Matt Le Tissier: ‘Le God’ of Southampton!

Southampton was playing Newcastle in 1994 - a long ball was headed down by Iain Dowie but fell
slightly behind Southampton number 7. Without breaking stride, he flicked the ball over his head into
his path with his left foot. Newcastle defender Barry Venison edged forwards to try and tackle, but
he got to his own flick first and lobbed the ball past his opponent. Another defender came charging
in. Instead of going to the left or to the right, Number 7’s automatic reaction was to lob the ball over
the defender, taking him out of the play and leaving him with only Mike Hooper in the Newcastle
goal to beat. As the lob came down, he nonchalantly side-footed the ball in the net past the
wrongfooted Hooper.

That goal was classic Le Tissier! The scorer of some of the most beautiful goals world has ever seen!

Matthew Le Tissier is and always will be an enigma! He had a career that invokes both envy and
bewilderment – in equal measures.

He was one of the most naturally talented players of his time and may have the biggest collection of
‘out of this world’ goals for anyone who played in English Premier League; but his trophy cabinet is
virtually bare. He was the epitome of one club man and decided to devote his whole career to
Southampton Football Club – supporters of the christened him “Le God”!!

He remains one of the most iconic players of the Premier League’s first decade. Despite playing his
entire career at one of the league’s lower middle ranked team, Le Tissier garnered a level of support
and appreciation that went far beyond the realms of The Dell, Southampton’s old ground and indeed
beyond UK.

For Barcelona and Spain’s legend Xavi, Le Tissier was his childhood hero and he has confessed that in
his childhood he was obsessed about “Le Tiss”! He once said about Le Tissier - “His talent was simply
out of the norm, He could simply dribble past seven or eight players but without speed – he just
walked past them. For me he was sensational.”

Matt Le Tissier was born on the British island of Guernsey on the 14th of October 1968 and started
his football career at Vale Recreation who he played for from the age of seven until he was 16. As a
youngster, he had a trial with Oxford United but ended up signing for Southampton’s youth side and
turned professional for Southampton in 1986.

He was voted PFA Young Player of the Year for the 1989–90 season, in which he was one of the
league's top goalscorers with 20 goals as Southampton finished seventh in the First Division, the
club's highest finish for five years.

The midfielder began to prove himself for Southampton and was a regular for the first team by the
time the Premier League began in 1992. In the first few seasons of the Premier League, Southampton
struggled and Le Tissier’s outstanding goal tally seemed to be the only factor keeping them in the top
flight.

Le Tissier’s mid-to-late-1990s prime is best summed up by a series of wondrous goals, with the
1993/94 season was probably his domestic pinnacle. He scored 25 Premier League goals that season,
which helped Southampton to survive in the top division. He was also famous for his phenomenal
penalty record, which ceased with him having scored barely believable 47 of the 48 penalties he took
throughout his career.

He was regular winner of Goal of the Month competitions. He scored a wide variety of incredible
strikes: there was a chip-up-and-volley from a free-kick against Wimbledon and the above described
legendary strike against Newcastle that involved backheeling the ball over his own head, before
flicking the ball over two defenders in a row and volleying in. He lobbed Blackburn’s Tim Flowers
from 35 yards and chipped Manchester United’s Peter Schmeichel from 25.

My primary memory of seeing Le Tissier live was in 2000-01 season when he scored his final goal for
Southampton against Arsenal. That surprisingly was also the final goal at the old Dell ground, before
the club moved into its new stadium at St Mary’s. In the final match of the 2000/01 season, the
Saints had twice come from behind against a mighty Arsenal team. As the match ticked over into the
final minute, it was the perfect moment for one final beautiful swing of that right boot. Seizing a
loose ball at the edge of the box, he swivelled and sent a brilliant, dipping volley into the net,
sparking the final, emotional celebrations at the old stadium.

Le Tissier made his final appearance for Southampton on the 30th of January 2002 and officially
retired from professional football on the 29th of March 2002.

In an era when 4-4-2 was not only king but was effectively the be-all and end-all of tactical
formations, Le Tissier broke the mould for what a midfielder could do. Not fitting into such a rigid
formation, he was at times given a limited licence to roam behind the front line, allowing him the
opportunity to hold onto the ball from where he could create chances from nothing and, on
countless occasions, deliver the spectacular. A majestic dribbler, he made up for his lack of stamina
with a stunning first touch and faultless technique.

