John Giles and Roy Keane appear to have more in common than we may have initially believed.
The former Manchester United captain once famously overruled a general consensus amongst his teammates and didn't allow Diego Forlan a straight-forward chance to get off the mark for United.
Recalling a very one-sided European Cup game for Leeds United, Giles' principled approach to penalty-taking wouldn't let him allow Albert Johanneson take a penalty that could have given the South African a hat-trick.
Speaking on Off the Ball this evening, Giles remains adamant; let the designated penalty-taker take the penalties.
Sympathising with Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson, Giles similarly believes that Christian Benteke's decision to take a crucial, last-minute penalty against Bournemouth was a mistake.
Having not scored since May, the Belgian striker was clearly desperate to break his unflattering run and, with all three points the prize on offer, fancied himself to take the penalty ahead of the designated taker, Luka Milivojevic.
Adding to Hodgson's dismay, Milivojevic had already scored one penalty earlier in the game.
Although it doesn't take much to bring Giles back to his days at Leeds United, this incident did prompt a fascinating insight into how the legend of Elland Road prepared himself for penalties and the issues that can occur:
If you have a designated penalty taker, he takes it.
I was a penalty-taker with Leeds for ten years. You live with being a penalty-taker. I knew before every match, before we went on the pitch, that this is where I was going to put the ball. I don't care about the goalkeeper; it's a mental thing.
Detailing the pre-match process he would go through before every game, Giles was near fundamental in his approach:
When we played a home match, I used to go out on a Saturday morning with Dave Harvey, the goalkeeper, and practice the penalties.
Regardless of the goalkeeper, who he was, what he was, I knew what I was going to do that day.
Admitting that he could be out there for half an hour or longer, hitting the ball into the same corner, Giles would spend the week thinking about taking a potential penalty on a Saturday:
All week you live with that, I could think on a Tuesday before a Saturday match, 'if I get a penalty, this is what I will do with it'.
You become a penalty-taker!
As always, there is little that soothes the soul like John Giles talking about football.
