John Giles remembered his former Manchester United and Republic of Ireland team-mate Tony Dunne, who passed away yesterday aged 78.

Dunne joined United a few years after Giles went over in 1956, and the latter remembers Dunne as the 'best left-back in Division One for ten years.'

Tony Dunne, Manchester United

Giles also believes that Dunne was in the vanguard of a tactical revolution in the English game.

"Tony came at a time when there was a big change in football - just before my time full-backs were big, strong fellas who didn't attack very much and got stuck into the wingers.

"They were very physical, but the wingers of the day - like Tom Finney and Stanley Matthews - they could beat them relatively easily.

"The full-backs got smaller and smaller, but quicker and quicker. Tony epitomised that particular player at that particular time. If he had gone to England four or five years earlier, he would have been considered too small."

Giles told us why Dunne became such a fixture for Manchester United under Matt Busby.

"There was nobody quicker than Tony, but he could use the ball well when he got it.

"He didn't give the ball away, and he was lucky enough to have Bobby Charlton and Georgie Best in the same team so he could give it to them and let them get on with it.

"He could still come on the overlap and do a bit of damage."

Tony Dunne remembered

Manchester United celebrate with the FA Cup after their 3-1 victory: (l-r) Tony Dunne, Bobby Charlton, Noel Cantwell, Paddy Crerand, Albert Quixall, David Herd, Johnny Giles

Giles believes Dunne to have been underrated for two reasons - he was a full-back and he was Irish. But it was the latter quality that further endeared Dunne to Giles.

"When I was player-manager, I brought him back into the team. For one reason or another, he had been left out of the team.

"It wasn't automatic release for national duty at that time and we were something of a Mickey Mouse outfit."

It is the third passing of a former colleague in six weeks, after the deaths of Norman Hunter and Trevor Cherry respectively, causing Giles to reflect.

"Eddie Gray is my contact at Leeds, but I hate hearing from him! He called me about Paul Madeley and Terry Cooper.

"It is fingers crossed all the time, I keep my fingers crossed for myself. Most of the lads I played with are a similar age to myself. They are in the danger age, but it's fingers crossed all the time."

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