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Matt Le Tissier - The Player


Thedelldays

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With his book about to be released..it just happens to come at the same time as our new start...

 

It will and must never be forgotton what this man did for our club..

I am so lucky that I am just about old enough to grow up watching this player his whole career (im 29) and feel deeply sad for those too young to remember him

 

MODs, any chance we can make this a sticky so we can all tell stories, share youtube clips of the greatest player ever to play for us and probably, ever likely to...

 

I for one, wish we could have a statue of him next to Ted, or at least name a stand after him.......

 

I dont care about his role in pinnacle....to me he is the greatest player to play for my club...and im sure people my age used to try his tricks and try to copy his goals when we were kids..

 

I cant wait to get his book

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...and im sure people my age used to try his tricks and try to copy his goals when we were kids..

 

Absolutely but the ony thing I could replicate was putting on the pounds.

 

Legend is a word used far too readily, being popular should not come with such a name tag, many players have been suggested as the same, however, few can be named true legends and in my lifetime MLT is just that, contributions to Southampton both on and off the field afford him the status, a man who always has time to sign his name and shake a hand.

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Im 19 so not quite old enough to have enjoyed MLT's peak. However the memories of my old man as well as the people on here and other saints fans are so strong that I still feel a part of it.

 

We need to forever pass down his legacy because he is this club

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I am well old, so to speak..My idols at Saints are in double figures over the years. Big Ron, Painey , Sydie etc etc......But MLT is my God and a true Saints Legend.

His Calendar picture still adorns my Garage wall with other Saints memorabilia......The missus moved it out the house when I wasn't looking.....When will you grow up..and the like... are some of her comments shouted out to me when I sit in the garage listening to football reports on the radio etc and reading various programmes....

 

When my daughters were younger..They thought MLT was a relation or some sort of God..due to the various pictures of the great man on the wall around the utilityroom/garage.....I still fail to grow up...So her indoors suggests to her daughters.

 

 

COYRs. Sorry forgot THE GREAT Mick Channon.

Edited by ottery st mary
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I'm 35, and was lucky to grow up adoring the legend that is Matt Le Tissier right from his debut up to his farewell to The Dell.

 

The likes of Ted Bates, Terry Paine, Mick Channon are also legends of the club, but I will only be able to watch them play on TV or video footage.

 

With MLT, I can proudly say that "I was there", and he is a player that I will never forget. Watching him from the Milton Road end scoring those two wonder goals against Newcastle to prove Ian Branfoot wrong is a night that I will never, ever forget...................

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Watching him from the Milton Road end scoring those two wonder goals against Newcastle to prove Ian Branfoot wrong is a night that I will never, ever forget...................

what a great night that was...

 

two of the best goals I am ever likely to see live...

 

was carnage when the second went in...

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I'm 27 so have had the same luck as you TDD.

 

Regardless of what he got suckered into, he loves this club and words cannot describe just how good he was.

 

There's so much you can say about him with his famous goal and alike. One of my strongest memories is Matty picking the ball up on our penalty spot and pinging a pass 'on-a-sixpence' for Nicky Banger to tap home from the opposing penalty spot. I think that may have been against Oldham, possibly.

 

I also was lucky enough to meet him and Ted Bates after the last game at The Dell. He signed a shirt and Ted signed a photo.

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The most naturally talented footballer this country has ever had. Had the privalege of watching some of the greats ie. Charlton , Best, Moore, but Le Tiss always took my breathe away. As my late Father ( one of Le Tiss's biggest fans) used to say " if he had been born a Brazilian they would have built the whole team around him!"

Truly a legend.

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So many great memories over about 12 years or so having been lucky enough to witness is whole career. Being in the Milton end when got a hatrick against Norwich, 3 great goals, the final one a run and chip from about 30 yards which hit the inside of the post and went in, was right in my eyeline and i knew it was in as soon as he hit it. The great header for the 4th in the 4-1 against Liverpool after he Rod Wallace, Shearer and Rideout had ripped them apart.. The two against Newcastle, last minute winner from a free kick against Villa at the Dell, beating two players and chipping Peter Schmichael, and of course the injury time winner against arsenal. Although a great player it was also the way he related to the fans, he was one of us, a great player and a great man, without him we'd have been relegated in the mid 90's ago and may never have recovered.

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just how we were so treated with him...more like blessed.

