Listen to the full interview via the podcast.
Many great and well-known players have been unable to play at the World Cup for one reason or another.
Unfortunately for John Giles, he is one of the most talented names on that list, having played for an Ireland team that never came close to qualifying for a major tournament during his 20-year international career.
John was on Thursday Night Football to talk about Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ireland and the Merseyside derby, but he also touched on an international career that did not match the success at club level with Leeds United.
But he is philosophical about that part of his career as he explained to Ger.
"I would've loved to have played in a major competition. But it wasn't realistic in those days, especially in my early days playing for Ireland. We were just badly run and the team or supporters never felt that we would qualify," said Giles.
"When I became manager we made some better efforts than we had done before without getting there. But I never felt cheated. It would've been a bonus."
John gave his take on Ireland's first two games under Martin O'Neill, heaping praise on Aiden McGeady for an "outstanding performance", going on to describe McGeady as Ireland's "best player by a mile" over the two games.
John also analysed the decision to start Stoke's Marc Wilson at centre-half in both games, despite being a left-back during most of his Ireland career so far and a midfielder at other points of his career.
"It was the right thing to do to look at as many players in as many position as possible. That's what friendly matches are for. The main thing is to be able to defend and if they're good on the ball, it's a bonus. But for players like Wilson there is an old saying, 'the further you go back, the easier it is to play'. I think Wilson has the physical attributes to do it so it should be easier for him to play in that position. And he was quite good the other night."
John also looked ahead to Saturday's Merseyside derby and Roberto Martinez' impact at Everton.
