Matt Le Tissier quits Southampton role after sparking fury with controversial tweets

Southampton legend Matt Le Tissier quits a role at the club after sparking fury with his very controversial tweets on the war in Ukraine.

The 53-year-old announced he was stepping down in a series of tweets on Wednesday morning, coming 24 hours after he received a serious backlash from fans over a social media post about what we are seeing between Russia and Ukraine.

He tweeted: “To all the fans of sfc. I have decided to step aside from my role as an ambassador of SFC. My views are my own and always have been, and it’s important to take this step today to avoid any confusion. This does not affect my relationship with and love for my club, and I will always remain a fan and supporter of everything Saints.

“I can, however, see that due to recent events it’s important to separate the work I believe in from my relationship with the club I have supported and played for most of my life. I will see you all at St Mary’s and will always do anything I can to help the club.”.

Le Tiss – who spent his entire career at Southampton – sparked anger on Tuesday after tweeting conspiracy theories about the massacre of Ukrainian civilians by Russian troops.

The former footballer claimed that the media had ‘lied’ about the harrowing images and stories that have emerged from the conflict after re-tweeting a conspiracy theory with a finger-pointing down emoji captioned with ‘This’. The tweet has since been removed.

Le Tissier had ‘back-pedalled’ after his tweet on Tuesday, saying: ‘Deleted previous tweet as people as usual missing the point, the point was about the media manipulation but you knew that really.’ 

Gary Lineker and David Baddiel appeared to criticise Le Tissier’s initial post. Baddiel wrote: ‘I’m starting to wonder if Terry Venables was right’, referencing the time Le Tissier was dropped by the England manager for Euro 96.

Replying to Baddiel, Lineker said: ‘He so often was. Wtf?’  

Le Tissier usually also used his Twitter platform to voice his controversial opinions, and recently spread Covid-19 vaccine conspiracy theories to hos 570,000 followers.

Baddiel referred to when Terry Venables was in charge of England and the Three Lions boss resisted the urge to include Le Tissier, who won just eight caps for his country. 

Hours before he announced he was stepping down from his role at the club, Le Tissier tweeted in response to criticism of his previous post.

He said: “Let me make something very clear I do not advocate war in any way shape or form I do not advocate anyone taking lives of others and anyone who commits such acts should be dealt with accordingly, any atrocities leave devastating effects on the families of the victims and us all.”.

Le Tissier left Sky Sports in August 2020, and he has since spoke about that too.

‘When I had the Zoom call to tell me that we were being let go, I asked the question, “Has this got anything to do with my social media posts?” and the response I got was, “We have to be concerned about the reputation of our company”. That is what they told me,’ Le Tissier said.

‘I’ve always said that the response [to the pandemic] was not proportionate. A deliberate overreaction in my opinion. If they were scared about it, they wouldn’t be having parties while the rest of us were locked in our houses, would they? We can’t be so fearful of death that we stop living.

‘I’ve always been somebody who will stick up for what he believes in but, at the same time, if the evidence changes and I am proved that I was wrong, then I would be the first person to hold my hands up and go, “I’m really sorry, I read that completely wrong”,’. You move forward by having debates and giving people the opportunity to hear both sides.’

Twitter users reacted as Matt Le Tissier quits his Southampton role after sparking fury with controversial tweets…

@AllanSmith80: I remember the good old days when Matt Le Tissier was just known for scoring some of the best goals on flat earth

@CW9_MCFC: Matt Le Tissier has fully lost it. Mad cunt

@Oldfirmfacts1: I know you’re supposed to empathise with anti-vaxxers bla bla, but sometimes you just have to say Matt Le Tissier is a fucking awful human being

@druid1111: “Matt le Tissier” Le Tiss always struck me as a clever footballer, I wasn’t wrong. Love the way he’s triggering the sheep.

@HipstersChoice: Matt Le Tissier was never a professional footballer. It’s a lie and a hoax conjured up by the media for some reason. I’m starting to think Southampton isn’t even a real place. Wake up sheeple

@richteaday: Long overdue, he’s long since disappeared down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole.

@DarrylRichard12: Southampton FC finally reading the room!….

@PhilipJSparrow: Quitting to spend more time with the voices in his head

@Sargesbackheel: So we finally found out where the line is – it took @SouthamptonFC a very long time to get rid

“There’s a VAR check at Turf Moor, what’s happening Matt Le Tissier?”
“Well, I’m being shown footage of a goal from Harry Wilson which VAR wants to disallow for handball, but the real question is, should I trust the cameras here? Or is this just what Sky Sports wants me to see?” pic.twitter.com/LxSnNV5Khy

— Max (@MaxGarfield2003) April 5, 2022

“‘From Saint to Sinner’; A documentary about Matt Le Tissier going from an underrated one-club footballer-turned-jovial Soccer Saturday pundit to going completely off the rails after the latter ended to become a conspiracy theorist whackjob. Narrated by Francis Benali.” pic.twitter.com/xuUoLO6gWn

— Ian (@SuburbanBadger) April 6, 2022

“Hey Ted, Ted! Can we switch on that Sky Sports and see if that Matt Le Tissier fella is on? He’s great, isn’t he, Ted ?”
‘No Dougal, he’s a right-wing, tin hat-wearing fat old conspiracy-sharing Gammon, that’s what he is, Dougal.’

“Oh, right you are, Ted. That’s what I meant.’ pic.twitter.com/AhT1Ma9dpx

— Mike Bealing (@Sillytees) April 6, 2022