Graeme Le Saux

Graeme Pierre Le Saux (/lə ˈsoʊ/ lə SOH; born 17 October 1968) is an English football pundit and retired footballer. He played from 1989 to 2005 starting as a left winger during his first spell at Chelsea, later transitioning to the role of a left back at Chelsea, Blackburn Rovers and Southampton, and for the England national football team.

Graeme Le Saux
Le Saux in 2011
Personal information
Full name Graeme Pierre Le Saux[1]
Date of birth (1968-10-17) 17 October 1968[1]
Place of birth St. Helier, Jersey
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2]
Position(s) Left back
Youth career
1987–1989 Chelsea
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
0000–1987 St. Paul's
1989–1993 Chelsea 90 (8)
1993–1997 Blackburn Rovers 129 (7)
1997–2003 Chelsea 140 (4)
2003–2005 Southampton 44 (1)
2012 Wembley 0 (0)
Total 403 (20)
National team
1990 England U21 4 (0)
1991–1992 England B 2 (0)
1994–2000 England 36 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

After beginning playing in Jersey, he moved to England and signed for Chelsea, debuting in 1989. He left Chelsea in 1993 to join the Blackburn side being built by wealthy benefactor Jack Walker and was a regular fixture in the defence of their 1994–95 Premier League winning side. In 1997, he became the most expensive defender in English footballing history when he returned to Chelsea for £5 million, staying there for six seasons before finishing his career with a move to Southampton in 2003. He announced his retirement from football upon Southampton's relegation from the Premier League in 2005.

In his club playing career, he scored 20 goals from 403 club appearances. He was twice named in the Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year, in 1995 with Blackburn and in 1998 with Chelsea. As an England international, he made 36 senior appearances from 1994 until 2000, including starting all four England games at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, and scoring one international goal, against Brazil.

Club career

Chelsea

Le Saux started his career at St. Paul's of Jersey before moving to Chelsea in December 1987 after being spotted playing in a local tournament by manager John Hollins.[2] He made his debut for the club two years later against Portsmouth and had become a regular by the 1990–91 season. His first stint at Chelsea ended in controversy, though. Angry at continually being substituted, he snapped when he was subbed again during a match with Southampton and threw his shirt to the ground as he stormed past manager Ian Porterfield. He was sold to Blackburn Rovers in March 1993 for £700,000.

Blackburn Rovers

Le Saux arrived at Blackburn as part of wealthy benefactor Jack Walker and manager Kenny Dalglish's plan to establish the club as one of the country's top sides, and joined an impressive side containing the likes of Alan Shearer and Tim Flowers. Blackburn finished second in Le Saux's first full season, and were crowned Premier League champions a year later, with Le Saux a near ever-present. He missed the second half of the following season due to a broken ankle which also ruled him out of Euro 96, but was still caught up in controversy after fighting with teammate David Batty during a UEFA Champions League tie with Spartak Moscow.[3]

Return to Chelsea

In August 1997, Le Saux became the most expensive defender in English football when he returned to Chelsea in a £5 million deal. Always a regular when available, Le Saux's second spell with Chelsea was often interrupted by injury or suspension. He remained there for six seasons, and was an important part of the side which won the League Cup and Cup Winners' Cup in 1998 and the FA Cup in 2000, though he missed the latter two of those finals through injury.

Southampton

He was swapped in a part-exchange deal with Southampton for Wayne Bridge in 2003. Le Saux played for another two seasons before announcing his retirement in May 2005 following Southampton's relegation from the Premiership. He scored two goals for Southampton, scoring once in the league against Norwich City[4] and once in the League Cup against Bristol City.[5]

Wembley

In June 2012, he was one of several former professional footballers who agreed to join Wembley to play in their FA Cup campaign for the new season. Le Saux and fellow former-internationals Ray Parlour, Martin Keown, Claudio Caniggia and Brian McBride, plus David Seaman (goalkeeping coach) and former England manager Terry Venables (technical advisor), came out of retirement to play for Wembley who were featured in a television documentary as they attempted to help the club play at Wembley Stadium.[6] Wembley were knocked out in a replay by Uxbridge after initially setting up the tie by knocking Langford out in the previous round.[7]

International career

Le Saux was capped 36 times for England. He made his first appearance in a friendly win over Denmark and played at the 1998 World Cup, appearing in every game as England reached the second round. He was injured for Euro 96 and Euro 2000. Le Saux's only international goal came against Brazil on 11 June 1995 in the Umbro Cup, with a powerful shot from outside the penalty area. It came 18th in a recent poll of the greatest ever England goals.

