Matt Le Tissier - Unbelievable

[Holmes_and_Watson]

2 hours ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

I think it's hard to explain to fans who weren't around at the time just how good he was. No way we would have kept hold of him for so long if he was playing today.

SR would have pushed him out the door at the end of his breakthrough season. Another player trading success! 🙂

[Badger]

2 hours ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

I think it's hard to explain to fans who weren't around at the time just how good he was. No way we would have kept hold of him for so long if he was playing today.

Yet incredibly Branfoot wanted to offload him as a makeweight in a player exchange. Can’t remember who it was for, someone uninspiring, and was shocked when I read about it some years later. 

[franniesTache]

3 hours ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

I think it's hard to explain to fans who weren't around at the time just how good he was. No way we would have kept hold of him for so long if he was playing today.

I was lucky enough to be there from Matty's debut right through to his testimonial - standing on the opposite side of the milton to @Turkish though as our spot was on the right hand goal post under the CLC part of the advertising on the roof - and to this day he's the best natural footballer i've ever seen in person.

I'm sure i've said it on here before but everyone focusses on his goals but they forget he also turned Ian Dowie into a 15 goal a season striker (mainly by hitting him in the face with the ball so it went in) and his passing was just absolutely breath taking.

I can also remember his less than energetic "warm ups", where when other people were running around he'd stand 10 yards out of the box and hit the crossbar with the ball, and i reckon he probably did hit 9 times out of 10.

His close control was also just so much better than everyone else, there was a game early season against nottingham forest and i can vividly remember him being surrounded by about four players and he just sort of walked through them dinking the ball round them, faking them off and completely confusing them.

Also funny to think too he started out as a "tricky winger", playing number 11 and running at people.

What i wouldn't give to see another Le Tiss in my lifetime, but i honestly think he's a once in a generation and most of us will never get to see a player like him again.

[Turkish]

8 minutes ago, franniesTache said:

I was lucky enough to be there from Matty's debut right through to his testimonial - standing on the opposite side of the milton to @Turkish though as our spot was on the right hand goal post under the CLC part of the advertising on the roof - and to this day he's the best natural footballer i've ever seen in person.

I'm sure i've said it on here before but everyone focusses on his goals but they forget he also turned Ian Dowie into a 15 goal a season striker (mainly by hitting him in the face with the ball so it went in) and his passing was just absolutely breath taking.

I can also remember his less than energetic "warm ups", where when other people were running around he'd stand 10 yards out of the box and hit the crossbar with the ball, and i reckon he probably did hit 9 times out of 10.

His close control was also just so much better than everyone else, there was a game early season against nottingham forest and i can vividly remember him being surrounded by about four players and he just sort of walked through them dinking the ball round them, faking them off and completely confusing them.

Also funny to think too he started out as a "tricky winger", playing number 11 and running at people.

What i wouldn't give to see another Le Tiss in my lifetime, but i honestly think he's a once in a generation and most of us will never get to see a player like him again.

What a shame we couldn't keep that team 89/90 team together. Flowers and Shearer went onto win the league with Blackburn, Rod Wallace did with Leeds, Ruddock went to Liverpool and Spurs, Kenna was on the fringes of the team and also won the league at Blackburn. 

That was such a great time to be a Saints fan, young, exciting team scoring loads of goals, 2 quid to get in pay on the day, it was the season i started going with my mates rather than older brother or dad and we found our spot in the Milton. Kids of today wont get that.

 

[Sarnia Cherie]

Born on the same little island as me. A natural goal scorer, what I would give for one of those right now, and loyal to Saints. His brother Carl was also a talented footballer but couldn't be persuaded to leave the island for professional football.

[Football Special]

3 hours ago, Badger said:

Yet incredibly Branfoot wanted to offload him as a makeweight in a player exchange. Can’t remember who it was for, someone uninspiring, and was shocked when I read about it some years later. 

Probably for Michael Gilkes from Reading 

[franniesTache]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

What a shame we couldn't keep that team 89/90 team together. Flowers and Shearer went onto win the league with Blackburn, Rod Wallace did with Leeds, Ruddock went to Liverpool and Spurs, Kenna was on the fringes of the team and also won the league at Blackburn. 

That was such a great time to be a Saints fan, young, exciting team scoring loads of goals, 2 quid to get in pay on the day, it was the season i started going with my mates rather than older brother or dad and we found our spot in the Milton. Kids of today wont get that.

 

That Nicholl side that played the 4-2-4 formation and fast attacking passing football was an absolute joy to watch, and definitely one of my favourite periods of going, crazy to think we went from that to Branfoot ball really. And lets not forget Branfoot was managing the youth team and highly thought of behind the scenes, then promoted to a job where he was inept and backed by owners who didn't listen to the fans, it's almost like things have always been the same.

Also know what you mean about groups of nippers, our group would've been 10-15 of us, all going by ourselves for the first time, and often we'd play football together in the morning, or help out with a mates paper round before deciding on the day to go and traipsing up to the Dell and queuing outside the Milton to get in.

A lot of my mates i have now were mates i made on those terraces 30+ years ago, and i always find it a bit sad that there's a generation or three that have completely lost that, and going to games for them is a military operation of planning and costs a packet (though i swear the milton was £1.50 then not £2, but i could be wrong)

[Turkish]

22 minutes ago, franniesTache said:

That Nicholl side that played the 4-2-4 formation and fast attacking passing football was an absolute joy to watch, and definitely one of my favourite periods of going, crazy to think we went from that to Branfoot ball really. And lets not forget Branfoot was managing the youth team and highly thought of behind the scenes, then promoted to a job where he was inept and backed by owners who didn't listen to the fans, it's almost like things have always been the same.

