Le Tissier may have put his foot in it with book
Saturday 12th September 2009, 1:00PM BST.
MATT LE TISSIER looks set to be investigated by police over his role in a failed football betting scam, it has been revealed.
The ex-Southampton and England star admitted in his recently-released autobiography that he was part of a failed plot to con bookmakers out of £10,000 in 1995.
Le Tissier and friends had gambled on the time of the first throw-in during Southampton’s 2-0 win at Wimbledon.
Le God – as he was known to Saints fans – was supposed to kick the ball out from the kick-off but his trusty right foot let him down as he underhit the pass and it was kept in by a team-mate.
The Guernsey-born legend laughed off the media hype that surrounded the revelation on a trip to the island last week.
He said the furore was a ‘mountain out of a molehill if ever there was one’.
Le Tissier was unavailable yesterday although he told BBC News he had not been contacted by officers and did not want to comment further.
However, Hampshire Police confirmed it was discussing the matter with the Football Association.
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What an absolute fool this man is. No doubt its a PR stunt 2 drum up a bit of controversy on the book launch but nevertheless it goes to show that dishonesty is widespread through all walks of life.
I hope his book fails as a result of this revelation and he is heavily sued by his ex club for game fixing. What an idiot and for such a small amount of money also!!!
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Typical, hes not even guilty, so why is paul jumping to conclusions, get out more mate!
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Geoff as you said he is not guilty (yet) but Matt Le Tissier has stated in his book that he was part of a failed betting scam, so if he retracts what he has written in his book than his book is untrue so which way is it ?
What is fact it was a foolish thing to do, way back in 1995 and foolish to admit it in his own words all these years later anybody can make a mistake once but it takes a fool to do so twice.
I hope he just receives a caution which will make others think twice before doing any sort of scam/fixing as there are no doubt individuals in football who have done a lot worse and will contiue to do so without ever getting caught.
However it will cost him his reputation for all the good he did on and off the pitch for Southampton Football Club who have had enough problems without this.
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geoff
Am i missing somthing here? did he admit to it or not? if he did then of course he is guilty. And remember that if it had gone to plan he was doing a lot of punters out of a bet the other way, he would be taking money from the loseing side? is that not almost the same as stealing it?.
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Disclosing this plot seems like an admission of attempted petty theft. It just shows how dishonesty in professional football must have been so common that this scam was regarded as such a trivial matter. People are sent to prison for stealing a bottle of booze never mind thousands of pounds.
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geoff
In my opinion Matt Le Tissier is guilty of conspriring to fix the game and obtain money from the proceeds of the bet by deception.
In future get your facts straight before commenting on others posts n also stay in more mate OK!!!!
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firstly, this was not match fixing, so let’s keep it in perspective.
secondly, bcb mentions that punters on the other side of the bet lost out, but I doubt that there were any punters on the other side. It sounds like they got a foolish bookmaker to give them odds on a bespoke bet. I doubt anyone else was involved.
Now, the question is, does anyone know whether it is illegal in the UK to place a bet on something that you know you can control?
I could bet someone that no-one will cross the road in the next 2 minutes. If they foolishly take my bet and I immediately cross the road to win the bet, have I deceived the other person or were they just foolish?
Match fixing where other punters lose out is serious, and is illegal (I believe), but I am not convinced that this is the same thing. Would be happy for someone with knowledge of the English law on this to enlighten me, though.
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Paul
How can a player fix a game by kicking the ball out for a throw in within the first couple of minutes.
Oh yes, the opposing side could win by one throw to nil
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TL
secondly, bcb mentions that punters on the other side of the bet lost out, but I doubt that there were any punters on the other side. It sounds like they got a foolish bookmaker to give them odds on a bespoke bet. I doubt anyone else was involved.
Your missing the point here TL. There could have been many bets on this with other book makers ( i dont know why you doubt there were any as people bet on all kinds of things) and even if it were only a few they would have still been done out of their potential winnings by Le Tis.
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What a great footballer but what a ‘plonker’ and how arrogant he is. This could have massive implications for him. The question here is should the FA take this matter further after all it was an attempt at match fixing…..
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It is sad when dishonesty is belittled. If professional sport is to maintain any sense of integrity then any kind of dishonest practice like this needs to be firmly stamped on. OK Matt Le Tissier didn’t rig a match (or even win this bet!) but he still conspired to act dishonestly, not to mention breaking established rules on players gambling on themselves.
Professional sport is rapidly losing it’s integrity and stories like this don’t help. The pressure to succeed at all costs (and make as much money as possible into the bargain) is so great that people will resort to all sorts of cheating to win. This degrades and sours what is otherwise great entertainment. There needs to be a return to competition with integrity where losing with honour and dignity is seen as greater than winning by deception.
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