Matt Piper on Life after Football

[Merchant_Banker]

Never realised he had gone through this!

 

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/whats-it-have-your-career-ruined-injuries

[bovril]

Thanks for sharing.

 

"Peter Taylor told me I wasn't good enough to get in the first team". That's quite an endorsement to be honest. 

[Thefox81]

I know Matt and his family very well from our time at school, playing football and even now our kids attend the same school.

 

He is the most humble man i have ever been fortunate to meet and call a close friend for about 25 years now. 

 

Him and his younger brother got a lift with us to Hillsborough for the league cup final replay against Middlesboro. It took my dad 2 hours to find them both as theyd forgotten where we had parked.

 

I myself suffered with a mental health  illness and Matt was one of the first people on the phone to me after hearing about me on the grapevine.

 

We had a good catch up not long ago and still to this day his proudest memory is scoring the last ever goal at filbo.

 

Star man

[Russell sprout]

He came in my work on Wednesday and was a lovely bloke,

ive suffered with addiction myself and can relate to him,

im a believer that there’s a story behind everyone that’s suffered with addiction 

[Langston]

His dad's a hero, does he still ref?

[Al-aLondon-Foxile]

He’s been at the top and at the bottom, and full credit to him for turning himself around from those depths. And now he can inspire others, and make a positive impact. Good luck to him. 

[Thefox81]

13 minutes ago, Langston said:

His dad's a hero, does he still ref?

His dad Mark hung his whistle up a few years ago now. Playing at a high standard of football through my teens everybody wanted him to be the ref. Best in the county leagues by a mile. 

[Jon the Hat]

33 minutes ago, Thefox81 said:

I know Matt and his family very well from our time at school, playing football and even now our kids attend the same school.

 

He is the most humble man i have ever been fortunate to meet and call a close friend for about 25 years now. 

 

Him and his younger brother got a lift with us to Hillsborough for the league cup final replay against Middlesboro. It took my dad 2 hours to find them both as theyd forgotten where we had parked.

 

I myself suffered with a mental health  illness and Matt was one of the first people on the phone to me after hearing about me on the grapevine.

 

We had a good catch up not long ago and still to this day his proudest memory is scoring the last ever goal at filbo.

 

Star man

Well you can tell him that is a ****ing brave article, and he should be bloody proud of himself.  Good man.

[CosbehFox]

The line about being drunk commentating on Leicester games doesn't surprise me. When he was on during the league 1 fixtures, you could barely understand a word. Kudos for re-building his life. 

[sishades]

1 hour ago, bovril said:

Thanks for sharing.

 

"Peter Taylor told me I wasn't good enough to get in the first team". That's quite an endorsement to be honest. 

Just shows what a terrible manager PT was....I saw MP play and he was more than alright.

[RobHawk]

Matt Piper was an absolute breath of fresh air in that relegation season. 

 

Kept it simple, beat the man down the line and got the ball in the box. 

 

Was gutted when we sold him and felt sorry for him when his injuries stopped him meeting his potential.

[Christoph]

What an interesting read. Didn't realise he had such a drinking problem. Would be good to see more footballers share about their personal problems. Well done to Pipe for this article. 

[crisp packet]

51 minutes ago, Langston said:

His dad's a hero, does he still ref?

His dad can be seen on tunnel cam every week, works at the kp .

Was always a decent ref as you could talk to him ..

[Crazy Kop Corner]

I hadn't realised how much he'd been through.

 

Top man and makes the Radio Leicester Commentary listenable - I now know why those early summaries weren't great!

 

He scored the last goal at Filbo so will always have a great place in history with us and I thought he was going to be our next great player when we forced him to Sunderland in 2002 - That story illustrates he's Leicester through and through.  

 

Sounds like a really great bloke. 

[Thefox81]

 As mentioned above i know Matt personaly. It was a shock to me to find about his troubles with drink years ago.

 

He was always focused on becoming a footballer. We had a very talented county side and school side (rawlins in quorn). Reached the semi finals of the schools cup but lost to a team in Liverpool. Never ever in those years at school was he bothered about going out and if he did he would never touch booze. He knew what he wanted and that was football.

 

From our talented squad. 3 rejected at City, 2 went onto Rushden and Diamonds.1 went to Port Vale. 1 played a few games at Grimsby. Myself i was released at Derby (sorry) but they took Chris Riggott on instead of me for yts. Only lad that made it was Pipes

[M0901]

The same Peter Taylor who thought playing Junior Lewis was a good idea. 

 

Felt sorry for Piper. Genuinely a quality player in there. 

[TheUltimateWinner]

Props to pipes for doing an interview like that.

 

Reading through that made me think what an earth must be going through Matty James's head. He also seems one of those players who can never catch a break.

[StanSP]

That Micky Adams bit struck me the most. We all know what you get with Peter Taylor so that didn't surprise me as much.

 

For Adams to say, almost so callously and crassly, 'people here longer than you will lose their jobs' is a massive weight to put on a player who didn't want to leave the club and was being forced out. Talk about guilt tripping! Really felt for Matt there when reading that.

[StriderHiryu]

Fascinating read and it makes you feel for Piper. I often think that in some ways getting so close to your dream of playing professional football and then having it taken away from you is worse than never getting close to it in the first place. Good to know he’s turned his life round. 

[jamesmilner]

1 hour ago, crisp packet said:

His dad can be seen on tunnel cam every week, works at the kp .

Was always a decent ref as you could talk to him ..

His dad is recovering from heart surgery . He hopes to get back working soon . 

[ChownLC]

2 hours ago, Langston said:

His dad's a hero, does he still ref?

He still refs at goals in Evington but havent seen him there for a few weeks.

[oxford blue]

I seem to remember City only sold him to improve financial position - it was clear at the time he had no option but to leave. A very good interview (thanks for posting) - there is sufficient in his story for an autobiography. Sad his career was ruined by injuries because he had the potential to become a top player

[Jimothy]

16 minutes ago, InLoveWithNgolo said:

He still refs at goals in Evington but havent seen him there for a few weeks.

He was ill last year, heart attack I think. Asked down there the other week and he's hoping to come back soon.

[ChownLC]

21 minutes ago, Facecloth said:

He was ill last year, heart attack I think. Asked down there the other week and he's hoping to come back soon.

Hopefully, definitely one of the best refs down there, doesnt take shit from anyone.

[Detroit Blues]

1 hour ago, TheUltimateWinner said:

Props to pipes for doing an interview like that.

 

Reading through that made me think what an earth must be going through Matty James's head. He also seems one of those players who can never catch a break.

I agree. People slate Matty James all the time, as if he is personally responsible for his injury history. I can't imagine the disappointment he (and Pipes) must have felt after each setback. I can see how easy it would be to fall into addiction and depression when you tie your self worth to your footballing ability.