Personal life

Le Saux is of English descent through his mother, and has distant Breton descent on his father's side.[8]

Homophobic abuse
Further information: Homosexuality in English football § Homophobia

Le Saux is heterosexual,[9] and he and his wife, Georgina, have two children.[10] Despite this, rumours that he was homosexual circulated throughout his career after he said that he had spent a summer holiday with one of his Chelsea teammates, Ken Monkou.[11] He attributed this to his lack of enthusiasm for the "typical" footballer's lifestyle, his university background, and the fact that he read a left-wing broadsheet newspaper, The Guardian.[12]

This led to abuse from opposition fans and even players. He was involved in a running series of taunts with Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler while playing for Chelsea against Liverpool on 27 February 1999. During the game, Fowler repeatedly bent over and pointed his backside in Le Saux's direction. Le Saux delayed taking a free kick to protest about Fowler's behaviour and was booked for time wasting. Fowler claimed in an autobiography that at one point during the match, Le Saux shouted "But I'm married!", which was followed up by Fowler's quip "So was Elton John, mate!" Le Saux himself said that this never happened, and that Fowler had used 'dramatic licence' to make himself look funny.[13] The referee did not take any action against Fowler. Unseen by the match officials, Le Saux later struck Fowler on the edge of the Chelsea penalty area.[14] Both were later charged with misconduct by the FA.[15] In a later interview with The Times, Le Saux said, "More than anything in my career, that offended me. What [Fowler] did was wrong and he has never admitted that. He still talks as if it was a bit of a laugh".[13]

Following Thomas Hitzlsperger's disclosure that he was gay in January 2014, Le Saux's article from 2007 resurfaced on social media, causing Fowler to state on Twitter that he had apologised to Le Saux.[16]

In his 2007 autobiography, Le Saux also accused Chelsea's assistant manager Gwyn Williams of making homophobic comments towards him. “He would wander up to me before training and say: ‘Come on, poof, get your boots on,’”.[17]

Education

Le Saux took an Environmental Studies degree at Kingston University before dropping out to concentrate on his football career. His interest in learning never left him, however, and as a player he was often derided for reading The Guardian and visiting museums in his spare time.[18]

After football

Following his retirement he worked as a pundit for the BBC on both their Match of the Day 2 television highlights show, and for their BBC Radio 5 Live station. He currently works as a match analyst and commentator for the U.S.-based NBC Sports Network's television coverage of the Premier League.[19]

In other television appearances, in 2007 Le Saux was a finalist on the game show Vernon Kay's Gameshow Marathon and in 2009 he competed in series 4 of the talent show Dancing on Ice, being voted off in the first round. Le Saux has reported and presented occasionally for BBC Two's business news programme Working Lunch, while in 2006, he joined ABN AMRO Bank's UK private banking team in the role of Ambassador for their Sports Desk. Le Saux is a trustee of the UK charity Fields in Trust[20]

Le Saux published his autobiography Left Field: A Footballer Apart in September 2007.[11][21]

