“PCR tests were the
biggest fraud ever
perpetrated on
mankind,” Le Tissier
adds. And he is only
getting started.
We end up having a
squabble about
whether promoting
Covid vaccinations
should trouble my
conscience, and I ask if he is
aligned with Novak Djokovic,
which is not a comparison he
welcomes at all. He says that he
wants to “put to bed once and for all”According to him,
ventilators caused harm
to patients; PCR tests
were responsible for
elevating a flu bug into
a pandemic; masks
were a sign not of
precaution but of
weak compliance. “If
you think otherwise,
you haven’t really done
your research, without
wishing to sound rude,” he says.
He claims to have read many
scientific papers, including some that
were “suppressed”.and scientists. I felt a real sense of
injustice and when I feel a sense of
injustice I can’t keep my mouth shut. I
have to speak up.”
Some will agree with him that the
scale of lockdowns was unnecessary;
and some followed him in declining
any Covid jabs.
But Le Tissier goes much further.
For example, when I put to him that
we were all responding at the start of
the pandemic to images from
Bergamo of hospitals overwhelmed
by gasping, dying patients, he replies:
“Some of those were actors, by the
way.” Really?A
s Matt Le Tissier hosts a
live chat on social media,
questions veer from his
predictions for the Europa
League to whether the
World Health Organisation is
infringing on civil liberties. One
minute he is talking about his
favourite goal, the next about what to
believe from the front line in Ukraine.
Quite how this former England
footballer came to be a highly
contentious oracle on world events,
strangers asking his views about
lockdowns and health policy, seems a
question worth asking — especially
given those wider opinions have
caused Le Tissier to resign as an
ambassador for Southampton, the
club where he has long been adored.
Far from making him take a step
back, that controversy after
retweeting a post that cast doubt
over the validity of a massacre
in Bucha — he subsequently
deleted it — has left him
unbowed. He is more
determined than ever to carry
on sharing his thoughts,
including during an hour-
long Zoom call in which
we disagree about
almost everything.
Le Tissier, 53, says
that he does not
care what I think,
or whether he has
two followers on
Twitter or almost
600,000, as he
speaks with
evangelical scepticism
against masks,
lockdowns, mainstream
media, the government,
Sage scientists,
pharmaceutical companies
and much more besides. He
has talked of a need to “tear
down the system”, and he is
not about to stop.
“If that means I come in
for a bit of criticism and I get
labelled by you guys in the
media, who try to paint me as
some sort of nutter, that’s a price
I am willing to pay,” he says.
Did we misread him for those
years when he seemed more than
happy to let his talents do the
talking? Was this maverick footballer
also a secret campaigner? Did he
ever discuss social issues in the
dressing room?
“No, never,” he says. “All I did was
play my football, have a laugh,
spend time with my family.” He
cannot remember ever voting in a
general election.
There was, though, an independent
streak in Le Tissier to be rejecting
lucrative offers, including one from
Glenn Hoddle’s Chelsea. If he was
more of a conformist, he might have
won a trophy and more than eight
England caps between 1994 and 1997.
Le Tissier says that he has never
minded being a man alone. In one
moment of lightness, he talks of being
the only Southampton player who
did not drink beer. He could not stand
the stuff.
“I drink Malibu, something that
came in for a lot of criticism in a
dressing room full of butch,
macho footballers,” he says.
“ ‘Fourteen pints of lager and a
Malibu and Coke please.’ You
have to be quite a strong
character.”
Le Tissier speaks
with pride of “not
following the
crowd” and he
has certainly
lived true to
that code in
the time of
Covid. In
August 2020
he lost his
job as a
presenter
on Sky
Sports’
Soccer
Saturday,
though he
believes that was more
to do with it being “a
show with five middle-
aged white blokes on it”
than his increasingly
trenchant views on
the pandemic.
