Southampton icon Matt Le Tissier has strong thoughts about the new-look Soccer Saturday, admitting the 'humour isn't the same'.
The 55-year-old worked on the Sky show for 15 years alongside the likes of Charlie Nicholas and Phil Thompson before the trio were all axed by the broadcaster in 2021. Host Jeff Stelling stayed two more seasons before announcing his departure at the end of the 2022/23 season.
The Premier League legend admitted that the current line-up of the show lack the same humour and camaraderie as well as taking aim at ex-referee Mike Dean after questioning what he adds to the show.
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In an interview with TheSportsDaily.com, Le Tissier said: "Occasionally, if I'm in I’ll watch it. There doesn't seem to be the same humour, the same level of camaraderie there than there used to be." He added that the departure of Stelling has left a tough job for current host Simon Thomas to follow.
"I think it's difficult because we had a team there that was together for a long time," he continued. "Jeff Stelling's left now as well – that's a tough job for Simon Thomas, because Jeff was incredible at that job. For me the show was built around Jeff. We were there simply as the extras."
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Le Tissier was particularly more harsh regarding Mike Dean who landed a role on the panel following his retirement from refereeing in 2022. "I'm not sure what Mike Dean has added to it," the Guernsey native stated. "I've seen him on there a couple of times. I did see the clip where Paul Merson decided to get a little bit angry with him a couple of weeks ago."
Dean – who was a Premier League referee for 22 years – already caused controversy on the show after getting into a heated spat with Arsenal legend Paul Merson.
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After discussing the refereeing performance in Liverpool's 2-1 defeat to Tottenham in September, Dean said getting ex-players in charge of VAR wouldn't make sense because "half of them don't know the laws".
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