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In the early 1970s, Leeds United was the team that personified guts on the pitch and was the dominant force in English football. Central to this success was their tough tackling midfield led by Irishman Johnny Giles and their Scottish captain Billy Bremner.

In Ireland, budding young footballers developed not only their skills but also their physical and mental toughness playing Gaelic games. These were players like Martin O’Neill, who set his sights on making it to the top of the English game. And despite his early struggles, O’Neill would win the European Cup with Nottingham Forest in 1980.

At the same time, the ‘Edinburgh enforcer’, Graeme Souness, was winning league titles and European cups with Liverpool. However, his journey to the top of the English game began like many other Irish, Northern Irish and Scottish players before him - with rejection at his first big club.

Scot Pat Nevin brought his own brand of grit and determination when he signed for Chelsea in 1983. He was one of the few players prepared to confront the racism that was fast becoming the scourge of English football.

In 1993, Roy Keane from Cork took the English game by the scruff of the neck when he joined Manchester United. Keane became the ultimate midfielder in the Premier League era, striking fear into his opponents with his ruthless will to win.

Today’s game may leave little room for the hard men of the past, but the new generation of Irish, Northern Irish and Scottish players such as Rachel Corsie still know what it means to play with guts.