Half the goals I scored for Southampton were created by Matt Le Tissier. I remember all the details vividly, as if it were yesterday. Mind you, it would be pretty hard to forget as I only scored two and I broke a toe scoring one of them. The goal that I managed to emerge from in one piece, however, still sticks in my mind. If things had gone right, it should have been the first of many, or at least the first of quite a few.
I hadn’t requested a move from Arsenal to Southampton but when George Graham said they had come in for me I decided quickly – too quickly really – to move to The Dell. My money was going to be better and as I was increasingly on the fringe at Arsenal it seemed, as they say, a good idea at the time.
One of the things I was genuinely excited about, though, was playing with Matt Le Tissier. He was, quite simply, a class act. One of the elements of his game I really admired was the way, with hardly any back-lift, he could hit long balls into the stride of forwards as they were moving at pace – just right for me. When I’d met the Southampton manager Ian Branfoot he’d talked about how his vision was to play Le Tiss wide out left and me wide out right and then Matt would find me with those diagonal passes of his that he’d hit as if he had an anvil in his boots.
The goal he made for me would nowadays be described as ‘scored by Groves, assist by Le Tissier’ and it came against Leeds United. They had been champions of the old First Division the season before, 1991/92, so they were hard to beat. Their left-back was Tony Dorigo, a good player who won 15 England caps and in the normal course of events he’d have won more, but at first Kenny Sansom blocked his way into the England team and then along came Stuart Pearce, so he became stuntman for him.
Dorigo probably took a cushion with him to sit on when he joined the England squad as he’d spend more time sitting on the bench than playing, but I admire that attitude. He wouldn’t think of retiring from international football just because he couldn’t get a regular place in the starting line-up, like precious people such as Jamie Carragher at Liverpool. You know the sort: they think it’s beneath them to be selected for an elite squad of the best 23 players in the country. They’re on too much money to be bothered playing for England.
Anyway, when they came to The Dell as reigning champions we knew we had a game on our hands. Le Tiss picked the ball up on the left wing, had a quick look and then pinged a ball through to me that must have travelled almost 50 yards before it curled inside Dorigo. I took one touch and then stuck it left-footed past John Lukic, my old mate from Arsenal days, and inside his left-hand post.
For me, it was then downhill all the way from there on. I knew that if I made a run Le Tiss would find me, but I never played with him enough to build up an understanding. I got injured and spent most of my time at Southampton either on crutches or trying to get fit again. It didn’t happen though and I had to retire.
Of course I was aware of Matt Le Tissier before I was transferred, but he had never torn us apart at Arsenal. We played a high tempo game and Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn always kept tight on him so we handled him well. But it was obvious that he was Southampton’s most dangerous player and when I was transferred I could see at close quarters just how good he was. We trained a lot together and he would do two or three things in every session that took your breath away. Considering that he was half-a-stone overweight and looked like he was in slow motion, he still somehow managed to glide past players and change his pace or change feet without even trying. He made it all look so easy. He was a bit of a lazy bastard in training but he knew that he could get away with it.
The truth is that he was probably born an era too late. He should have been playing at the same time as Rodney Marsh or Stan Bowles, players like that. Yet his top 25 to 30 goals would be up there with the best that Thierry Henry could manage, they were that good.
Southampton had had some famous players in their past – but not too many. The club record number of appearances, 713, belonged to winger Terry Paine, who had been part of the England World Cup squad of 1966, and striker Mick Channon held the goalscoring record. They had also had Kevin Keegan and Peter Shilton for a spell, but if you ask any Southampton fan today who their greatest player was they will tell you it was Le Tiss. When I went there, it was as though he was the mayor of Southampton. It wasn’t long before the fans started calling him ‘Le God’!
He was born on the Channel Island of Guernsey and, after he’d had a trial at Oxford United, he signed for Southampton and stayed there throughout his career. In total he turned out 540 times for them and scored 209 goals, including 48 out of the 49 penalties he took and that is a phenomenal success rate. In the 1993/94 season, he hit 30 goals, which was pretty good as Southampton were struggling, and that wasn’t all that unusual either. He won the Match of the Day Goal of the Season award a year later when he scored from 40 yards against Blackburn Rovers with what you could almost call a ‘powerful lob’ over his old Southampton mate Tim Flowers. The keeper ended half in the net, half wrapped round the goalpost – not a pretty sight.
It was one of a pair that he scored that day and it obviously gave him a great deal of satisfaction to score past his old chum. He even grinned and pointed out to him that he shouldn’t have come off his line. Southampton still lost 3–2, although the Blackburn manager Kenny Dalglish did say, ‘Le Tissier’s second goal was obviously a wonderful goal. I think it would have been more of an individual effort from him if it had resulted in three points – but it could win Goal of the Season.’
Le Tiss also memorably lobbed Peter Schmeichel of Manchester United, something it looked physically impossible to do. In fact, he seemed to specialise in spectacular goals – tap-ins weren’t his style. He probably couldn’t be arsed to run with the ball any more so he’d go for goal.
