It's been 32 years since Eoin Hand's time in charge of Ireland came to an end.
While the intervening years have seen a compelling period for Irish soccer on the European and international stage, Hand's role as manager between 1980 and 1985 is also fascinating.
The 71 year old, who also won 20 Ireland caps as a player between 1969 and 1975 has told his story in new autobiography First Hand: My Life and Irish Football and he took time out to chat to Joe and Kevin about the highs and lows of his management career.
Ireland narrowly missed out on qualifying for World Cup 1982 and refereeing decisions against Belgium - specifically a goal dubiously ruled out for offside - who along with France, pipped the Boys in Green to a place in Spain still rankle with Hand.
"I'd lost it. I'd lost it. I was maybe close to hitting him," said Hand of the referee at Brussels' Heysel Stadium.
"It was so, it was so outrageous. It was blatant. There was no way that we were going to get a point [in Belgium]. Absolutely and the horrible part about it was that we had played so well and the lads had given everything. They'd given their everything."
Future Ireland manager Jack Charlton was in the dressing room that night as an observer and was equally incensed with the refereeing.
"It was a turning point," he said of the group and also added that the style of football was attacking because of the talent at Ireland's disposal at the time.
He also spoke about the pressure at the time of being an Ireland manager based and living in the country: "That comes on your family as well and my two young lads were abused in school, their tyres were slashed and stuff like that depending on the last result."
He also recalled threatening phonecalls for picking English-born players and the vociferous criticism from the media, specifically Eamon Dunphy.
Rivelino at the 1974 World Cup. Peter Robinson/EMPICS Sport
One fond early memory for Hand was being at Landsdowne Road for John Giles' Ireland debut against Sweden in 1959, when he was 13, and even having a little kickabout with the players a couple of days before the game.
Many years later, then Ireland-player manager Giles would field him against the mighty Rivelino when Ireland played Brazil in the Maracana in 1974.
"I was hitting [Rivelino] as hard as I could - fairly - and he lost the head and he just turned around and kicked me. Blatantly! And he got booked and I didn't," Hand recalled.
"And I'll never forget, he said, 'You're loco, you loco man' But he gave me the shirt and I shook hands and sure, I got his shirt".
Hand would later manage Amazulu FC in post-Apartheid South Africa where a witch doctor played a prominent role.
"They put a huge emphasis on that. You'd have these little sacrifices being made like chicken's liver or chicken's heart might be burned in the dressing room and then it would be explained to you, 'Don't touch it, witches spell'. That's their tribal thing, it still probably goes on and that's great. We all have our little idiosyncrasies, little habits or things that we do before games that are going to help us mentally before games. So you had to convince them that their witch doctor was stronger than their witch doctor," he said.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
