Matty Elliott turned down Spurs £5m offer

[davieG]

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/tottenham-bid-leicester-city-hero-4019418

 

Former centre-back Matt Elliott was given the opportunity to move to White Hart Lane but turned it down to write his name into Leicester City history with the League Cup win

ByJordan Blackwell
06:00, 4 APR 2020

Former Leicester City captain Matt Elliott was once the subject of a £5m bid from Tottenham – an offer that manager Martin O’Neill could not believe.

Centre-back Elliott turned down the switch to Spurs almost immediately, and went on to write his name in the history books, lifting the League Cup in 2000.

Recalling the time he could have moved to White Hart Lane, Elliott said he was taken aback by the offer, with O’Neill in a similar state of disbelief.

“I was training one day and I got the shout from Martin O’Neill to go and see him in his office,” Elliott said on former City winger Matt Piper’s Positive Vibes podcast.

“I thought: ‘Oof, what's happened here? What I have done wrong?’

“It was running through my head all things I could be in trouble for.

“As usual, Martin’s quite intimidating. He said: ‘Matty, I’ve just had a phone call from George Graham at Tottenham Hotspur, they've offered £5m for you. They want you to go down there this afternoon.’

“And £5m was quite a lot then, and I said: ‘Bloody hell, gaffer, I don’t believe that.’

“He leaned across and went: ‘No, neither do I.’

“I was like: ‘Cheers, gaffer, thanks for that.’

“It was true, but he just couldn’t believe the amount that had been offered.

“He said: ‘You can be on the next train down there if that’s what you want to do.’

“I went: ‘Woah, hang on, gaffer, I’m happy here, I’m having the time of my life at Leicester. I want to think about it.’

“I didn’t want to go, and he said; ‘That’s what I wanted to hear.’

“I ended up signing a new contract not long after.”

Elliott made 290 appearances for City over seven years at the club, scoring both goals in the at Wembley in the League Cup final win over Tranmere.

[MrsJohnMurphy]

He'd thrive in the modern game, proper footballing centre back. Pep would be all over him

[Collymore]

MON is a legend. Proper old school man management there!!! 

Edited 4 April 2020 by Collymore

[Gazza M]

Remember watching Elliott away at Villa Park in what I remember as 1998 and he was immense. An absolute beast. So composed on the ball. Very similar to Vardy as in a late bloomer to top flight football, but full of quality. Most importantly he is a Fox through and through and stayed loyal until his body couldn't hack it any longer. 

[Wolfox]

Remember that back heeler he scored

 

terrific player

[Fox92]

27 minutes ago, Collymore said:

MON is a legend. Proper old school man management there!!! 

Must have adored Clough because his man management sounds just the same. 

 

I have heared Elliott talk about this potential Spurs move before on radio.

 

Two goals in a Cup final = legend status.

[Chiltern Fox]

Top bloke. One of my favourites. 

[Nalis]

Fantasy football manager's dream. Helped me to 3rd in Shoot Dream Team competition in 1998.

 

Ridiculous how he didnt start for Scotland in the 1998 World Cup.

[Hammo]

Great player and an excellent radio pundit too.

 

A City legend for many reasons - not least (looking back now) for that ‘accidental’ forearm that knocked Michael Owen unconscious.

[Izzy]

25 minutes ago, Nalis said:

Fantasy football manager's dream. Helped me to 3rd in Shoot Dream Team competition in 1998.

 

Ridiculous how he didnt start for Scotland in the 1998 World Cup.

Probably cos he wasn't really Scottish 

[Spudulike]

54 minutes ago, Izzy said:

Probably cos he wasn't really Scottish 

About as Scottish as Andy King is Welsh. 

[MiDuck55]

Matty was my favourite player from that time. I'm sure I remember a couple of games when MON made him play as a centre forward because there was literally no-one else fit who could, we had such a small squad at that time.  I think most of us fans expected the worst, but unless my memory is playing tricks, I'm sure he scored two goals away at Everton to get us a point. Legend!

[foxfanazer]

Brilliant player. Probably the best CB we've had in my lifetime 

[weller54]

3 minutes ago, foxfanazer said:

Brilliant player. Probably the best CB we've had in my lifetime 

... and anyone elses!

[Corky]

Excellent goal return for a defender too, 85 in his career.

 

Terrific player and seems grateful to the club for giving him the top flight chance, still hugely popular with the fans.

[Ric Flair]

He was one of the best defenders in the league in the late 90's, derisory offer. Would be worth £100m in this era with the amount of goals he scored.

[Gary Eatfood]

One of most consistent performers from the O'Neill era. Scored some important goals, but this was pure class. About 1.20 in.

 

 

[tylesta]

1 hour ago, Gary Eatfood said:

One of most consistent performers from the O'Neill era. Scored some important goals, but this was pure class. About 1.20 in.

 

 

1 minute in was more class go on walshy

[oxford blue]

He was also something of a legend at Oxford, where he played nearly 150 games, for the similar attributes he showed at City. His transfer fee was a record at Oxford for 19 years. 

[StriderHiryu]

Doesn't surprise me in the slightest that other clubs were after him. He wasn't quite good enough for the very top teams at the time (Man U and Arsenal), but he would IMO have been first team for anyone else, even Liverpool, Leeds or Newcastle who were all good at the time. Maybe his appearance made people not take him seriously, but Elliott was very well rounded and a great leader. Perhaps a lack of pace could have caught him out at the very top level, but for me he's quite reminiscent of Jonny Evans for us now, albeit Evans is the better player on the ball.

 

I am thankful he stayed with us, and delighted he's still involved with the club and clearly still a big fan. I met briefly once in person and he was super nice in real life too!

[Fox92]

2 hours ago, Gary Eatfood said:

One of most consistent performers from the O'Neill era. Scored some important goals, but this was pure class. About 1.20 in.

 

 

Casually turning a World Cup winner.

[Tuna]

Absolute legend, always found it astonishing he spent most of his career in the lower leagues with Torquay and Oxford before we got him.

[filthyfox]

Elliott was shit against Wycombe though 

[Ciar18]

Usually just read through this forum from time to time and never post but this thread jumped out at me and brought me back to one of my favourite childhood memories.

 

Back in the summer of 2000 Leicester visited Belfast to play my local team (first time I had ever seen an English team play) Cliftonville.

 

I think Are Akinbiyi made his debut and looked like bambi on ice. Stan Collymore was in the 'executive box', which was really just a platform with a few nice seats, and he was happy to sign autographs for us. Neil Lennon was happy to sign things too.

 

The main thing though that made the fay so memorable was that Matt Elliott hung around afterwards and brought a few of us local kids on to the pitch and had a kick about with us for about 20 mins. He even pulled the sub keeper over so we could take penalties. It was brilliant as a 10 year old.

 

Me and the mates then started walking back to the pub at the top of the street where we would the da's and were playing football in the pub car park when all of a sudden the Leicester team bus stops and one of the coaches gives us all sorts of Leicester gear, signed boots, goalkeeper gloves etc. 

 

Ever since that day I have always kept an eye out for Leicester. Proper club

[Hollyfox]

Great player and top bloke. 

Crucial goals as well. 

Leicester Legend? 

Most Definitely 👍💙