This documentary looks at key moments and memories in John’s life. In Ireland, locations will include his childhood home in Ormond Square in Dublin’s market areas, the famed Dalymount Park and the Wexford beaches where John and his family spent their holidays. In the UK, John visits the iconic Old Trafford, as well as making a trip to a crucial Leeds United game at Elland Road.
GILES will observe 60 years of change for the fans, players and managers who make up the world of football. The programme will recall an era where John – a gifted footballing talent – lived in cold, attic digs and worked during the week as a factory apprentice, before playing a club game for Manchester United on the Saturday afternoon. He will remember ferrying overnight to Dublin and walking with his boots in a brown paper bag to play in his international debut for Ireland. It’s all a far cry and a poignant contrast from the multi-millionaire teenage superstars of the modern era.
For the sports lover, there will be evocative archive of champagne moments on the field but the documentary offers much more than football highlights to the RTÉ audience.
GILES is a social history of the working class cities in which John was reared and lived. It is a memoir of an Irish emigrant in England. It is a warts-and-all account of dressing rooms, players and managers that have entered the pantheon of the all time greats. It is the story of a wife and family that have loyally followed John around the world throughout his nomadic career. And it is a case study of the football industry over half a century of change.
GILES is produced by Loosehorse, the winners of four Sports IFTAs and the programme makers behind previous titles like All Ireland Day, The Rod Squad, Naked Election and Guess Who’s Dead.