Matt Le Tissier

Matthew Paul Le Tissier (born 14 October 1968) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

Le Tissier represented Guernsey's under-15 side, playing in the 1983 Muratti Vase final against Jersey U15.

He chose to play for England, joining a relatively small group of players who were not born in the country, and earned eight caps over three years.

Guernsey, although largely self-governing, does not have an official FIFA national team, which made Le Tissier eligible to play for England.

Signing for Southampton on YTS forms in 1985 and then signing professional forms in October 1986, Le Tissier made his club debut in a 4–3 defeat at Norwich City in the First Division, and by the end of that season had scored six goals in 24 league games, including a hat-trick against Leicester City in the league.

He scored his first two competitive goals in a League Cup third-round replay at home to Manchester United on 4 November 1986, a game which Southampton won 4–1 and was Ron Atkinson's last in charge of the visitors, his sacking coming within 48 hours of the result.

Le Tissier made 19 first team league appearances in the 1987–88 season, failing to score, but in the 1988–89 season, scored nine times in 28 league games.

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.

A creative attacking midfielder with exceptional technical skills, Le Tissier is the second-highest-ever scorer for Southampton behind Mick Channon, and was voted PFA Young Player of the Year in 1990.

He was the first midfielder to score 100 goals in the Premier League.

He is notable for his record at scoring penalty kicks—converting from the spot 47 times from 48 attempts—and is considered one of the greatest ever from the 12-yard spot.

Le Tissier's goal tally for the season regularly went well into double figures for the league alone throughout the 1990s, playing a major role in Southampton preserving their top flight status into the new millennium as they came close to relegation on five occasions in the first seven seasons of the Premier League — including one season when they only survived on goal difference.

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.

Le Tissier's highest-scoring league season was in the 1993–94 season, in which he scored 25 league goals.

The following season, he won the Match of the Day Goal of the Season award for his drifting 40-yard chip against Blackburn Rovers, scoring against his long-term friend, and former Southampton keeper, Tim Flowers.

His sole failure to convert came on 24 March 1993 in a match against Nottingham Forest, his spot kick being saved by Forest keeper Mark Crossley, the feat being so unique that Crossley describes it as the save of which he is most proud.

After leaving Southampton, he had a two-season-long spell with non-league side Eastleigh, where he played alongside his former Southampton teammate David Hughes.

Born in Guernsey, Le Tissier opted to represent England, winning eight caps from 1994 to 1997.

In August 1995, Chelsea reportedly made a £10 million 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.

On 2 April 2000, Le Tissier scored a last-minute penalty for Southampton in a 2–1 defeat to Sunderland.

This brought his tally of Premier League goals to 100, making him only the sixth player and first midfielder to reach this milestone.

He scored the last goal in the final competitive match played at The Dell on 19 May 2001, against Arsenal.

This turned out to be his last goal for Southampton.

He played several games for the club during the 2001–02 season, the first season at the new St Mary's Stadium, in an eventual 11th-place finish.

Le Tissier spent his entire professional club career with Southampton, before turning to non-League football in 2002; his loyalty garnered special affection from Southampton's fans who nicknamed him "Le God".

His final competitive appearance for the Saints came against West Ham United on 30 January 2002.

He announced on 29 March 2002 that he would retire from playing at the season's end after limping off with a recurrence of a calf strain during a reserve team game against Charlton Athletic.

His final match, a testimonial against an England XI in May 2002, ended in a 9–9 draw, with Le Tissier playing 45 minutes for each side, while his ten-year-old son Mitchell came on as a substitute in the second half, scoring four times.

Throughout his career, Le Tissier had a fearsome reputation for scoring from the spot, converting 47 of the 48 penalties that he took for Southampton.

He made his debut in a 3–0 victory over Newport (IOW) in the Hampshire Senior Cup in October 2002.

He played his last match for the club early in August 2003, starring in the Hampshire Chronicle Cup Final second-leg victory against Winchester City.

In 2011, he became honorary president of Guernsey F.C., and briefly came out of retirement to play for the club in 2013.

On 7 April 2013, ten years after retiring from football, Le Tissier announced he had come out of retirement and signed with his hometown club Guernsey.

A number of fixture postponements meant that they had to play 17 league fixtures in a month, and Le Tissier announced that he would be able to play in four or five games, also saying he was unable to play Saturday games due to his job as a television pundit on Soccer Saturday.

He made his only appearance for the club on 24 April, as a substitute for Ollie McKenzie, in a 4–2 defeat in their Combined Counties League Premier Division clash with Colliers Wood United.

Following his retirement as a player, Le Tissier became a football pundit, and worked as a panellist on the Sky Sports show Soccer Saturday until August 2020.

In his retirement, he has made several posts on social media, concerning COVID-19 and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, which were met with criticism.

Le Tissier was born in Guernsey, a British crown dependency, and played youth football on the island with Vale Recreation between the ages of seven and sixteen.

At fifteen, he had a trial at English club Oxford United, but nothing came of it.