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John Giles "astonished"...

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John Giles "astonished" by Martin O'Neill's "petty" exchange with Tony O'Donoghue

98FM
98FM

07:28 25 Jan 2018


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John Giles feels Martin O'Neill's tetchy responses to RTE's Tony O'Donoghue were "petty". 

Not for the first time, there was tension between the Ireland manager and O'Donoghue.

Speaking to us tonight as always on a Thursday, John expressed his surprise at O'Neill's conduct in the interview in Switzerland following the UEFA Nations League draw.  

"I was astonished to be quite honest to see Martin's response to Tony's first question. I thought it was petty to say the least," he said.

"Tony asked him a question. He said, 'You didn't ask me that beforehand', and 'You said good luck or bad luck or hard luck or whatever'. So what?

"Tony's doing his job to ask him questions. To be quite honest, I think Martin was just avoiding Tony asking him any questions about why he went to Stoke. That's the real issue.

"I mean, Tony, in my opinion is only doing his job."

Meanwhile, Chelsea lost 2-1 to Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi final second leg and it is clear Blues manager Antonio Conte is not happy with the transfer market situation for his own club. Indeed, John feels the Chelsea manager has had to work with just one hand behind his back, but "two hands behind his back". 

Describing the sale of Nemanja Matic to Manchester United as "outrageous" given that it appeared to be against Conte's own desire to keep the Serbian midfielder, John feels the Italian coach should have departed Stamford Bridge rather than accept the status quo: "To be honest, I think he should have quit".

And with new signings that may not have been choices of Conte's like Danny Drinkwater and Ross Barkley, John feels the latest transfer speculation just adds insult to injury.

"And then to add insult to injury, they're talking about [Andy] Carroll coming on loan, [Peter] Crouch coming on loan to a team that's still in the Champions League. I think it's absolutely outrageous and I can't see him staying there, I really can't," he said. 


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