After being called a 'nasty little bastard' by Graeme Souness, John Giles says he is proud of that tag after some tasty battles between the pair.
Giles was talking on Thursday night's Off The Ball about Souness comments to Sky Sports earlier this week.
While Souness paid Giles one of the highest honours in football - saying he could 'never lay a finger on' him - he also called him a 'nasty little bastard.'
"That's the ultimate compliment," said Giles.
"If you are getting compliments from your fellow pros, in the world of professional football - that is a compliment!"
Souness & Giles
Souness also rated Giles among the three most difficult players he played against, alongside the late Alan Ball and Brazilian legend Zico.
"He could take [the battles] and that was the time that was in it. There was no protection from referees - grievous bodily harm was a yellow card, and you had to do something bad to get that!
"The game was full of that, particularly if you are regarded as a skilful player - you had to be put out of the game.
"You either had to retaliate to show that you weren't going to be put out of the game, or take it and be put out of the game."
Giles believes the situation to be very different in today's game.
"It was very hard to get anybody booked when I played. You had to retaliate. You never wanted to get anybody sent off, but you had to have a go back.
"If you got a knock, you wanted to get up straight away. Like a kid saying 'you didn't catch me!'"
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