During the 1990s, Carlton Palmer was ubiquitous at the heart of midfield in the Premier League and also for England during the ill-fated tenure of Graham Taylor in the early '90s.
But when he was 39 in 2004, the leggy midfielder also played briefly in the League of Ireland Premier Division back and it was all thanks to Roddy Collins.
Palmer has published his autobiography It Is What It Is which is a forthright account of his career at the top level and the highs and lows that he experienced during his spells at clubs like West Bromwich Albion, Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds United and Southampton among others.
He joined me on Team 33 this week to share a few stories and insights from that long career and we started off with how he arrived at Dublin City FC in 2004.
You can listen to full interview with Carlton Palmer on the podcast player or stream/download on iTunes:
Recent interviews on Team 33 include Chelsea legends Bobby Tambling and Paddy Mulligan, Dutch legend Johan Neeskens, ex-England striker Darius Vassell, former Ireland midfielder Mark Kinsella and former Everton forward Tomasz Radzinski. Plus our in-depth chats with Tony Coton, Packie Bonner, Nobby Solano, Ron Atkinson and Alan Curbishley are still available on iTunes. You can find them all in one place by subscribing to Team 33 on iTunes.
"I'm a big boxing fan and Steve Collins, who's obviously from Ireland, his brother [Roddy] was managing Dublin City and he said, 'Would you go across and help my brother out?' And obviously because of our friendship and everything I went across there and went to play for Roddy," said Palmer.
"It was great time. He's a great bloke to be fair and I really enjoyed my time."
In the full interview, Palmer recalled his spells at West Brom, Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds as well as dealing with critics.
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