I STOPPED AT
WINCHESTER
SERVICES TO FILL
UP WITH PETROL
—AND IT WAS
ONLY TWO MILES
DOWN THE ROAD
THAT I
REMEMBERED MY
CAR TOOK
DIESEL.
I have a job I enjoy which allows me to play as much golf as I like—and a wonderful wife who also allows me to play as much golf as I like. Fittingly, I proposed to her at a golf club. I had played in Ronan Keating’s Charity Golf Day at the K Club, which must have raised £200,000 from the auction alone. I was so enamoured with the venue that I took Angela there for her thirtieth birthday and proposed to her—without a ring. When I’d previously been there I saw the perfect engagement ring on display in the hotel lobby, so I planned to go back with Angela, buy it and propose. I didn’t realize the display was just samples from a jeweller in Dublin.
So I forgot about buying the ring and just proposed—11 years after we had started going out together. We had split up for about eight years in that time and Angela left the country. She worked in Dubai and then South Africa but we stayed in touch part of the time, and our feelings for each other were still as strong as ever.
Angela came back for good in March 2007 but it wasn’t the best reunion because I was flying out to Mauritius the following day for a week-long golf tournament. I thought I was being considerate giving her a week on her own to sort her stuff out. We didn’t even have that first night together because I was speaking at a function in Peterborough. And driving back from meeting her at Heathrow, I stopped at Winchester Services to fill up with petrol—and it was only two miles down the road that I remembered my car took diesel. I’m surprised she didn’t get on the next flight out of there.
Thankfully she stuck around and we were married in Mauritius on May 19, 2008. It was purely coincidence that was the same date when I scored the last goal at The Dell, but it should ensure I don’t forget my anniversary. It was very romantic. We married on the beach without shoes and with vows we had made up ourselves. We grabbed a couple of witnesses who were on their honeymoon. Nick and Lisa Yates were lovely and she fell pregnant not long after Angela. It was all very low-key but it was hardly Hello! magazine material. Neither of us are like that. We now have a beautiful daughter, Ava Belle Eileen, who arrived on March 20, 2009, and in her short time on this planet she has already filled our lives with such happiness. It’s amazing how a small thing like her smile can fill your heart with such pride and joy and you suddenly find levels of patience you didn’t realize you had when sleep deprivation kicks in. Clearly I’m talking about Angela because I do possess the ability to sleep through earthquakes.
From my first marriage, my son Mitchell and daughter Keeleigh are growing up into wonderful young adults. I try to get back to Guernsey to see them and my parents every week. I will always be incredibly grateful to my mum and dad for all they did for me, not just to make it possible for me to have such a long career at the top of the game but also for instilling me with all the values which make me the person I am.
I feel very privileged to have such a fantastic family and to have had such an enjoyable life both inside and outside of the game. But what does the future hold for Matt Le Tissier? The answer is simple…Buy the bloody paperback and find out!
27
WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT MATT
Lawrie McMenemy
Southampton manager Dec 1973-June 1985, during which time Matt signed as a schoolboy for Saints; England assistant manager, July 1990-Nov 1993; Southampton Director of Football, Jan 1994-June 1997
‘I told the players to sicken him with the ball because he is special. I told the others, “I know he is special and you know he is special” so they had to make sure they gave him the ball at every opportunity and “sicken him with it”—that was the key phrase. I said if he collapsed with exhaustion then Bally and I would walk on and carry him off. Then we worked on some set-pieces—two of which came off the next day at Newcastle. It was a great start and the beginning of a terrific run. Matt really enjoyed his football under Alan, who was his type of coach. He concentrated on ability, touch and vision far more than running which suited Matt down to the ground.