Also know what you mean about groups of nippers, our group would've been 10-15 of us, all going by ourselves for the first time, and often we'd play football together in the morning, or help out with a mates paper round before deciding on the day to go and traipsing up to the Dell and queuing outside the Milton to get in.

A lot of my mates i have now were mates i made on those terraces 30+ years ago, and i always find it a bit sad that there's a generation or three that have completely lost that, and going to games for them is a military operation of planning and costs a packet (though i swear the milton was £1.50 then not £2, but i could be wrong)

That’s exactly how it was for me. Paper round, got paid £6, went football training for tyro team then we’d meet up after with other mates and use our paper round money to pay for the bus, get into the ground, a fanzine and some chips from the chippy on Bedford Place. Would be about 20 of us. 
 

I remember it being £1.50 when I first went then in went up to £2 don’t exactly remember when but I know I got change out of my £6 paper money for all that. 

[Oh no Mick Mills]

21 minutes ago, franniesTache said:

That Nicholl side that played the 4-2-4 formation and fast attacking passing football was an absolute joy to watch, and definitely one of my favourite periods of going, crazy to think we went from that to Branfoot ball really. And lets not forget Branfoot was managing the youth team and highly thought of behind the scenes, then promoted to a job where he was inept and backed by owners who didn't listen to the fans, it's almost like things have always been the same.

Also know what you mean about groups of nippers, our group would've been 10-15 of us, all going by ourselves for the first time, and often we'd play football together in the morning, or help out with a mates paper round before deciding on the day to go and traipsing up to the Dell and queuing outside the Milton to get in.

A lot of my mates i have now were mates i made on those terraces 30+ years ago, and i always find it a bit sad that there's a generation or three that have completely lost that, and going to games for them is a military operation of planning and costs a packet (though i swear the milton was £1.50 then not £2, but i could be wrong)

Yep, £1.50 for kids..£3.00 Adults back then. 

Just hand over the cash at the turnstiles and in you went.

Like you I remember meeting up with a group of mates on the Flower Roads estate and then walking up through the common , mucking about and having a laugh. 

[Lee On Solent Saint]

5 minutes ago, Turkish said:

That’s exactly how it was for me. Paper round, got paid £6, went football training for tyro team then we’d meet up after with other mates and use our paper round money to pay for the bus, get into the ground, a fanzine and some chips from the chippy on Bedford Place. Would be about 20 of us. 
 

I remember it being £1.50 when I first went then in went up to £2 don’t exactly remember when but I know I got change out of my £6 paper money for all that. 

Same here. The number 5 or 25 bus from Sholing, get off in town for a visit to Mcdonalds then walk up from there. Think 88-89 was the season I started going up with my mates. Always used to get grief from the old boy on the turnstiles because I looked way older than 16 at the time.

[Chez]

1 hour ago, franniesTache said:

That Nicholl side that played the 4-2-4 formation and fast attacking passing football was an absolute joy to watch, and definitely one of my favourite periods of going, crazy to think we went from that to Branfoot ball really. And lets not forget Branfoot was managing the youth team and highly thought of behind the scenes, then promoted to a job where he was inept and backed by owners who didn't listen to the fans, it's almost like things have always been the same.

 

Branfoot wasn't the youth coach at Saints before he became manager. He had been the assistant manager at Crystal Palace when we appointed him Saints manager.

I think you mean Lew Chatterly, who was the useless twat that allowed Darren Eadie and Jamie Cureton to slip through out fingers when he came in as youth development officer when Higgins was removed from his position. Chatterly had worked under Branfoot before at Reading, and when Branfoot joined Saitns, Chatterly got a quick promotion to assistant and then of course was our caretaker manager when Branfoot was sacked.

[Chez]

Just looking at MLT stats and in the first season under Branfoot, he scored just 6 goals from 32 league games, down from 20 and 19 goals from 35 games in the proceeding two seasons. The memory I have, and I am guessing others might too, is Brantfoot completely ruined MLT's game.

However, In 92/93 he did score 15 goals in 42 games, which is not too bad. In my mind MLT disappeared completely under Branfoot, but that obviously wasn't entirely true.

He then scored 25 goals in 38 games in the 93/94 season, which suggests MLT was pretty effective if the side as a whole wasn't. However, Branfoot was sacked half way through that season. Only 9 goals came under Branfoot and 16 goals under Alan Ball in which won 7, drew 4 draws and lost 6. Quite a few pens, but he was brilliant in that run in under Ball.

[Noodles34]

On 20/11/2025 at 18:53, stknowle said:

That early hattrick against Norwich inc that ridiculous goal where he goes past 3 or 4 midfielders and fades a low shot in off the far post. Absolutely world class brilliance. 

I played golf with Matt the other day and we talked about that hat trick. He’s surprised it isn’t talked about more. That lob for the third (I think) was world class. 

[Gloucester Saint]

3 hours ago, Football Special said:

Probably for Michael Gilkes from Reading 

No, it was Robert Fleck at Chelsea. 

[Gloucester Saint]

On 20/11/2025 at 18:53, stknowle said:

That early hattrick against Norwich inc that ridiculous goal where he goes past 3 or 4 midfielders and fades a low shot in off the far post. Absolutely world class brilliance. 

Fully agree, the long range volley v Forest at the Milton is very under-rated too. One of Clough’s final matches.