Matt Le Tissier being inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame

He's posted on his Twitter...

Matt Le Tissier ‏@mattletiss7 2m

Very proud at being inducted into the national football museum hall of fame this september, feels better than winning medals im sure!!

 

Deserves it. One of football's entertainers.

 

Not only the greatest player I've ever seen, but one of the best blokes as well.

If you were too young to have seen Le Tiss at his peak, well shame on you for not being born earlier.

 

We should have build an England team around him and Gazza. Le Tiss was incredible or to coin Mr Baddiel, simply "Unbelievable"

 

My son was born too young, however if you ever recall seeing South Today filming fans waiting at St Mary's on the day of his book signing, you may have seen my son say to the reporter "I've seen him on the play station." They used that clip to close the show.... bless him. My son has the photo of me, him and Le Tiss from that day, pride of pace in his bedroom.

 

He is the reason I grew up supporting Saints. Deserves every award he gets!

 

Amazing to think that one player, single handedly keep us in the top league for 5 - 6 years. Can't think of another player that could have that sort of influence on a team?
Great shame that the club has now erased him from the history book.

 

Tiss yes, Gazza no. I must be one of the only people in the country who thought Gazza was just an overrated fat person who cried a lot whilst doing very childish things off the pitch.

I have the "Unbelievable" video and it is really.

Also remember Tiss on Baddiel and Skinner's fantasy football show. Being shouted at by a Pompey fan who was chanting, "scummer". Tiss just calmly said, "I thought this programme was about Premier League clubs". Ho, ho, ho - end of Pompey fan.

 

Oh LFF. Seriously? Overweight when he was 22? No chance. This comment tells me that you didn't really watch enough of his games, or only watched highlights. He was the only player from that era that I would put in Le Tissier's bracket in terms of quality. He really could do everything. Ok, he was a nutter that lost his way and had other problems, but I'm talking talent. Him and Le Tiss together? Wow. Some may also say Le Tiss carried a pound or two. You said yourself "off the pitch", I'm talking on it at his prime.

 

I totally agree fatletiss, although he was never quite the same after his cup final injury, pre injury he was at times unplayable, capable of ghosting past defenders and going on Maradona-esque runs. Ask Spurs and Lazio fans how good Gazza was, he is rightly still revered at both of those clubs.


Congratulations to Matty...

 

Sums him up. And yes, bad luck for not being born early enough..!

No other player has made me catch my breath with his skill, and no other player has brought me to tears with his genius. Undoubtedly, the most skillful English player in my time of watching football, and if he'd represented any other country he'd have had many more than 8 caps.

 

Luckily this thread is about Tiss not Gazza (aka the Mars Bar Kid) otherwise I'd be on it all day

Back to Tiss though, his goal against the Arse would have to be my second greatest football moment ever (after the Stokes goal).

He was a genius. I think its part of the reason I dislike Gazza so much as he was getting all the caps etc whilst Tiss, while being appreciated by his fellow pros, was not. Even the goal that Gazza scored against Scotland which was voted the best ever at Wembley was just a very poor mans parody of Tiss' against Newcastle.

Tiss has ceratinly given me more pleasure than any man has a right to!

 

All the recent talk of Lampard's goal record, not many mentioned that Le Tiss scored that many number of goals, in a struggling team, in 50 less games.

I imagine that Le Tiss' number of assists are higher than Lampard too.

Might be able to argue that Lampard played slightly deeper than Matty, but I think the relative strength of their teammates negates that point.

 

When they first came up with the idea of the fantasy league Tiss was top points scorer I think 3 out of the first 4 seasons which rather proves your point.

 

Mr Baddiel (Spurs Fan) presented the Unbelievable video of MLTs goals, how many other Celebs would present a video dedicated to a player that wasnt at their chosen club.
It would be interesting to see how many Premiership records he has held on to, especially as he career start before the Prem was formed.

MLT was the part of the reason for Shearer leaving, professional jealousy.

 

For some unfathomable reason, Le Tiss is often seen as a forward/striker, and so very conveniently often gets left out of various tables and lists. It makes lesser players look better, of course. He was an attacking midfielder, who scored 209 goals for Saints. Just compare..!

For my money, in the UK, Gazza was the nearest player to Matty in terms of skill, but didn't really hold a candle to him. Gazza worked harder though. Nowadays, Messi is lauded for pretty much the same role, as Le Tiss had. He doesn't tackle back, he doesn't run, unless he has the ball, and the quality of the lesser teams in the Spanish league allow him to have a field day. Le Tiss would have revelled in that situation. He was thoroughly under appreciated in his native country, although his fellow professionals knew he was that good. When asked, any player of his generation is glowing in praise of him. He was a phenomenon.

 

Maybe a tiny part, but they are good mates, always have been. Shearer was offered 10 times the salary he was getting at Saints & joined a club that won (bought) the league. No brainer really.

 

Where did this come from? Don't remember any professional jealousy from Shearer at all? I do remember very clearly that Shearer was a very special player at the time and it was pretty obvious that Saints were never going to hang on to him when the inevitable big offer came along?
MLT was of equal quality,but I think a lot of the big teams would shy off making any offer because he was the type of player that you would have to build a team around.

 

Measure of the man - when his now defunct nightclub venture set up with Mike Osman called Celebrations was first launched, I was lucky enough to go to the opening party. It was also Alan Ball's 50th (RIP) - great night and I mentioned to Tiss that I was coming in with my family the following weekend to celebrate my birthday.

So along I go the next weekend, and along with a few balloons there's a copy of the Unbelievable video on my table signed "Great to meet you last week - have a fantastic birthday. Matt Le Tissier".

That says something of the calibre of the person, and much the most exciting footballer I've ever had the good fortune to watch.

 

It was and still is a Privilege to have known Matt.
Now residing in Australia I have a signed shirt from him on my wall in my office and the Aussies still only know who southampton are because of MLT. They have all seen his goals on the net and people still comment now as they go past my office. Greatness is never forgotten and we were truly blessed to see him play live, and keep us up for so many years. Matt to be inducted is truly deserved! Thanks for the amazing memories.
Sydney saint now living in melbourne ( must update my name!!!) cheers