It’s a bit of a myth that we had as many offers for Matt as the press made out, but that was probably because clubs knew he was happy at Southampton. I remember the Chelsea director Matthew Harding once doing an interview in a national newspaper extolling the virtues of Matt and how he would love to have him. At a charity lunch he was collecting autographs and, as I signed his book, I said, “Can I give you a tip about being a director? Don’t tap up other people’s players in public.” I did it tongue-in-cheek but he was slightly embarrassed. I said, “If you like him so much I suggest you come to Southampton with a cheque for £7m and put it into our club then you can watch him every week.” He said that if he did that he’d have to rename the club Chelsea-on-Sea. At the end of the lunch he handed me a cheque for £7m made payable to Chelsea-on-Sea. I still have it.
I signed Matt as schoolboy after we got a call from a schoolteacher one day. He had brought a group of kids over from Guernsey. They had a few hours to kill so he asked if he could bring the kids to The Dell. I said yes and afterwards he wrote to thank me for the hospitality and said if there was anything he could ever do then to let him know. I wrote back and said if he ever had any promising players then he should let me know. The result was he sent over Matt and Graeme Le Saux. Graeme was homesick, which tended to be a feature of youngsters coming over from the Channel Islands. Matt is a very family-orientated man, very laid-back, grounded, down-to-earth and loyal, and that had a lot to do with him staying here.
Graeme eventually signed for Chelsea while Matt joined Southampton. By the time I returned to the club as Director of Football, Matt was an established top-quality player. He should have won more caps on ability—but you have to work closely with him to realize that. Having been an international manager, I can see both sides. If you only saw Matt now and again—and England managers only really saw him when Southampton were playing away to the big clubs—then it was hard to get the full picture of what he could do. But he had supreme natural ability and great self-belief.’
Iain Dowie
Centre-forward, Sept 1991-Jan 1995
‘Matt was the jewel in a side full of great spirit. A lot of us weren’t the most talented and got by on work-rate, but he had the most unbelievable talent. Before training Francis Benali and I would go out early and do all the right stretches to warm up. Then, at one minute before 10am, Tiss would amble out of the dressing room looking as though he was off down the park for a kick about. Every day I would throw the ball to him out as he crossed the touchline and challenge him to hit the crossbar from there. And about eight times out of 10 he’d do it.
He really enjoyed his football. I remember one night when we’d both been dropped into the Reserves and a lot of players would not have fancied it. I remember flicking the ball for him to run clean through and, as the keeper came out, Matt flicked his head as though he was going to nod the ball at goal. The keeper bought it and dived only for Matt to chest the ball down and calmly roll it in the net. He just laughed.
He was a magnificent finisher but didn’t care if he missed. It never affected him or dented his immense self-belief. He was a big character who used to love the banter and having the mickey taken out of him. We had some hard drinkers in that team but he was quite happy with his Malibu.
Matt was very much a team player, though he isn’t given enough credit for that. Even when he scored a spectacular goal, he always gave credit for the assist. Everyone remembers the stunner he got against Newcastle; I gave him a crap flick-on but he made it good. The ball dropped behind him but he dug it out and scored a very special goal. He was the only player who could have a packet of crisps and a can of Coke on the way to a game and still be magnificent.
I have been fortunate to play with, and against, some top players in
my time but I have never seen anyone strike a ball like him. Alan Shearer had unbelievable power but in terms of skill Matt was the most natural striker of a ball I have ever seen. He was second to none. It was almost like a golf shot off the tee because he’d hit the ball with bend and whip. He was also a good athlete. He could run well; he just chose not to.’
Ian Branfoot
Southampton manager, June 1991-Jan 1994
‘A lot of fans thought I didn’t appreciate Matt’s ability—that couldn’t be further from the truth. He is one of the most talented players I ever worked with. I just wanted him to work harder, not just for Southampton but for himself.
People would compare him with Alan Shearer. Matt had far more skill but Alan’s work-rate was incredible. He was a fantastic example and would put in so much effort chasing and closing down to defend as well as leading from the front. You have to ask why didn’t the top managers take Matt? Great players play for great clubs. I never had too many enquiries about him when I was manager.
