Matthew "Matt" Le Tissier (born October 14, 1968) is a retired footballer who played for Southampton and England. He is arguably the greatest and most loyal (and popular) player in Southampton's history. Le Tissier was never ordinary, living up to the literal meaning of his surname - The Weaver - as he wove magical spells with the ball during the 1990s, being regularly cited by many, as arguably the most talented and gifted English player of his time.
He was born in Guernsey. He played youth football on the island and was clearly a class above his compatriots; a story has it that he regularly scored from corner kicks. After a trial at Oxford United he signed for Southampton in May 1985. As a Channel Islander, he was eligible for any of the Home Nations teams; at one point he was going to try out for Scotland.
He spent his entire playing career, from 1986 to retirement in 2002, at Southampton. He could use both of his feet equally to pass or shoot with, and his ball skills and loyalty made him the fans' favourite. He was renowned as a regular scorer of spectacular goals, often unexpected, when Southampton were in trouble. For this ability he became known as "Le God" among the supporters. His commitment to a smaller club like Southampton (he rejected moves to AC Milan and Chelsea FC, and tore up a contract he signed with Tottenham Hotspur F.C. in 1991 amongst others [1]) is unusual in the money-driven world of football.
He played his first professional game on September 2, 1986 and went on to play 431 league games for Southampton, 50 League Cup games and 32 FA Cup games. He scored 208 goals for his club including 49 out of 50 penalties (the one save came from Mark Crossley). His best season was probably 1994-95, when he scored 30 goals, an incredible tally for a midfield player in a struggling side, and they still finished only 10th. In the same season he won the coveted Match Of The Day Goal Of The Season award for his drifting 30-yard lob against Blackburn Rovers.
Already well established in Southampton folk-lore, he scored the last goal in the final competitive match played at the Dell on May 19, 2001 against Arsenal. After being out most of the season due to injury, he was brought on as a substitute near the end of the match to please the fans, and sticking to a "boys-own" script, he scored a spectatular left-footed volley on the turn from outside the penalty box to earn The Saints a 3-2 win; this turned out to be Arsenal's last away defeat for over a year.
He played 8 times for England from 1994 to 1998 without scoring. He was widely overlooked by then England manager Terry Venables, who received criticism for not picking Le Tissier. Le Tissier himself has claimed that had he been French or Italian, he would have won many more international caps. His crowning international moment was his hat-trick for the England B team in a game against Russia in which he also hit the crossbar twice, prior to the 1998 World Cup Finals. Despite his sterling performance, in a bitter-sweet end to his international career manager Glenn Hoddle failed to select Le Tissier for the full World Cup squad, or even the preliminary 30 man squad - his performances had been poor that season, partly due to his divorce. It was also suggested at the time that he played so little at the highest level because of a perception of "laziness".
After retiring as a player, he now works as a pundit on Soccer Saturday for Sky Sports.
Le Tissier married childhood sweetheart Cathy and had two children. But the couple divorced in 1997 and Cathy and his children moved back to Guernsey. This undermined his performance that season, and cost him a place in Glen Hoddles World Cup squad
The reason for Le Tissier's divorce was his affair with soap star Emily Symons, who was playing in panto in Southampton [2]. The pair quickly broke up.