I was long gone by the time Le Tiss scored the final goal at The Dell in a 3–2 victory over Arsenal in May 2001, before Southampton moved grounds. He had been injured for much of the season and came on as substitute, notching the winner with a left-foot volley from outside the area. He played some games at the new ground, St Mary’s Stadium, before injuries got the better of him and he called it a day in 2002.
That was still ten years away when I moved to Southampton, though. I soon discovered that there were three groups among the players at the club. There would be the younger players like Jason Dodd, Jeff Kenna, Richard Hall, Nicky Banger and Neil Maddison, and then there was the group of more experienced pros like Micky Adams, Glen Cockerill, Kevin Moore, Tim Flowers and Iain Dowie. Matt would float between those two groups.
The third group, which included me, was made up of the recent signings who’d been bought with the transfer money from Alan Shearer’s move to Blackburn Rovers. That included Dave Speedie, Kerry Dixon and Ken Monkou. Terry Hurlock was a fairly new arrival too. It hadn’t been like that at Arsenal – there had been no cliques there – so it was something that I had to get used to.
There was also resentment because the players already there knew that people coming in from big clubs would be on better money than them. That always happens and, although Le Tiss wasn’t one of them, there was a feeling of unease about it. I guess I didn’t help the situation by being loud and brash – they thought I was a Cockney wide-boy coming in. At first they were under the impression I was playing the big star – it took them three or four months to realise it was just my character and by that time I was injured.
Le Tiss was very confident and sure of his ability. He knew that he was the main man but in no way was he a big-time Charlie. He was also a very intelligent guy and his laidback demeanour hid that intelligence. He wasn’t like a Graham Le Saux who’d carry the Guardian with him all the time but he was sharp and witty and didn’t have to prove anything by reading Tolstoy on the coach.
Instead, he was in the club’s card school, just playing for fivers or tenners, which would hardly buy you a cup of coffee by today’s standards. They usually played Hearts but I wasn’t normally included. I didn’t want to be, as I think cards are boring, but sometimes if they were a player short, because someone was out of the squad or was injured, I would be asked to join in as I knew the rules. When I messed up, they would all turn on me like a pack of wolves, so, being the mature, grown-up person I am, I’d end up telling them to stick their game up their arse.
My one criticism of Le Tiss was that he was a big fish in a small pond. I thought that if I had had his natural ability I would not have been content playing my entire career at a provincial club like Southampton. I would have wanted to test myself at a higher level. By staying at Southampton, he could have four or five bad games on the trot and still get selected. He could have a dump in the centre spot and the fans would sing his name.
In his autobiography, he says he rejected moves to AC Milan and Chelsea, and he was often linked with Spurs. If he’d gone to any of the three, he’d probably have had a chance of winning some cups at least. But he would always have been under scrutiny from the fans and the media, and he probably didn’t fancy it. Ability would not have been the problem but I think mentally it would have been – that is where the difficulties would have arisen. People don’t realise the different level you have to be on at a big club. You have to be able to handle it. At the time I couldn’t understand it, but as I’ve got older I realise that he was simply happy where he was.
Sadly, his England career never really got started. He was only capped eight times in four years and never scored. He did manage a hat-trick for England B against Russia (he also hit the bar twice) shortly before the 1998 World Cup, but Glenn Hoddle didn’t even name him in the squad for the finals. As he was born in the Channel Islands, Matt could have played for any of the Home Nations – perhaps he should have tried his luck with another one of them.
When he did retire, the manager of Southampton, Gordon Strachan, said, ‘Matt has been the best Southampton footballer ever. Luckily we live in the video age where we’ll be able to see that brilliance for ever. Think of Southampton and it’s Matt Le Tissier, yachting and the Titanic. They’ve built better boats since, but there’ll only ever be one Matt Le Tissier. This club will never see a player as talented as him again, I’m convinced of it, so we should enjoy that.’
Le Tiss was realistic about it all. ‘In the end, it was not a hard decision. It has been terribly frustrating at times [and] an increasing trend over the last three years, with one niggling injury after another. Even if the club offered me a contract for sentimental reasons, I could not take money under false pretences. If I thought I could play on at my best, then that would be different, but my body is not so much giving me hints as screaming at me. … I would hate another season like this one where I spend my whole time desperately trying to get fit and then breaking down as soon as I play. Besides, it’s playing havoc with my golf!
‘It is a sad day but I feel better now I have finally made the decision. I have had 17 great years with the club and have some very special memories but now I am looking forward to a new chapter in my life.’
Shortly after he retired, he joined former Prime Minister David Lloyd George, Lord Kitchener and Saints club president Ted Bates in being given the Freedom of Southampton. He deserved it and I’m not jealous. I don’t think my 15 appearances for the Saints put me in the running for a gong anyway.
And, in case you’re wondering, my other goal for Southampton was a volley against Wimbledon. And yes, it did hurt when I broke my toe. Cheers, Vinny!