Graeme Le Saux

Graeme Pierre Le Saux (born 17 October 1968 in Jersey) is a retired English footballer who played as a left back, although he sometimes played in midfield or on the left wing.

Playing career

Chelsea

Le Saux started his career at St Paul's of Jersey before moving to Chelsea in 1987 after being spotted playing in a local tournament by manager John Hollins. 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 2nd in Le Saux's first 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 team-mate David Batty during a UEFA Champions League tie with FC Spartak Moscow.

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 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.

England

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. Le Saux's only international goal came against Brazil with a powerful shot from outside the penalty area. It came 18th in a recent poll of the greatest ever England goals.

Homophobic abuse

Despite being heterosexual (he is married with 2 children, son Lucas and daughter Georgina ^[1]), Le Saux was dogged by rumours of homosexuality during his playing career. He attributed this to his lack of enthusiasm for the 'typical' footballer's lifestyle, his university background, and the fact that he read liberal broadsheet newspaper, The Guardian. This led to abuse from opposition fans and even players.

On one such occasion, in a Premier League match between Chelsea and Liverpool on 27 February 1999, Le Saux became involved in a running series of taunts with Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler. With Le Saux preparing to take a free kick, Fowler repeatedly bent over and pointed his backside in the Chelsea player's direction. Despite the obvious taunts, Le Saux, who refused to take the free kick, was booked for delay of play. He later struck Fowler on the edge of the Chelsea penalty area, but the incident wasn't seen by the match officials. In an interview with The Times, Le Saux said of the incident, "More than anything in my career, that offended me. What he did was wrong and he has never admitted that. He still talks as if it was a bit of a laugh." ^[2] While still playing, many writers theorised that these unfounded taunts were behind Le Saux's often suspect temperament.

In September 2007, Le Saux published his autobiography Left Field - A Footballer Apart.

After football

Following his retirement he worked as a pundit for the BBC on both Match of the Day 2 and BBC Radio 5 Live. He quit the BBC on 31 March 2006 after losing his commentary place on England's World Cup games to Mark Lawrenson. However, he continues to report and present occasionally for BBC Two's business news programme Working Lunch.

In 2006, Le Saux joined ABN AMRO Bank's UK private banking team in the role of Ambassador for their Sports Desk.

He was a finalist on Vernon Kay's Gameshow Marathon 2007.

On 11 January 2009, Le Saux was marked 14.5 on the first show of the new series of Dancing on Ice. He then became the first person to be voted out after all five judges voted for other "skate-off" finalist Donal MacIntyre.

Honours

Chelsea

• Football League Second Division: 1988–89
• League Cup: 1998
• FA Community Shield: 2000
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1998
• Full Members Cup: 1990

Blackburn Rovers

• Premier League
  • champions: 1994–95
  • runner-up : 1993–94
• FA Charity Shield runner up: 1995

Individual

• PFA Team of the Year: 1998

References

• Graeme Le Saux England profile at Englandstats
• Graeme Le Saux career stats at Soccerbase
• What’s your story? Graeme Pierre Le Saux: A game of two halves
• BBC 1 11 January 2009 19.00 Dancing on Ice

Notes

v • d • e England squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Seaman • 2 Campbell • 3 Le Saux • 4 Ince • 5 Adams • 6 Southgate • 7 Beckham • 8 Batty • 9 Shearer • 10 Sheringham • 11 McManaman • 12 Neville • 13 Martyn • 14 Anderton • 15 Merson • 16 Scholes • 17 Lee • 18 Keown • 19 L. Ferdinand • 20 Owen • 21 R. Ferdinand • 22 Flowers • Coach: Hoddle