“A couple of years ago I
felt like something wasn’t
right. People were interfering
in my life who shouldn’t have
been — mainly the governmentMATT DICKINSON
THE BIG INTERVIEW
The newly outspoken Matt Le Tissier
is sticking to his guns, having queried
the Bucha massacre and claimed that
some Covid patients were actors
People, mainly
the government
and scientists,
were interfering
in my life‘If I’m
labelled a
nutter then
that is a price
I am willing
to pay’
6 2GS Saturday April 30 2022 | the times
Sport Football
Le Tissier made
540 appearances
for Southampton,
his only clubA stirring second-half comeback
helped Sheffield United to strike a
potentially decisive blow in the race to
reach the Championship play-offs.
A close-range finish by Iliman
Ndiaye, a towering header from Jack
Robinson and a superb volley from the
substitute, Conor Hourihane, turned
around a 1-0 half-time deficit at Loftus
Road and took Paul Heckingbottom’s
Queens Park Rangers
Austin 31 1
Sheffield United
Sky Bet Championship
Ivan Speck
Ndiaye 54, Robinson 73, Hourihane 90+4 3
Wolves would not stand in
the way of exit for Neves
Wolverhampton Wanderers are open
to selling the Portugal attacker
Rúben Neves and are identifying
strikers and central midfielders to
bolster their squad.
The Times understands that, before
the summer transfer window opens,
the club have circulated lists to
intermediaries asking for players who
fit their profile and budget.
Wolves would not stand in the way
of Neves, 25, leaving if the right
agreement could be reached. He has
two seasons left on his present deal.
Marçal, Romain Saïss, John Ruddy
and João Moutinho all have contracts
that expire at the end of the season.
Bruno Lage, the head coach, hopes
Ruddy will extend his stay at
Molineux, while there are new offers
on the table for Saïss and Moutinho.United boost play-off hopes with second-half fightback
side five points clear in the final play-off
spot. Even if the sides below them close
that gap today, victory over Fulham in
the final game of the season next Satur-
day will be enough to guarantee United
a shot at returning to the top flight.
All of which looked unlikely during
the first half, as United turned in an
insipid display against a Queens Park
Rangers team whose own play-off
hopes faded.
“I won’t say what was said in the
dressing room, but the message at half-
time was that we needed more,” Hec-
kingbottom, the United manager, said.
By contrast, it seemed that Mark
Warburton, the QPR manager, who
will depart at the end of the season,
might be granted a leaving present after
Charlie Austin had sent a downwardheader beyond Wes Foderingham.
Warburton had emerged from the tun-
nel to a warm ovation. While the fans
were frustrated by a promotion bid that
has faded since January, most recognise
how he has stabilised their club.
If the visiting side looked flat in the
first half, a different team emerged after
the interval. Morgan Gibbs-White had a
shot cleared off the line and then struck
a post with a glancing header. The QPR
goalkeeper, Murphy Mahoney, also
tipped away a Robinson header.
The pressure told in the 54th minute,
when an Ollie Norwood corner was
headed goalwards by John Egan and
turned in by Ndiaye. The momentum
had changed and it came as no surprise
when Norwood scooped a free kick to
Chris Basham, whose header was metwith a firmer one from Robinson. Hour-
ihane made victory secure when he
finished with a volley within a minute of
coming on, condemning Warburton to
defeat in his final home game. “The
crowd have been fantastic, I have only
the highest praise for them,” he said.
Championship table, page 16QPR (3-5-2):
M Mahoney 8 — D Sanderson 7, J Dunne 6,
S Field 6 — A Adomah 6, L Amos 7 (O Kakay
72min), S Johansen 6, A Dozzell 6 (G Thomas 72),
S McCallum 6 — C Austin 7 (L Dykes 62, 6), I Chair- Booked McCallum, Johansen.
SHEFFIELD UNITED (3-5-2):
W Foderingham 6 — C Basham 6, J Egan 7,
J Robinson 8 — B Osborn 6, S Berge 6,
O Norwood 7, J Fleck 6 (C Hourihane 90+2),
E Stevens 6 — M Gibbs-White 7, I Ndiaye 6
(W Osula 75). Booked Fleck, Robinson.
Referee P Bankes