402: Marian Pahars, Southampton, Merlin’s F.A. Premier League 2000, Millennium Edition Sticker Collection

Mat Jolin-Beech is leading proceedings for today with a look at a Latvian legend. Around this time Crystal Palace also swooped for two signings from Skonto. Andrejs Rubins was criminally underused but scored a genuinely beautiful goal against Liverpool in the League Cup. Alex Kolinko managed to punch a corner into his own net against Bolton Wanderers, get nominated for Match Of The Day’s ‘Save of the Season’ and get punched in the face by Trevor Francis for laughing at Matt Clarke for being Matt Clarke. The lesson today is sign some Latvians. Over to Mat.

 

The little Latvian is adored by Saints fans even if he fails to grab ultimate hero status at Saint Mary’s. That is reserved for Matt Le Tissier. Only. And quite possibly Albert Brown. He scored seven goals against Northampton Town on 28 December 1901. (Thank you Wikipedia).



After a troubled £800,000 transfer from Skonto, Pahars eventually arrived in England in 1999, making history by becoming the first Latvian to play in the Premier League. In pure stats, his time at The Dell, and latterly St. Mary’s, is not overly impressive for an attacking player: 129 league games. 42 goals. 14 assists (Cheers once more Wikipedia).

 

He may be most fondly membered on the South Coast for his exploits in his first season, where he helped Southampton survive in the Premier League with an equaliser on his home debut against Blackburn Rovers, and then scored twice in a 2–0 win over Everton at The Dell - securing Saints’ status in the Premiership for the following season.

 

He outshone ‘Le God’ in the 1999/2000 season, being the club’s top scorer with 13, compared to Le Tissier’s 3. Granted he was at the end of his career – but not bad going. A stop-start run of seasons, hampered by injuries, really limited his goal-grabbing exploits and game time. Stats time once more: 31 games; 9 goals. 36 games; 14 goals. 9 games; 1 goal. 14 and 2. 0 and 0. And in his final year, in the Championship, 8 games, one goal. That final season ended with a whimper, with the Southampton board allowing Pahars’ contract to expire, letting him head off to Cyprus, where he plied his trade with Anothosis Famagusta for a couple of years before returning to Latvia.

 

For me, other than Martin Tyler constantly, and what now seems like quite patronisingly, referring to him as ‘the Little Latvian’, he appears to be one of those near forgotten figures from the Premier League era. Had he moved on sooner from Southampton, or got a contract at a ‘big club’, his legacy may be one that goes wider than the Solent. And yet, as Marcus Stewart lingers in my memory, Pahars was always a solid Fantasy Football bet, at least in his first few seasons. A cheap buy, for a small club, avoiding the headache of too many players from the same team, who would score solid points over the year.

 

He was, indeed still is, one of the game’s nice guys. Someone no one (other than Portsmouth fans, but, you know, Portsmouth) could hate. A neat player of the game. Solid Fantasy Football pick. Relegation saviour – for one season at least.  Pahars is like the quiet unsung heroes of the world. The bus drivers, binmen and supermarket workers who have kept things going amid the lockdown. He just got on with it. And did his job well.

 

But there is just that lingering thought, from me at least, of what if. What if he slipped from the Saints’ grasp and signed for a Premier League giant? Would he be more than fondly remembered by Southampton fans? Maybe. Maybe not. Wikipedia wasn’t able to answer that one for me.

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