I don’t have any regrets about the way I handled Matt, but if I had known then what I know now I would have played him in a different position. Part of the problem with Matt was that no-one knew what was his best position, and I think that was one of the things which stopped him winning as many England caps as his talent deserved. He was being played on the wing when I arrived at the club so I kept him there, but it wasn’t his strength. He was never going to provide any protection for the full back who must have hated having him in front of them. In hindsight I should have played him just off Alan Shearer playing more of a 4-4-1-1 formation. We could have got away with it because of Alan’s phenomenal work-rate which would have compensated for Matt.
I wouldn’t have built the team around him but I would have given him more of a free role. As long as you have 10 other players working hard you can get away with it. I did have players like Glenn Cockerill and Terry Hurlock coming to me complaining about Matt’s lack of effort and saying they were working their socks off while he wasn’t putting it in. That gave me a problem because they were honest lads and that was one reason I left him out before the Newcastle game.
Contrary to what he might think, I wasn’t going to sub him just before he scored that great goal and I was delighted that the kick up the backside had worked. As a character I had no problems with him at all. I just questioned his work-rate and ambition. Matt is a smashing lad and he chose to stay at Southampton where he knew he would be a regular and it was close to the Channel Islands. I think his upbringing had a huge effect on his character and, in many ways, he did well to break away and to establish himself as a top player. He had a very successful career and is still a big hero in and around Southampton. That was his choice and I can’t blame him for that.
I liked Matt as a person, there are a lot worse than him around. He was an intelligent lad, a nice lad—we just had very different ideas on the way the game should be played. He is bright and articulate with a good sense of humour which you can see on Sky Sports. That is the perfect job for him because it doesn’t require him to move. I was just frustrated that he had so much talent. I wanted him to play for England and to fulfil his potential. You don’t get a second chance in football, and I wanted him to be as big in the game as he could possibly be.
I do wonder if he ever regrets not doing what Shearer did, moving away to test himself at the top? I was desperately disappointed when the board decided to sell Shearer as I would have loved to have played them both together. I had no choice in the matter although I still smile at an approach from Manchester United. We had played them towards the end of the season on a Thursday night. They won 1-0 and at full time I went to shake Sir Alex Ferguson’s hand and he told me to eff off as he didn’t like the way we played. A few weeks later he rang me up wanting to buy Shearer. I said, “Alex, you remember what you said to me last time we met? Now you can eff off.” And we sold him to Blackburn.’
Micky Adams
Full-back, March 1989-March 1994
‘I always prided myself on my fitness, which I got because of Tiss. A lot of managers wanted to play him wide, to get him out of the way. That meant he was often playing in front of me on the left. Players would give him the ball and I would go flying past him on the over-lap. He used me as a decoy and would go on a run with the ball, and then I’d have to go chasing back.
He had fantastic natural ability, but he did practice as well. He worked at those skills to hone and perfect them. I remember Ian Bran-foot used to make us practice set-pieces for hours on a Friday. He’d make Matt take corners in a certain way and Tiss did everything he asked, raising an arm if it was going short or placing the ball down twice if it was going long or whatever code we had developed. And then on the Saturday he’d completely ignore all those instructions and shoot from the corner flag. He always reckoned he could score from a corner and he actually did it a few times. Now I am a manager that would drive me absolutely mad. But that was Tiss. He had such confidence in his ability to put the ball exactly where he wanted. If we got a penalty he would ask which bit of the net we wanted him to hit—and he always did it. He was the best player I ever saw, that’s for sure. His control and touch were unbelievable—but he did work at them.
He showed amazing loyalty by staying when he could have made a lot more money by moving. Southampton would have been relegated many years earlier if it hadn’t been for him. Fans might not like me saying this but I believe he should have left. I think it suited his home life at that time because there was a nice flight from Southampton to Guernsey for him and his wife. I know he had numerous offers to leave the club but I don’t think his wife wanted him to move. He enjoyed being in Southampton and it suited him, but I would like to have seen him test himself and have a real go at it at a bigger club. He would certainly have won more England caps.
