When Arsene Wenger took over at Arsenal in 1996, it started a trend of French players becoming key components of his squad from the more successful Thierry Henry and Robert Pires to the less fondly remembered Jeremie Aliadiere and Pascal Cygan.

Currently, the Gunners have a strong German contingent in what have been cosmopolitan squads during the Wenger era.

A few years ago, the Arsenal manager spoke of his ambition to have a British core of players, namely Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Carl Jenkinson, Calum Chambers, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, which has been added to with the likes of Rob Holding and Danny Welbeck.

Their success has only amounted to FA Cup wins in recent years.

But many moons ago - in the late-1970s to be precise - it was Irishmen who formed the core at the old Highbury with club legend Liam Brady the jewel in the crown.

In that era and then later into the 1980s and early '90s, the likes of David O'Leary, Frank Stapleton, Niall Quinn and Northern Irish players like Pat Jennings and Pat Rice formed the bedrock of successive Gunners teams.

So on this week's Team 33, we were joined by Matthew Wade of The Daily Cannon to talk about the impact Irish players from the Republic of Ireland and North have made at Arsenal, including those that pre-dated the '70s crop and the ones that have been involved in the staff in recent decades.

And yes, former Ireland international Eddie McGoldrick does get a mention... as does Mayo, although our regular listeners won't be surprised by that!

You can listen to the full interview on the podcast player or stream/download on iTunes: