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06 Sept 2025
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06 Sept 2025
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Johnny Giles at the Annual Airtricity League Awards 2024, Photo: Sportsfile
After an illustrious career as both a player and a pundit, Johnny Giles, has announced his retirement as a pundit after an almost 40-year career.
The Dublin man had a star-studded career as footballer, having 99 appearances for Manchester United and winning an FA Cup, before winning another FA Cup and two league titles for Man United's fierce rivals Leeds United.
Giles also won 59 caps for the Republic of Ireland, as both a player and a player-manager.
Following his glittering football career, he returned to Ireland to have an equally impressive career as a football broadcaster.
He joined the RTÉ in 1986 and held the position all the way up to Euro 2016.
Giles had also been doing punditry on Off the Ball since the show's inception in 2002, before finishing up this week.
In his last show on Off the Ball the iconic Irishman said:
"When you're doing the job I was trying to do, you have to watch all the matches. You can't make it up as you go along.
I think it got to the stage where I was getting a bit stale trying to watch as many matches as I could and it became hard work."
He also added that "Football has never been hard work to me, I have always loved it but there are so matches."
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