I believe he was stitched up when Terry Venables picked him to play in the ill-fated game in Ireland. I think he thought it would be a physical game against a robust side, probably in the wind and rain and on long grass. And I think he thought Matt wouldn’t fancy it. He was under a fair bit of pressure to play Matt so I think he picked that match deliberately, setting him up to fail. That way he could say he had given him his chance and he could then leave Matt out. As it turned out the game was abandoned early on because of crowd trouble so no one really got a chance to show what they could do—yet Matt wasn’t even in the next squad.
There were times when he was a liability and I know Ian Branfoot got frustrated with him but, as players, we always forgave him because we knew he would get us a win bonus. At some point he would score a goal out of nothing and win us a match we didn’t expect to because he could do things no one else could do.’
Tim Flowers
Goalkeeper, June 1986-Nov 1993
‘I have won a Premiership medal, played for England and had a fairly decent career. But all anyone ever asks me about is THAT goal, the one that got Matt the 1994-95 BBC Goal of the Season at Ewood Park.
It was a complete fluke. I’m sure he was trying to chip a pass for someone else. I knew as soon as he hit it that I wasn’t getting near it. My heart sank as the ball flew in. I was devastated because I knew he would never let me forget it—and sure enough I looked up from the bottom of the net to see him abusing me from the halfway line. Even now, half his after-dinner speech is about that goal. That’s why I have saved my win bonus from the game just to remind him who came out on top.
But I don’t feel bad because he could beat any goalkeeper from anywhere. Some forwards you know will hit the ball with pace or bend but, with Tiss, you never knew what was coming. He could do you with any type of shot from the most powerful strike to a delicate chip, as Peter Schmeichel found out to his cost. To beat someone of 6ft 4in requires phenomenal skill. And his dead-ball delivery was tremendously accurate and he really should have played for England many more times than he did.
In fact he could do anything with any kind of ball—tennis, golf, cricket or snooker.
He used to take me to the 147 Club and, in the end, I bought a pair of white gloves so I could dust the balls down while he potted them. He didn’t get to beat me at golf too often, simply because I never played. I have never been able to play that game so I just used to carry the bags on pre-season tours. I was persuaded to play once and as I drove off at the first tee the ball exploded. Tiss had swapped it for a trick one filled with talcum powder. I should have guessed with seven players all crowding round to watch me hit it. It frightened the life out of me while Tiss fell about laughing.
We got on really well. I enjoyed his company even though he was a bit of a weirdo. While everyone else was on the beer, he would be happy with a Coke. Some people can tell a wine by sniffing it, he could do the same with cola. He could tell by smelling it whether it was Coca-Cola or Pepsi or own brand or, God forbid, diet.
Diet wasn’t something he cared about. Before training he used to have a sausage and egg McMuffin, and still used to beat me from outrageous distances. I have no idea how he ate what he did and still play at the highest level. He should leave his body to medical science, or maybe just melt it down for chip fat.
He actually eats less now than he did when he was playing. Maybe it is a trick of the television cameras but he looks slimmer on Sky’s Soccer Saturday. And it is good to see that Just For Men is working. I am not surprised he has been such a success on that show because he has always been funny and eloquent and spoken a lot of sense—one of the few who does on that panel. He is honest and open and speaks his mind, and he has a lot to say. I’d never tell him but he is a real top man.’
Mike Osman
Comedian, long-time friend, business partner
‘Matt is the greatest player I have ever seen in a Saints shirt. I have been watching the club since 1964 and I have seen some magnificent players including Kevin Keegan, Mike Channon, Alan Ball, Peter Osgood, Frank Worthington, Terry Paine and many more. They were greats but Tiss was the best. I have never seen anyone dribble or pass or shoot like he did. He was the best crowd-pleaser of his generation.
Taking le Tiss Page 24