Back in 2014, former Ireland striker Clinton Morrison had just left the English Football League after the end of his spell at Colchester United.
But tomorrow the 36-year-old 2002 World Cup squad member will be taking on Liverpool in the FA Cup third round.
Now with Exeter City of League Two, Morrison's still got eyes on making an impact and ahead of Liverpool's visit to St James Park, Off The Ball caught up with the ex-Crystal Palace, Birmingham City, Coventry City and Sheffield Wednesday forward.
The fixture is a reminder of a quip he made about then-Liverpool striker Michael Owen back in 2001 after a League Cup tie, when he suggested that he would have loved to have had the goalscoring opportunities that the ex-England striker missed against his Palace side that night.
"It was tongue in cheek and then we played the second leg. I remember we lost 5-0 and a chance came to redeem myself in front of the Kop. The ball fell to me, left foot and I just did a big airshot and landed on my bum. Obviously it was on Sky, the cameras went to Michael Owen and he had a giggle and Gary McAllister came up to me and just said 'don't worry, mate, Michael Owen would have scored that'. That's when you want the ground to swallow you up. But it's all fun and ever since then I've had a good relationship with the Liverpool fans," he said, adding that there are no hard feelings from him or Owen who have bumped into each other on holiday since then.
Clinton Morrison of Crystal Palace challenges Jamie Carragher of Liverpool in the first leg of that tie Picture by: Matthew Ashton / EMPICS Sport
Looking back on how he's got himself into his current position, Morrison confirmed that he had pretty much retired from football until Exeter captain Matt Oakley suggested that his skills on the dancefloor could still be transferable to the football field.
"Basically we were out in the club, I was throwing a few shapes and he was like 'hold on, you still look like you're quite fit' and I was like 'I'm okay mate, I can still keep going' and he said 'you have to come down,'" he said.
And as Morrison added, he was a bit bored by life in retirement.
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