a Leeds United fan I really liked John Giles as a footballer and later still as a football journalist, this is a good read.

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jon badger

great read

Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2013

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i bought this book as i was told it was a good read,i am not disappointed and i really am enjoying the read.
so anyone out there who likes football,i would say go buy and read how football has changed.

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Andy O'Boogie

He was there when they were Super Leeds

Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2012

I am always fascinated to read the story of anyone who was associated with the great Leeds United from the mid 60's until Brian Cough in 1974. Very suprisingly Matt Busby let Johnny Giles leave Manchester United. It just goes to show that the great managers don't get it right all the time. Johnny Giles was a brilliant player for Leeds for ten years. He was shabbily treated by the chairman at the end of his Leeds career. Not much of a surprise as this was the same idiot who brought Cough in to manage the team he hated most. The board and Cough did themselves no fa ours during that episode. Leeds were a team of stars that had just won the first division championship. They would not put up with the bullying that he had been allowed to get away with when he took over failing clubs like Derby and Nottingham Forest. Apart from the first few chapters the story is fascinating for any supported of football at that time and especially for Leeds United supporters. We have been waiting nearly 40 years for another Johnny Giles and his mates from that era. I fear we will never see the like again.

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Top reviews from other countries

Andy O'Boogie

He was there when they were Super Leeds

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 14, 2012

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Amazon Customer

Excellent read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 22, 2020

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Bought this for my husband for Father’s Day. He couldn’t set it down until he had it completed. Now passing around the family

Tedly

A great book by a legend, started a bit slowly but soon picked up a pace that made it hard to put down.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 9, 2020

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Johnny gives a great account of a truly great club and team in its heyday. A read that was hard to put down.

Paul Tuxworth

An excellent autobiography

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 25, 2020

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An excellent book very well written. Johnny Giles puts the record straight on a number of things

Dermot Reilly

Honest with studs showing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 5, 2012

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A great journey through the life of one of the greatest footballers of all time. The book is very well written and perhaps even more importantly very well edited so you do not get any of the stories that repeat a few chapters later, unlike some others sports autobiographies I have read recently. But most of all it was the honesty that came through, from his views of Revie to Busby to his time playing for the infamous Leeds team of the 70's. Just like some of his tackles, the studs are showing in this book. Highly recommended for any football fan regardless of the team you support.

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