 

and you could not have wished for a more perfect ending at The Dell..

 

Le Tiss special right at the end to get the win....pure legend

I was not there that day, I assume everyone just went mental when he scored that day..

 

To be honest, it would be great if we still sang his name at games...much like Manyoo fans do for their legends..

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He is the Greatest Player I have ever seen in the Red & White in my years, it is not even close.

I feel we as a club were incredibly fortunate to have witnessed this special players entire career, it will never happen again.

However if I take off my red & white tinted spectacles for a minute and be objective, I feel a little sad that he did not gain any medals and play Champions League football & regularly at International Level where his talents really could have cemented his place in history as one of the best footballers in the world ever IMHO.

 

I think it is one of the biggest ever injustices in English football that the 2 England Managers that mistreated Matt (Venables & Hoddle), were the two managers who tried hardest to sign him for their clubs prior to them getting the England job. Clearly they put their own personal vendettas against the best interests of their country.

 

FACT - Other than have signed with Eric Hall (Venables is bent) or gone to see Eileen Drewery (Hoodle is :rolleyes:), there is nothing more Matt could have done to secure a regular England place IMO.

 

There have been many great goals in football over the years, however Matt's biggest strength IMO is that he has scored such a large volume of spectacular goals, probably more than any other player ever in football history.

I spoke with Matt about my favorite goals and the ones I mentioned are not the 10 or so which are always repeated. Turkish has already mentioned the Norwich Hatrick which I would urge anyone who has not seen it to look for it. The other one was in the game where he missed his only penalty (& subsequent open goal!) vs Forest in the early 90's. From the corner of the penalty area on the left he met a thunderous half volley in to the top right hand corner of the goal. His response.... "yeah that was probably the best left foot goal I ever scored".

 

Left foot!!!??!!!!

 

Thanks for the unbelieveable memories Matt. :)

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He is the Greatest Player I have ever seen in the Red & White in my years, it is not even close.

I feel we as a club were incredibly fortunate to have witnessed this special players entire career, it will never happen again.

However if I take off my red & white tinted spectacles for a minute and be objective, I feel a little sad that he did not gain any medals and play Champions League football & regularly at International Level where his talents really could have cemented his place in history as one of the best footballers in the world ever IMHO.

 

I think it is one of the biggest ever injustices in English football that the 2 England Managers that mistreated Matt (Venables & Hoddle), were the two managers who tried hardest to sign him for their clubs prior to them getting the England job. Clearly they put their own personal vendettas against the best interests of their country.

 

FACT - Other than have signed with Eric Hall (Venables is bent) or gone to see Eileen Drewery (Hoodle is :rolleyes:), there is nothing more Matt could have done to secure a regular England place IMO.

 

There have been many great goals in football over the years, however Matt's biggest strength IMO is that he has scored such a large volume of spectacular goals, probably more than any other player ever in football history.

I spoke with Matt about my favorite goals and the ones I mentioned are not the 10 or so which are always repeated. Turkish has already mentioned the Norwich Hatrick which I would urge anyone who has not seen it to look for it. The other one was in the game where he missed his only penalty (& subsequent open goal!) vs Forest in the early 90's. From the corner of the penalty area on the left he met a thunderous half volley in to the top right hand corner of the goal. His response.... "yeah that was probably the best left foot goal I ever scored".

 

Left foot!!!??!!!!

 

Thanks for the unbelieveable memories Matt. :)

Agree with everything you say here. Have watched many special players in the red and white over the years (Davies, Paine, Sydenham, KK, Channon etc) but MLT was the most special of the lot. There will never be another Le Tissier.

 

 

I wonder when "someone" will come on here and drag this thread down with a "Pinnacle" reference.:mad:

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To sum up the man in his prime and the frustration over national recognition felt by Saints fans, I recall watching the goal that fatty Gascoigne scored against Scotland in Euro 96 and the commentator saying something like 'no other player currently in football could have scored that goal' and the whole pub erupting with cries of 'f*ck off, we see better every week'. The man was a genius and on par with Zidane at his best...

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Gr8 thread to the most deserving and greatest player ever to play for Saints. I have had the huge pleasure of meeting Matt on a several occassions; he is a true gentleman and cannot do enough to help people.

 

I am very luckly that I have witness every home game and many away performances from the great man. Some of his goals will never be reproduced by any other player; he simply was a hugely gifted player who remained loyal to the club that he loves.

