Though it’s a subject no footballer wants to deal with until they absolutely have to, the question of retirement creates a responsibility to pass your wisdom on to the next generation.
When that proposition arrived for Matt Le Tissier in the late 1990s and into the new century, he didn’t hesitate to do it. One of those coming through at the Dell during that time was James Beattie, who, in 1998, four years before Matt’s retirement, was arriving as a young 20-year-old all the way from Blackburn.
.”I was kind of coming towards the end. I was the more senior player in the changing room”, Le Tissier said, “I tried my best to integrate the boys into the club, making them feel comfortable.”
By the time Beattie arrived, Le Tissier had lessons learned from nearly 200 goals and international experience, from midfield no less, to teach the new striker.
Beattie didn’t struggle to find his place, he earned the player of the season award at the end of his first season, thanks in no small part for his role in the famous great escape of the 1998/99 season.
From then until Le Tissier retired at the end of the first season at St Mary’s in 2002, it was Beattie who became the key goalscorer.
Speaking about his experience with Matt, Beattie said:
“I learned a lot from Matt, not just on the pitch but off it as well. He’s a fantastic person.”
“He was obviously the main character in that dressing room when I arrived. He welcomed me in, along with many others. I think he was an unbelievable player and I was lucky enough to be able to share the training ground and the pitch on matches with him at certain points.”
Despite scoring nearly 80 goals and being the club’s star player several years, Beattie feels he can’t lay a finger on the achievements of Southampton’s most famous number seven, but treasures the relationship that he does have with the fans and club:
I will never be able to take over Matt’s mantle with the Southampton fans but hopefully with the performances I put in and the goals that I scored, a lot of fans remember that, which is nice. We’re part of the ex-Saints today, which do a lot of charity work in and around Southampton.
I still have a great relationship with the fan base, even though many of them weren’t even born when I was playing. Again, I reckon that’s passed on down the generations, as Tiss’ legacy would be. It’s a great club. I love the club and my affinity with the fans is as strong as ever, I think.
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