Matt Le Tissier claims his family thought he had ‘mental health issues’ because of his views on the Covid pandemic…but they now realize he was ‘not angry and spoke very sensibly’

Matthew Le Tisser has claimed that his family and close friends believed he had “mental health issues” due to his controversial views during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Southampton legend has been an outspoken figure during the pandemic, regularly making headlines with his views on social media and in interviews.

Among his claims were that PCR tests were “the biggest fraud ever perpetrated against humanity”, dying Covid patients in Italy were “actors” and that the government’s interference in people’s lives during the lockdown was an “injustice ‘ used to be.

The 54-year-old in an interview with GB Newsfelt he may have paid the price for his views with his previous job at Sky Sports, and that his family and close friends thought he had ‘gone a little crazy’.

When asked if he paid a price for his views, he replied, “I think the price people are likely to name is that I lost my job.” Sky can tell you otherwise.

Speaking to GB News, he said his family realized he was ‘not angry’ and actually spoke ‘very sensibly’ despite being wrong ‘about everything’.

Among his claims were that Covid PCR tests were ‘the biggest fraud on mankind’ and that dying Covid patients in Italy were ‘actors’

“They said they just wanted to steer the show in a different direction, but they didn’t deny it had something to do with my social media posts.

‘So maybe my job. I think at first my family and close friends probably thought I had gone a little crazy for going against the story and they honestly thought I had mental health issues.

“I knew I didn’t and luckily I stuck to my views and what’s happened over the past two or three years — a lot of them have come to realize now that I wasn’t angry and that I actually talked a lot about feeling.”

“I wasn’t right about everything, but I was right about many things.”

The Saints legend also told GB News that he thought things weren’t right “very early” in the pandemic.

He said, “From the moment the videos came out of China with people collapsing in the street. That’s when I went that doesn’t look real, that doesn’t look real.

“It has never happened anywhere else in the world. But those videos were the reason we had to shut down the economy and ruined the lives of a lot of lower and middle class people and made the people at the top richer.”

Le Tissier, who is not vaccinated, added: “I have no idea (how I survived the pandemic). I haven’t seen a doctor in the past three and a half years, it’s remarkable. Even if I needed an (appointment), I would still have to wait a long time.’

Le Tissier previously blamed Sky’s insistence on ‘diversity and inclusion’ for his 2020 dismissal from their popular Soccer Saturday program while speaking to Simon Jordan (right)

His 15-year partnership with Sky Sports ended in August 2020, months after the start of the coronavirus pandemic. However, his departure came at the same time as fellow ex-soccer Saturday pundits Charlie Nicholas and Phil Thompson.

A Sky statement at the time said: ‘We are changing some parts of our football coverage – Matt, Charlie and Phil have done a great job for us over the years and they will leave us with our sincere thanks and very best wishes.’

However, Le Tissier stated in June that Sky’s insistence on “diversity and inclusion”, his reluctance to wear a Black Lives Matter badge on the air and his controversial views led to him losing his job.

Speaking William Hill’s Up Front With Simon Jordan show, he said, “What drove the changes? After Comcast bought Sky, things changed overnight. Suddenly it was diversity and inclusion and all that stuff. I think we kind of saw it coming.

Le Tissier (second from left) was a regular on Soccer Saturday and worked for Sky for 15 years before he, Phil Thompson (second from right) and Charlie Nicholas (right) were sacked in 2020

“It was partly to do with my opinion of Black Lives Matter and not wearing the badge on Sky. I don’t think that went down very well.

I was quite critical of the mainstream media on my social media.’

When asked by Jordan why he didn’t want to wear a BLM badge, the Southampton legend replied: ‘If you think wearing a badge like that will change the mind of the small minority of people in this country. are racist, you live in cloud cuckoo land.

“Because the people who are racist, and I think in my opinion there is a very small minority of people in this country who are racist.

“I think the majority of people in this country are good people and don’t see skin color, and I think it gets better with every generation. , I’ve now seen a huge shift from my generation to my daughter’s generation in how they see people and it keeps getting better.

“I don’t think we talk positively about that often enough. So that was one of the reasons why they didn’t like me very much.’

Le Tissier was one of the stars of the 1990s and became a legend at Southampton for his loyalty to the club – although he left the club ambassador role last year over his views on the war

Le Tissier was involved in an online spat with BBC Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker in September over his views on Covid.

He tweeted: “Why didn’t we try so hard to ‘beat’ the flu? It has a similar mortality rate to ‘Covid’ and actually affects younger people more? Answers on a postcard.’

Match of the Day host Lineker replied, “Yeah Matt, why hasn’t anyone come up with a flu vaccine?”

Tissier has hit back at the England striker, saying: “I think it’s funny that he goes out of his way to criticize me for having a different opinion to his own.

“I’ve been following Gary on social media for many years and I strongly disagree with many things, but I’ve never attacked him for it. But the other way around…

Le Tissier was involved in a social media spat with Gary Lineker in September over his views

Lineker closed one of Le Tissier’s tweets about flu and Covid, leading to the Saints legend saying it was ‘funny he went out of his way to criticize me’

“He’s meant to be the nice guy, the awake Gary Lineker, nice and inclusive, but he’s the one who’s going out of his way to dig me out.”

The coronavirus pandemic isn’t the only topic he’s regularly outspoken about.

In April 2022, he stepped down from his role as Southampton’s ambassador over a controversial social media post about the war in Ukraine.

Le Tissier wrote “This” and a down-pointing emoji on a tweet suggesting the media had “lied,” before deleting the post and trying to clarify his position by saying “the point was about the media manipulation.”

He posted another update the next day to make it “very clear” that he “is not in favor of war in any way,” adding that he is not advocating “for anyone to take the lives of others and for anyone to who commits such acts should be treated accordingly. ‘.