 

He is the greatest Saints player I have seen play in red and white; including Micky Channon, Peter Osgood, Terry Paine, Chivers, Keegan, Ron Davies, Stevie Wiliams, Nick Holmes and many, many more!

 

I agree that we should at the very least have a Matt Le Tiss stand or even better a statue next to Ted.

 

COYR!!

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I'm 35, and was lucky to grow up adoring the legend that is Matt Le Tissier right from his debut up to his farewell to The Dell.

 

The likes of Ted Bates, Terry Paine, Mick Channon are also legends of the club, but I will only be able to watch them play on TV or video footage.

 

With MLT, I can proudly say that "I was there", and he is a player that I will never forget. Watching him from the Milton Road end scoring those two wonder goals against Newcastle to prove Ian Branfoot wrong is a night that I will never, ever forget...................

 

Here Here, I will never ever forget that day and I was only 8 at the time! Pure magic, the timing of that piece of genius will never ever be forgotten!

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talk of legends is always difficult.

i am 55 and been watching since 61

the word legend is loosely used but imo there have been three in my lifetime

 

Paine

Channon

Le Tissier

 

they all performed different roles but had 2 things in common , they could produce individual match winning moments and the bigger the games importance the better they played

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just how we were so treated with him...more like blessed.

 

and you could not have wished for a more perfect ending at The Dell..

 

Le Tiss special right at the end to get the win....pure legend

I was not there that day, I assume everyone just went mental when he scored that day

 

Have never witnessed anything like it since, mental doesn't cover it. I was front frow of Archers Block 5, huge surge behind me (not that you could really get that with 10 rows of seats lol), noisier than a Metallica gig, random people hugging each other and leaping around like little kids on too much jelly and ice cream. Emotions ranging from sheer relief to grown men with tears in their eyes. Hollywood wouldn't have written it better. To be honest its a bit of a blur, if you could bottle the energy released you could power the national grid for a week. Better than sex with Lucy Pinder ;)

 

But for me what sums up the man is last weekend. Given all that went on with Pinnacle it took balls to walk along the touchline with his head held high. He could well have been bricking it but it must have meant a lot to him to hear the reception he got from us lot. He is one of us and always will be, end of.

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I am so thankful I was lucky enough to have seen a player in the red and white stripes with the skill Le Tissier had. IMO the excitement you could feel around the ground as Le Tissier picked up the ball from 25-30 yards out with the expectation he could pull out a goal from nothing has never been repeated since he retired. The same can be said of free kicks anywhere within a 30 yd radius of goal.

He was incredible to watch, the gasp from the crowd as he picked up the ball to shoot to the roar of the crowd as the ball smacks the back of the net is something I'll never forget. Amongst the many, the two that stick in my mind the most is the late free kick against Villa past Spink just after Villa had levelled to make it 1-1, think it came from a Sean Teale foul? It was a freezing cold night and that Le Tiss winner sure made the cold dissappear! And the equaliser against Newcastle when we were 2-0 down, Maddison made it 2-1 on 88 and Le Tiss hit the equaliser in the 91st... never seen so many upset Geordies getting back on the coaches on Archers Road as I did that day.

Le Tiss, absolute legend for me. Thanks for so many great memories at The Dell.

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My memories of MLT

meeting him often at ocean village with his wife and young kids, his missus had a face like thunder when people spoke to him but he never once rushed anyone, or didn't sign anything, had time for all.

 

After the team had played a cricket friendly against Burridge he sat for 20 minutes letting my 4/5 yr old daughter put a hair clip in his hair while we chatted with him and the team.

 

being in the Hulse rd working mens club when we played newcastle away and away fans were banned and when he scored the whole place gave a le tiss.. le tiss matty matt le tiss made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

 

Wandering into the junior saints office at the Dell and seing him sitting behind the counter reading a newspaper and him coming with me to sign a programme

 

Nothing was ever too much trouble for him, so along with the "unbelievable" goals we all know and wonder at I always think of him of such a decent bloke who i was lucky enough to meet a couple of times and who i saw playing some of the most skillful football ive seen in a lifetime.

 

Even now on sky his nature comes accross the man is a saint through and through and always will be

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With his book about to be released..it just happens to come at the same time as our new start...

 

It will and must never be forgotton what this man did for our club..

