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Matt Le Tissier exclusive: I want Jeff Stelling's job!
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Southampton legend and Sky Sports pundit Matt Le Tissier has his eye on Jeff Stelling's job as presenter of Countdown.
Speaking exclusively to Orange, Le Tissier revealed he is a "lifetime Countdown fan" and can even remember the very first Channel 4 flagship show in 1982.
"I always kept it a bit quiet but I'm a big fan of Countdown and remember watching the first episode," said Le Tissier, who recently appeared in Dictionary corner alongside presenter Stelling, with whom Le Tissier works on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday. "I'm more of a numbers man although I get the odd conundrum at the end of the game as well.
"I remember as soon as Jeff got the Countdown job I was badgering him to let me appear in Dictionary corner. I loved it and wouldn't mind his job when he's done with it."
Le Tissier is far better known for his mercurial footwork than his arithmetic. He was arguably the most creative footballer of his generation, scorer of countless breathtaking goals and figure of worship to thousands at Southampton's snug former home The Dell.
To this day, he can't explain his moments of genius. He has no idea how he beat Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper Tim Flowers from 40 yards at Ewood Park in 1994 for what he believes was the finest goal of his career. Nor can he recall what was going through his head when, in 1993 at The Dell, he audaciously flicked the ball over Barry Venison and Kevin Scott before slotting it past a bamboozled Newcastle 'keeper Mike Hooper for another of his most celebrated strikes.
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"Quite a lot of the time it would come to the end of a game and I'd wonder 'how did I do that?'" recalled Le Tissier at the launch of his autobiography Taking Le Tiss. "I'd never be able to remember how I'd dribbled past a particular defender or pulled off a certain flick so I'd have to watch it back on video afterwards.
"I'd think 'not bad' watching it back, but there was nothing scientific about it. These things just seemed to happen and I haven't got a clue what was going through my mind at the time - probably very little!
"I love watching back that Blackburn goal, especially beating my old made Tim Flowers," he recalled. "I've dined out on that one a few times. My next two are the goal against Newcastle in 1993 when I flicked the ball over the Newcastle defence and scuffed my shot a bit plus the last goal at the Dell. They were both very special to me but I've been lucky to score some nice goals over the years."
His heroics almost single-handedly kept Southampton in the Premier League during regular relegation battles during the 1990s, but were not enough to persuade successive England managers that he could be England's creative genius.
Le Tissier was capped just eight times at international level and - most hurtfully - missed out on a place in Glenn Hoddle's 1998 World Cup squad, despite a public clamour for his inclusion.
The man known on the Solent as 'Le God' insists he has "no regrets as I'm too laid-back," but in his book he makes it clear that Hoddle is far from his favourite person.
"It wasn't to be for the '98 World Cup but there's nothing else I could have done," he said. "I scored a hat-trick in the B international against Russia and, sure they weren't the best side in the world, but I'd also scored eight goals in my previous ten games. So, yeah, I was disappointed to miss out.
"But I thought maybe I'd missed out to Gazza [Paul Gascoigne] but he wasn't even there so I'm not sure what Glenn's thinking was. It'd be fair to say that he and I had different viewpoints. I like to think I could have made a real difference at that World Cup. I reckon my penalty taking would have come in handy!"
The Guernsey-born star's record from the spot is unrivalled in the modern game. He hung up his boots with a record of 47 successful penalties from 48 attempts. Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Mark Crossley was the only man to deny him, a fact Le Tissier typically shrugs off, commenting "you've got to miss one haven't you?"
In all, Le Tissier scored 162 goals in 443 appearances during his one-club career from 1986 to 2002. Even now, there is adulation wherever he goes in the city, highlighted this week when hundreds of fans queued up for his book signing.
"If I'm feeling down, I only have to walk down the high street in Southampton to cheer up," he said. "The response I still get there is incredible, which is amazing so long after finishing my career, and I love it. I worked for Sky at the opening game of the season at the club and I had to walk from one side of the ground to the other and the shouts I got from the fans were fantastic. It still takes my breath away sometimes."
Many will look at Le Tissier's career as a one of what-ifs both on the club and international front. What if Hoddle had selected him for the 1998 World Cup and what might have been had he been signed by a bigger club?
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That very nearly happened for the 1989-90 season when he agreed to join Terry Venables at Tottenham but pulled out of the deal at the last minute.
"I had a few offers to join other clubs over the years: Chelsea, Liverpool, Monaco and Bordeaux," he recalled, "and they were all tempting but the closest I got was moving to Spurs. I was about to get married and my then fiancee said she didn't fancy moving to London so I had a think about it and pulled out of the move.
"I would have loved to have worked with Terry Venables there but I got my chance with him eventually as he gave me my England debut. But it wasn't to be and I've no regrets.
"I could spend my whole life thinking what if I'd moved to Spurs or what if that header I missed against Italy had gone a few degrees in the other direction and hit the back of the net but what's the point. It doesn't get me anywhere. I've had a great time doing my hobby and now I spend my life talking about my hobby as a pundit."
Things could have been very different this season had the planned takeover of Southampton by the Pinnacle Group gone ahead. Le Tissier was all set to become chairman. In the end, the deal fell through and Swiss multi-millionaire Markus Liebherr stepped in instead.
Even now, Le Tissier has mixed feelings about the botched takeover.
"This guy's doing this from a business point of view which is fine as he looks to be putting money into the club," he said. "But there is an element of disappointment to it all. I'd just got Niall Quinn's phone number and I was all set to get some advice from him if I'd been appointed chairman, as a former player who'd done something similar, but it wasn't too be.
"I'm fairly happy though as I've probably got a lot less stress doing the Sky work and trying to improve my golf handicap."
Le Tissier believes Southampton will become a force once more with Liebherr's money and Alan Pardew's managerial nous although admits that Pardew was not among those he would have picked, having had talks with Gordon Strachan, Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer.
Even with the financial backing of their new billionaire chairman, it remains a certainty that no future Southampton player, however expensively procured, will receive the level of adoration enjoyed by the man known simply as 'Le God'.
Matt Le Tissier's autobiography, Taking Le Tiss, published by Harper Collins, is out now priced £18.99.
