SAINTS hero Marian Pahars returned to St Mary’s for the first time since his 2006 departure this week.
The former Latvian international was included on a guest panel of 1999 teammates in The Halo, commemorating the team’s “great escape.”
Matt Le Tissier, James Beattie, Franny Benali, Paul Jones, Jason Dodd, and Jo Tessem performed alongside Pahars, reliving their adventures in front of a sold-out lounge.
Pahars, who scored 45 goals in 155 games for Southampton, was reunited with his family for the first time.
Pahars was scheduled to meet with club executives, including CEO Phil Parsons, at Staplewood Campus on Friday before welcoming fans at halftime of Saturday’s home game.
Pahars was given a commemorative medal by the club for scoring the first goal at St Mary’s in 2001, in a 3-1 loss to Aston Villa, and has decided to return it.
Pahars brought the memorabilia from home this weekend and will present it to Parsons at St Mary’s for the club to display.
For the almost 200 supporters in attendance on Thursday evening, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet Pahars and his old teammates before and after the lecture.
All players were there to exchange stories and take photographs, while Benali, Pahars’s roommate at Saints, pulled back the veil.
Throughout the season and beyond, the Saints intend to hold more ‘class of’ evenings with a curated panel of past players. More details will be available soon.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Echo, CEO Parsons expressed his desire to leverage hospitality at St Mary’s as one strategy of increasing revenue.
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