Alan Shearer wrote the following in the introduction to Le Tissier’s autobiography – “Matt might not
have been noted for his work-rate, but he is one of the most naturally gifted players it has been my
privilege to play with. He could do things with a ball which left you, literally, speechless. His skill and
technique were sublime, and the really annoying thing is that it all came so naturally to him. The rest
of us would be working our backsides off, chasing, closing down, taking knocks and tackling, while he
would amble around like he didn’t have a care in the world. Then, suddenly, he’d explode into life
and win the game with a piece of pure genius. And he got almost as much pleasure creating goals for
others. If you made a run, you knew he had the ability to find you with an exquisite pass or cross. I
had to do all the running for him. Well, we all did. We were told to get the ball and give it to Matt
because he had the ability to create something special. People thought he was lazy but what they
don’t appreciate is that he concentrated on doing his running in all the right areas. We, his
teammates, knew that if we lost possession he was never going to chase back and help. You accepted
that because when the ball was played forward and there was just a sniff of goal, he’d be on it in a
flash.”

In Le Tissier’s own words – The two seasons – 1994 and 1995 he played under Alan Ball was his
favorite. In his epic book “The Mixer”, Micheal Cox has described the following scene – “Ball declared
his love for Le Tissier immediately upon arrival at Southampton, with the south-coast club
languishing in the relegation zone. In their first training session Ball and assistant manager Lawrie
McMenemy pulled ten players onto the training pitch and assembled them in a defensive shape,
leaving Le Tissier wondering if he’d be omitted, as had often happened under previous coach Ian
Branfoot. Instead, Ball then dragged Le Tissier into the centre of the group and announced to the
other ten players, ‘This is the best player you’ve got on your team. Get the ball to him as often as you
can, and he’ll win games for you.’ Le Tissier, a humble man, felt slightly uncomfortable being
elevated to this status, but it provided an enormous confidence boost and he scored six goals in his
first four appearances under Ball.”

Despite playing as an attacking midfielder rather than a forward, Le Tissier hit 45 goals in 64 games in
all competitions under Ball, many of them spectacular. Southampton avoided relegation at the end
of Ball’s first season and finished 10th in his second. He was the first midfielder to score 100 goals in
the Premier League.

He was the subject of interest from many big clubs in England and overseas during this time,
particularly from Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United, but the transfer never
happened and Le Tissier would ultimately remain a Southampton player until his retirement. In
August 1995, Chelsea reportedly made a £10million bid for Le Tissier which would have made him
the most expensive player in English football at the time. Shortly afterwards, defending league
champions Blackburn Rovers were reportedly planning to sign him for a similar-sized fee.

Le Tissier told ESPN that his reasons for staying at Southampton were simple - “My ties with
Southampton were very strong, I was very appreciative of them giving me a chance at professional
football. I felt a lot of loyalty there and the fans were always brilliant to me. I felt a great sense of
loyalty to them.”

Matt Le Tissier was a supremely gifted player who possessed sublime skill, touch and vision. The
Southampton player unfortunately made only eight appearances for his country despite scoring over
a hundred Premier League goals from a withdrawn position behind the striker. He was a player
perceived as having poor work rate and being a luxury to accommodate, but every neutral fan loved
watching him play with the ball at his feet. Hoddle was the England manager who opted to not select
the Saints player for the 1998 World Cup squad. Hoddle opted to ignore the game-changing ability of
Le Tissier and instead took David Batty’s combative qualities to France.

He hit a hat-trick for England B ahead of the 1998 World Cup squad selection, but he still failed to
make the cut. Le Tissier himself felt his form never fully recovered following that setback.

There was still a suspicion of number 10s in his mould, even among managers like Terry Venables and
Glenn Hoddle, who appreciated flair players. English football was fine with foreign number 10s in
club football but didn’t trust its own, and Le Tissier made the familiar complaint of the 1990s number
10: ‘I think maybe England managers weren’t brave enough to change their formation to
accommodate me.’

Le Tissier was eligible for Scotland but is said to have turned them down before his England call-up.
It’s of note that his father was contacted by France assistant manager Gérard Houllier, a keen fan of
players in Cantona’s mould, who unsuccessfully enquired whether Le Tissier had any French relatives.
It’s a big what if story if he decided to play in continent how big a star he would have been!

There is no doubting, though, that this remarkable talent left a mark on the Premier League. He
possessed the quality to single-handedly change a game and, given the Saints’ travails through much
of his time as a player, that was a task he was repeatedly required to do. The ball stuck to his feet like
glue as he created chances out of seemingly nothing, more often than not in a spectacularly unlikely
way.

The romantic football fan would always make time and space the ultimate romantic choice, but in
the end, his talent needed to be the focal point around which the rest of the team was built,
otherwise his lack of fitness and pace would unfortunately make him unusable. In the modern game
he may be a total misfit with its frenetic pace and emphasis on physical fitness but during his time he
achieved his own success – he played for his country (however less times), he entertained the public,
and still is one of the most universally popular figures in the game from the last two decades.

He was an enigma, an instinctive talent who could defy the norm, and he will go down as one of the
finest of the first decade of the Premier League.