It's cliché to say a week is a long time in football but five years can almost feel like an eternity.
Back in November 2013 many of us were either at the Aviva Stadium or watching on TV as Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane made their Ireland management debut against Latvia.
The man in the opposition dug out was someone we were all familiar with: Marian Pahars.
The former Latvia international had graduated to become the manager of his country that year, just seven years on from his final appearance for Southampton.
The Premier League club was the place where he made his name on this side of the continent, including crucial goals that rescued Southampton from relegation at the end of the 1998-99 season, nutmegging Jaap Stam at Old Trafford as he scored against Manchester United, and scoring regularly before injuries curtailed his career.
Last Tuesday, I chatted to Pahars about those times and much, much more and we played that interview out on this week's Team 33 and here's what was on the menu:
- How Pahars arrived at Southampton from his native Latvia
- His most memorable goals including the Stam nutmeg
- His strike partnership and enduring friendship with James Beattie
- Playing with the legendary Matt Le Tissier
- The effect on injuries
- His relationship with Southampton now
- Why Euro 2004 was a bittersweet experience as Latvia participated for the first time
- The night in Dublin when his Latvia side faced Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane's first Ireland game in charge
- How he found national team management in comparison to club management in his current role with FK Jelgava
You can listen to the full interview with Marian Pahars on the podcast player or on iTunes:
Also this week, Joe Coffey, Derek Ryan, Cian Roche and Jonathan Higgins were in studio to discuss the weekend's derby action as well as an interesting theory about Mesut Ozil's back:
And in a packed show this week, Cian Roche has also been chatting to the man behind Nutmeg Magazine, a Scottish football quarterly in a similar vein to The Blizzard:
Apart from Gary Neville, Ian Wright and Arsenal Fan TV founder Robbie Lyle, recent interviews on Team 33 include former Man United cult hero Andrei Kanchelskis, former Ireland striker Niall Quinn, ex-England international Carlton Palmer, former Newcastle and Everton left back Alessandro Pistone, Chelsea legends Bobby Tambling and Paddy Mulligan, Dutch legend Johan Neeskens, ex-England striker Darius Vassell, Liverpool legend David Fairclough, former Ireland midfielder Mark Kinsella, USA captain Eric Lichaj 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.
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