Sunday 17 May 2015 14:11, UK
The remarkable career of Matt Le Tissier is told in a Sky Sports documentary about the life of the Southampton legend.
With footage of all his greatest goals and old cine-film of the star growing up, Le God: The Matt Le Tissier Story answers conclusively why he opted to stay at Southampton rather than move to a bigger club.
“People often ask me whether I enjoyed being the big fish in the small pond and I’ll be honest with you: too right I did!" said Le Tissier.
“I loved being the centre of attention and the main man. I wanted to entertain people and sticking one in the top corner from 25 yards was a pretty good way of doing that.
“Winning wasn’t the be-all and end-all for me.”
The film begins with Le Tissier going back to his first home on the island of Guernsey where he finds scrapbooks of his early career and even an old school essay in which he dreams of playing for England against Germany.
Ironically, the dream ends with Le Tissier scoring the winning goal from a Glenn Hoddle corner – the man who many years later refused to pick him for 1998 World Cup.
“The relationship with Glenn became a little bit strained,” he admits. “I was always looking for a reason why there was almost an animosity towards me.
“I don’t think he was particularly keen on so many people comparing the two of us and me being mentioned in the same breath as him, as the same kind of quality footballer as him.
“It was a shame because to this day if anyone asks me the best manager I played under, tactically, Glenn would get that every day of the week.”
But it’s Le Tissier’s exploits for Southampton that are the main focus of the film, from the stunning double against Newcastle in 1993 that made him virtually un-droppable, through to the fairy tale of scoring the last ever goal at The Dell in 2001.
He talks of offers from Tottenham and Chelsea but believes he was right to stay on the south coast, despite constant relegation battles instead of trophy wins.
“Along the way I like to think I put a smile on quite a few people’s faces," he added.
“I’ve got no regrets about the decisions I made and if I had the chance to do it all again I don’t think I’d change it.”
A host of Southampton legends help tell the Le Tissier story including Lawrie McMenemy, Dave Merrington, Jimmy Case, Francis Benali and Tim Flowers. All admit he was a unique, if unconventional, talent.
“Anything that was vegetables or salad, scrape that off his plate to start with,” Flowers said of the Le Tissier diet.
“Plaster everything with tomato ketchup. Chips with everything. I don’t know how many pints of Coke he drank a day!”
But Le Tissier rejects any suggestion that he didn’t make the most of his talent.
“I know what I did. I know in 540 games for Southampton I scored over 200 goals from midfield and I never counted the goals I directly assisted," he said.
“For me, that would stand up against most people across the course of a career."
Since retiring in 2002, Le Tissier has become a member of the Sky Sports Soccer Saturday team.
“It’s the best job in the world. It feels like I’m going down the pub with my mates to talk about football for a few hours.
“Even though it’s been quite a few years since any of us have played the game, I think what comes across is how much we still love the game and that’s what helps the programme to work.”
‘Le God: The Matt Le Tissier Story’ is on Sky Sports 1 at 6.30pm on Sunday or see it first On Demand right now via your set-top box.
