Matt Le Tissier British Footballer From Saint Peter Port

Early life

Matthew Paul Le Tissier was born on 14 October 1968 in Saint Peter Port, on the island of Guernsey. He played youth football on the island with Vale Recreation from the age of seven to sixteen and took part in the 1983 Muratti Vase final for the Guernsey under-15 side against Jersey. At fifteen he had a trial with Oxford United, which led nowhere. He joined Southampton on Youth Training Scheme terms in 1985 and signed professional forms in October 1986.

Career

Le Tissier made his Southampton debut in a 4-3 defeat at Norwich City in the First Division and finished that first season with six goals in 24 league games, including a hat-trick against Leicester City. He scored his first two competitive goals on 4 November 1986 in a League Cup replay against Manchester United, which Southampton won 4-1. After a season without a goal in 1987-88, he returned to the first team the following year and scored nine times in 28 league games.

In 1989-90 he scored 20 league goals as Southampton finished seventh, the club's best placing in five years, and was voted PFA Young Player of the Year. His highest league tally in a season was 25 goals in 1993-94, and in the following season he won the Match of the Day Goal of the Season award for a 40-yard chip against Blackburn Rovers. Clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United were linked with him during the 1990s, and in August 1995 Chelsea were reported to have bid 10 million pounds. No transfer happened, and he remained at Southampton until he retired.

On 2 April 2000 he scored a last-minute penalty in a 2-1 loss to Sunderland, which took him to 100 Premier League goals and made him the first midfielder to reach that number. He scored the last goal in the final competitive match at The Dell, against Arsenal on 19 May 2001. His final competitive appearance for the club was against West Ham United on 30 January 2002, and he announced in March that he would retire at the end of that season. His testimonial in May 2002 finished as a 9-9 draw against an England XI. He converted 47 of the 48 penalties he took for Southampton, with the one miss coming against Nottingham Forest in March 1993. Over his career he played in the top division for 16 consecutive seasons.

After leaving Southampton, he spent a season with the non-League club Eastleigh, from 2002 to 2003. In April 2013 he came out of retirement to sign for Guernsey, the club from his home island, and made a single substitute appearance in a 4-2 defeat to Colliers Wood United.

Having been born in Guernsey, which has no official FIFA national team, he was eligible for England as a British passport holder. He played for the England under-21 side from 1988 to 1990 and for the England B team, and won eight senior caps between 1994 and 1997. His first start came in the friendly against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin in February 1995, which was abandoned after crowd trouble. He scored a hat-trick for England B against Russia B in the build-up to the 1998 World Cup but was not selected for the final squad, and did not play for England again.

Recognition

Le Tissier was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2013 and received the One Club Man Award in 2015. His other individual honours include Southampton Player of the Season in 1989-90, 1993-94 and 1994-95, a place in the PFA Team of the Year for 1994-95, and the most assists in the Premier League in 1994-95. Southampton supporters gave him the nickname "Le God". Apartment blocks on the former site of The Dell include one named Le Tissier Court, and a hospitality suite at St Mary's Stadium also carries his name.

Public roles

After retiring, Le Tissier worked as a football pundit and was a long-serving panellist on the Sky Sports programme Soccer Saturday until August 2020. In 2011 he accepted the position of honorary president of Guernsey. In 2016 he and his former Southampton teammate Francis Benali began working together as football agents. He took part in both series of the ITV programme Harry's Heroes in 2019 and 2020. In June 2024 he joined the non-League club Sholing as an associate director, and in April 2026 his return to Southampton as an adviser to the board was confirmed.