This is Paul Hawksby

And I'm Tony Cascarino That's right Cass was in today We're delighted to say Andy forgot he was working So went Christmas shopping Ever the pro But Cass very very kindly Came off the bench And uh And joined us And we had a deep dive into the world of football Bit of cricket as well Matt Pryor was good The former England wicket Keep the Batchman On what's been going on with the boys on there

apparent stag do,

uh, A bit of cricket as well. Matt Pryor was good. The former England wicket keep the batchman on what's been going on with the boys on there.

Apparent stagdo

around the second and third tests.

Oh, we covered a lot of ground.

Got a few old war stories from Cass

from his times with Ireland and club football.

So we hope you enjoy it.

Good afternoon, everyone. Good afternoon, Cass. I'll see you. And thank you for coming in. A very late notice. Have you wondered where, well, Andy forgot he was working. It's easy done, isn't it? You've been doing something for 25 years. And you know you've got to pick up some Christmas shopping, but then you think, oh, hang on, I was supposed to be working. Thank you for coming in. Yeah, very kind of you. You can forget a post a letter, can't you? I'm about coming into work. The England cricket team, I think, have scrambled his brains recently. No, look, I'm delighted I don't have to to go shopping today. Was that with the alternative? My message me. I'm in Sangebys at the moment, getting some few bits. And it's a battleground on it the last couple of days before. Yeah, it would have been mad today. Yeah. But I'm delighted to be here and I haven't worked with you, Paul, for a long time ago. No. I mean, I've done shows with you, I've been inviting in as a guest, but not work alongside you. We were talking about this because I know I was just saying you earlier on, you did a documentary about a month or so ago, which went out on RTE and Ireland. And it was based on your book, wasn't it, that you did with Paul Kimmage? And that's when we first met when you came in to talk about the book. That's about 25 years ago. Well, next year, Paul, is 25 years the book, since I started with Paul Kimmage, the all foe, was brilliant. And also 25 years with the times and 25 years with Talks, Paul, on and off, because I've not been on the full time with Talk Sport. So next year is quite a big celebration for me on different fronts. And, yeah. How many years you've been retired then? Is that the same? 2000. 2000, I retired. I had one year off in France where I stayed and you can't believe this, Paul. This is just how mad systems can be in countries.

When I retired, my then-wife said to me, you can claim unemployment.

Wow.

Really?

And sign-on.

She went, you can claim unemployment.

There is platforms, they call it in France.

You're platformed to what your wages were. Right. And it's nowhere near as high. Sure. I was getting paid unemployment in my first year in France, $3,200 a month. Wow, we. And it would go down over a three-year period. So the second year, it'd go to like $28 and then go to 2. It's after a career as a professional footballer. The idea was always based on that even if you've had a really successful career, that you have an opportunity, if you're in something like football, that you find another career. You have enough time to take care of yourself and your family, that you still get a wage.

Now, I remember thinking, that's just bonkers.

I'm getting 3,200 euros a month.

Yeah.

But I did have a year and a bit off and add the opportunity to get back involved in the media.

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