Eamon Dunphy has told how Saipan was pure luxury compared to times when he played for the Republic of Ireland.
Recounting Ireland's many matches against Poland, Dunphy recalled travelling in 1970 from Poznan to play West Germany in the luggage department of a train.
He told The Stand Podcast: "We played in Poland and we were going by train from Poland through East Berlin, when the wall was still there, into West Berlin.
"When we got to the railway station in Poland there was no room [on the train]. So a number of us had to sit in the luggage area on the floor. And the blazers were all in the first-class carriages.
"We sat all the way from Poland to West Berlin - it was a very long journey - in with the the baggage.
"You couldn't make it up. I mean Roy Keane was complaining about not sitting in first-class and we were in with the baggage."
Dunphy was joined for a chat by his former RTE colleagues and fellow former Ireland internationals John Giles and Liam Brady.
And Giles, calling Ireland at the time "the most disorganised team in the world", remembered the lack of belief throughout the organisation.
In 1965, Ireland entered into a playoff with Spain to qualify for the 1966 World Cup finals in England.
An Jose Angel Iribar Cortajarena own goal gave Ireland a 1-0 victory after the first leg at Dalymount Park.
But Giles told how Ireland's lack of confidence saw them bizarrely denied the opening goal in the second leg in Seville.
Giles said: "We won in Dublin but at that time we were in a state that there was no way we could win.
"We got a free-kick in Seville which Mick McGrath took and scored from it. But we were so shocked from scoring that we looked around and the Spanish players picked up on it and went running to the referee.
"And the referee was so surprised by our response to the goal that he disallowed it because he said there must be something wrong.
"We didn't run back, we were looking around as if to say 'we scored!' And the Spanish players picked it up.
"We did score [a goal from Andy McEvoy] actually after that which would have made it 2-0. We were beaten 4-1. That's the way we were in those days."
The game wasn't up for Ireland even then though as in those times aggregate scores didn't count, and a third deciding play-off leg at a neutral venue was needed.
Where that neutral venue was to be turned into a hoopla between the FAI and the Spanish FA before it was decided to be played in Paris.
But Giles explained that by that stage the Ireland team, which included Eamon Dunphy for the first time, had seen enough to feel they had a chance against the Spainards.
"What used to happen with the Irish team back then was that after the matches we'd say 'Jesus, those guys weren't that good'.
"It was too late then, but luckily that day [in Seville] we did say that after the match and when we played them in Paris in the play-off match we weren't as scared of them and we did give them a game.
"We were beaten 1-0 on the day. But most of the days we played at that time, we were beaten before we got on the pitch."
