John Giles says he is disappointed not to be taking up his customary place on the RTE Panel this Saturday.
The Leeds and Ireland legend joined us on Off The Ball as always on a Thursday, in a week which he made the headlines after being replaced on the punditry panel for Saturday's match against Scotland by Richie Sadlier.
"I'm very disappointed. It's one of the biggest games we've had in recent times and I've been involved with the Irish team for a long, long time. It's a match I'd love to do and I'm not doing it. But that's not my decision. I'm not moaning about it. If RTE want to do what they want to do, that's their business," said John, adding that he would have liked to have got a call from RTE Head of Sport Ryle Nugent in terms of "protocol" and that it "doesn't make sense" to him.
He also explained that panel colleague Eamon Dunphy had "made a case" to Nugent to bring John back on board, but "I had to stress to Eamon that I'm not seeking this. It's like going to a party that you're not invited to. If somebody doesn't want you to do the thing, then they don't want you to do it."
John also spoke about his current contractual situation, confirming that his deal expires in August.
"Ryle Nugent is the head of sport and you'd want to ask him why I'm not on the panel because I made it very, very clear that I was available and I wanted to do the match. Now, there is a contractual situation where I'm contracted to do a certain amount of matches and I have fulfilled the obligations for those matches. But we've always been very, very flexible on matches that we've done and could do more or do less. I was prepared to do an extra match and made it clear obviously that there was no extra payment."
John (74) also said he does not know when he will next be on the panel, but has had no thoughts of retirement and feels capable of continuing his punditry career.
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