Le Tissier Admits to Gambling on a Game
Given he’s got an autobiography to sell, I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad thing for former England and Southampton star Matthew Le Tissier that the revelation he placed a spread bet on a game he played in hit the press today, well-buried under the Chelsea news. Le Tissier explained what he says was the only time he ever did this, betting on the time the first throw-in would come:
We were safe from the threat of relegation when we went to Wimbledon on April 17 and, as it was a televised match, there was a wide range of bets available.Obviously I’d never have done anything that might have affected the outcome of the match, but I couldn’t see a problem with making a few quid on the time of the first throw-in.
My team-mate had some friends with spread-betting accounts who laid some big bets for us. We stood to win well into four figures but if it went wrong we could have lost a lot of money.
The plan was for us to kick the ball straight into touch at the start of the game and then collect 56 times our stake. Easy money.
It was set up nicely. The ball was to be rolled back to me and I would smash it into touch. It seemed to be going like clockwork. We kicked off, the ball was tapped to me and I went to hit it out towards Neil Shipperley on the left wing.
As it was live on television I didn’t want to make it too obvious or end up looking like a prat for miscuing the ball so I tried to hit it just over his head. But with so much riding on it I was a bit nervous and didn’t give it quite enough welly.
The problem was that Shipperley knew nothing about the bet and managed to reach it and even head it back into play.
In perhaps an ironic admission of why his career — despite having arguably the best technique of any English footballer for a good couple of decades — never hit the heights it should have, Le Tissier went on to explain that they then had to scramble the ball out to avoid losing a lot of money on the spread bet as the time ticked on.
Suddenly it was no longer a question of winning money. We stood to lose a lot of cash if it went much longer than 75 seconds before the ball went out. I had visions of guys coming to kneecap me. Eventually we got the ball out on 70 seconds. The neutral time meant we had neither won nor lost. I have never tried spread betting since.
It all sounds innocent enough when Le Tissier puts it like that, but of course, there’s no such thing as innocence when it comes to betting on a game you’re competing in. Had Le Tissier won and not had a scare, how far would he have gone in the future? As someone who recently attempted to head a consortium trying to buy Southampton, should the Football Association consider any retrospective sanction on Le Tissier, or is it way past time for that?
This just shows you how ROTTEN the whole sporting bet scene has become, I always admired Le Tissier thought he was a great player, but not anymore, he earned more money playing football than most of us ever do, but that wasn’t enough, oh no, he had to get greedy, so him and his “mates” placed thousands of pounds in sporting bets, and they KNEW the outcome, he says he has only done it once, not sure about that, for every winner there’s a looser, and what about the innocent people who also lost that day, beacuase YOU cheated and YOU knew the outcome, and if the players themselves are influencing the bets, then it just shows how truly rotten everything is, horse racing, cricket, snooker, and now soccer have been implicated in the betting scandals that take place, if you know the outcome of a sporting bet, because you are the one influencing it, what chance have the rest of us got of a fair and honest bet, I used to like a bet not anymore, I have lost because of cheats like you, and I don’t play a crooks game, shame on you le Tissier, you stink, and you DO play a crooks game.
And this is the man that wanted to buy Southampton Football Club!!
Southampton fans do you now want to now question why you went bankrupt?
Why are Southampton in league 1 with -15 points, its because over the years cheats like le Tissier, influenced games, that influenced results, and that influenced the league tables, and Southampton got relegated!!!! THAT’S WHY SOUTHAMPTON ARE IN LEAGUE 1 with -15 POINTS…..
Set your minds back, have you lost games at the last minute to soft goals, I bet you have, its because the cheating consortium needed to “fix” the result, that’s why you are where you are now, you have to ask how many other players were in on this, and to what extent throughout the entire league, is it rife?
Don’t they earn enough obscene amounts of money without having to cheat, results ARE influenced by throw in’s or corners, so don’t play the innocent Le Tissier by saying it doesn’t matter, IT DOES…oh and if any of your ex team mates meet up with you who weren’t in on the deal, I hope they punch your lights out…!
Quote:- “Suddenly it was no longer a question of winning money. We stood to lose a lot of cash if it went much longer than 75 seconds before the ball went out. I had visions of guys coming to “kneecap me”. Eventually we got the ball out on 70 seconds. The neutral time meant we had neither won nor lost. I have never tried spread betting since”.
You have some pretty nice friends le Tissier, if the people you know would be prepared to “knee cap” you, if you lost the bet, by the way, these kind of people don’t just settle for just one bet, so who you trying to fool?
I wouldn’t be surprised if you were told to cheat in every game, so you are in it up to your neck, what are you going to do about it? Why don’t you just admit you repeatedly cheated throughout your career, and that’s why Southampton are where they are now
You mess in nasty circles, and you mess with nasty people, hope you stay away from Southampton, indeed, hope you stay away from football, and on that note, I’ll leave it to the Police, who will no doubt, be interested in what you have to say..
it’s too bad see players like him do that, it’s like when you play funny flash games