Career statistics

Club
Source: Graeme Le Saux at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Chelsea 1988–89 Second Division 1000——0010
1989–90 First Division 713000—2[lower-alpha 1]0121
1990–91 First Division 2841071—2[lower-alpha 1]0385
1991–92 First Division 4033020—5[lower-alpha 1]0503
1992–93 Premier League 1401040——190
Total 90880131—901209
Blackburn Rovers 1992–93 Premier League 90————90
1993–94 Premier League 4124040——492
1994–95 Premier League 39320402[lower-alpha 2]01[lower-alpha 3]0483
1995–96 Premier League 14100203[lower-alpha 4]01[lower-alpha 3]0201
1996–97 Premier League 2612000——281
Total 12978010050201547
Chelsea 1997–98 Premier League 26111413[lower-alpha 5]0—343
1998–99 Premier League 31060008[lower-alpha 5]01[lower-alpha 6]0460
1999–2000 Premier League 8000104[lower-alpha 4]0—130
2000–01 Premier League 20020002[lower-alpha 2]01[lower-alpha 3]0250
2001–02 Premier League 27181302[lower-alpha 2]0—402
2002–03 Premier League 28230201[lower-alpha 2]0—342
Total 1404202101200201927
Southampton 2003–04 Premier League 19000111[lower-alpha 2]0—211
2004–05 Premier League 2511000——261
Total 441101110—472
Career total 4032037234326013051325
  1. Appearances in Full Members' Cup
  2. Appearances in UEFA Cup
  3. Appearance in Charity Shield
  4. Appearances in UEFA Champions League
  5. Appearances in UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
  6. Appearances in UEFA Super Cup

International
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
England[22] 199460
199561
199790
1998110
199930
200010
Total361

International goals
England score listed first, score column indicates score after each Le Saux goal.
International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 11 June 1995Wembley Stadium, London, England10 Brazil1–01–3Umbro Cup

Honours

Chelsea

Blackburn Rovers

Jersey

Individual

See also

References
  1. "Graeme Le Saux". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  2. "Graeme Le Saux". England Football Online. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  3. "Le Saux and Batty shame Blackburn". The Independent. 23 November 1995. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  4. "Southampton 4–3 Norwich". BBC. 30 April 2005. Retrieved 29 December 2009.
  5. "Bristol City 0–3 Southampton". BBC. 28 October 2003. Retrieved 29 December 2009.
  6. "Terry Venables' Wembley FC recruit former stars for FA Cup". BBC. 21 June 2012.
  7. Association, The Football (30 August 2012). "The website for the English football association, the Emirates FA Cup and the England football team". www.thefa.com. Archived from the original on 5 September 2012. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  8. "What's your story? Graeme Pierre Le Saux: A game of two halves". Jersey Evening Post. 4 September 2008. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  9. "Homophobia in football". www.kickitout.org. Archived from the original on 24 February 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  10. "Footballer Graeme le Saux and his wife Georgina with their children... – WireImage – 57235866". www.wireimage.com.
  11. James Lawton (11 September 2007). "Le Saux shines light on the prejudice and ignorance that destroyed Justin Fashanu". The Independent.
  12. Patrick Barclay (7 October 2007). "Graeme Le Saux looks back with no anger". The Telegraph.
  13. "How gay slurs almost wrecked my career". The Times Online. London. 9 October 2007. Archived from the original on 24 May 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  14. "Le Saux should have gone, admits ref". BBC Sport. 28 February 1999. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  15. "Anger over gay taunts". BBC Sport. 3 March 1999. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  16. "Robbie Fowler Twitter account". twitter.com. 9 January 2014.
  17. Taylor, Daniel (12 January 2018). "Graham Rix and Gwyn Williams accused of racism and bullying while at Chelsea". The Guardian.
  18. "Graeme Le Saux – Sports stars with degrees". telegraph.co.uk. 7 November 2011.
  19. Mike Prindiville (16 April 2013). "NBC Sports finalizes TV talent for Premier League coverage". NBC Sports Pro Soccer Talk.
  20. "Fields in Trust – The Trustees". Fields in Trust. Fields in Trust. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  21. Graeme Le Saux (2008). Left Field: A Footballer Apart. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780007271276.
  22. "Graeme Pierre Le Saux – International Appearances". The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.
  23. "Graeme Le Saux: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  24. Wilson, Jonathan (2017). "Guernsey v Jersey: 'It's in the blood. It's about more than football: it's about this island'". The Guardian.
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