I am so lucky that I am just about old enough to grow up watching this player his whole career (im 29) and feel deeply sad for those too young to remember him

 

MODs, any chance we can make this a sticky so we can all tell stories, share youtube clips of the greatest player ever to play for us and probably, ever likely to...

 

I for one, wish we could have a statue of him next to Ted, or at least name a stand after him.......

 

I dont care about his role in pinnacle....to me he is the greatest player to play for my club...and im sure people my age used to try his tricks and try to copy his goals when we were kids..

 

I cant wait to get his book

 

 

Firstly I disagree with you about MLT being the greatest player to play for us as I think Alan Ball was followed by Terry Paine. MLT was the most Skilful

 

 

Bally and Paine got us to Div 1 MLT kept us there.

 

 

That Said my first sighting of him was from the West Stand in a League Cup game against United when he came on and scored two goals at the Milton Road End the defeat cost Big Ron his job and brought Fergie to United

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Am 28 and have had the great joy to see the one of the most gifted football players of all time! I dont say that lightly. To those who werent old enough or didnt see him week in week out, this man could single handedly change any game of football in moments.. The fact that he looked more like a javellin thrower than a pro footballer makes what he did even more immense. To talk about loyalty, greed or fame nowadays, this man is a living legend. When people say he was good but not up there with the best, I say pure short sighted boll*x. When Ac Milan were in complete domination of Europe, they came in for Matty to provide link from midfield to attack. throughout various stages, utd wanted him, chelsea wanted him, spurs wanted him, Silvio Berlusconi coudn't make his loyalty wane, what chance did the others have. Pele went on record as saying Le Tissier isnt in England team but he would play for Brazil every game.. these are facts, to the unconverted, this is the reality- a complete one off genius, a type of a football player unlikely, the WORLD will ever see again. Thanks Matt..

Edited by Avenue Saint
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Interesting to see Nineteen Canteen has nothing to say on this particular thread.

 

Le Tiss is, quite frankly, untouchable both on and off the pitch....

indeed

 

when you look how poor we are as a team now it seems quite ridiculous that MLT even played for us, let alone his whole career

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Interesting to see Nineteen Canteen has nothing to say on this particular thread.

 

Le Tiss is, quite frankly, untouchable both on and off the pitch....

 

No need - a far more balanced assessment of MLT is being debated 'off topic' on my unrealistic expectations thread. For the record MLT was fantastic for us but as a sportsman he ultimately under-achieved and wasted his talent.

 

Some sportsman are content to a be a big fish in a small pond but that doesn't make them inspiring. IMO Channon is the greatest player to have played for Saints and the fact he has elevated himself to the pinnacle (must stop using that word) of another sporting industry shows what ambition really is all about.

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OK your perogative but you must be pleased Tisdale stayed at Exeter?

 

Tisdale is a very good Manager/Coach but for now Pardew is better for the Saints...

 

Will you be honest with your fellow posters and tell the truth...You are NOT a Saints supporter and you do NOT have season tickets at St Marys.

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Tisdale is a very good Manager/Coach but for now Pardew is better for the Saints...

 

Will you be honest with your fellow posters and tell the truth...You are NOT a Saints supporter and you do NOT have season tickets at St Marys.

I used to be quite tolerant of 19Cs posts and stick up for him when people lay into him/her....

 

I think that was poor error of judgement on my part

 

:smt081

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No need - a far more balanced assessment of MLT is being debated 'off topic' on my unrealistic expectations thread. For the record MLT was fantastic for us but as a sportsman he ultimately under-achieved and wasted his talent.

 

Some sportsman are content to a be a big fish in a small pond but that doesn't make them inspiring. IMO Channon is the greatest player to have played for Saints and the fact he has elevated himself to the pinnacle (must stop using that word) of another sporting industry shows what ambition really is all about.

And if he left for a bigger club and more money you would now be branding him a mercenary, he can't win can he? matt wasn't loyal..oh no he was unambitious :rolleyes: matt said once in an interview that seeing the joy on saints fans faces was worth more to him than medals and money, only an pompous idiot would throw that back in his face.

Yes his talent was wasted, by venables , hoddle, taylor etc, and he was uninspiring too???????? so watching him play for us through his career ( if you did) didn't inspire you?? strange, i always had an extra buzz watching saints with matt in the team, knowing he might do something magical which he often did.

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