Former Player Remembers: Matt Oakley

Matt played a total of over 450 games for Southampton (1995-2006) and Leicester City (2007-2011). 

Now in his 21st season as a player, Matt has also played over 120 games for Exeter City since leaving Leicester. Added to his time at Derby County (2006-2008) he currently has a career total over 650 first team appearances. 

Born in Peterborough and brought up in Hertfordshire, Matt spent time as a schoolboy at Luton Town and then at Arsenal before embarking on a two year YTS apprenticeship at Southampton prior to being offered professional terms there in July 1995. 

“At the end of my final year as an apprentice, I made my first team debut as a 17 year-old against Everton in the Premier League. I came off the bench. As an Arsenal fan, I was a big fan of Anders Limpar (an ex Arsenal player) who was playing for Everton that day. Alan Ball, who was manager, put me on as a wide left wing-back. I had never really played on the left. I could use my left foot but not as well as my right. I remembered that Anders Limpar always used to cause the full back problems by twisting and turning loads of times and then he would cross the ball. My first touch was heading the ball out of my own six yard box and as it was coming in, I was thinking that if it hits the wrong side of my head, I would score an own goal and if it hits the right side of my head, then I would clear it. Thankfully it hit the right side! We drew 0-0 and I got to shake Neville Southall’s hand, a legend of the game. The players at that time were the players I had collected as a kid in my Panini sticker albums. It was surreal really but also was exciting. 

“I loved playing for Southampton and one of the highlights was playing in the FA Cup Final against Arsenal’s Invincibles in 2003. We were only beaten 1-0 though. They were an amazing team that year! The Final, at Cardiff was one of the first games that had the roof closed. The atmosphere was electric, for our fans especially. It was so loud and because of the roof being closed it made it impossible to communicate to my team mates!” 

Whilst Matt was at Southampton he became an England Under-21 international. 

“The difficult thing for me was that I was always playing in Southampton’s first team, and a lot of that Under-21 side weren’t in their club’s first teams. I was playing pretty much a full Premier League season and then being asked to play in internationals. I just wasn’t able to play in enough of them because I was picking up slight niggles or in recovery from games. I had pressure from the manager too talking about our next games and that put a pressure on whether to go away to play in internationals. I probably could have picked up more U21 caps but I was a big part of the first team and playing in Southampton’s first team at the time was my only focus. 

“Gordon Strachan made the comment in 2003 that I was one of the best performing English midfield players. This was a great compliment but England at the time had such great midfielders like Beckham, Scholes, Lampard and Gerrard. It would have been some achievement to break into that squad! 

“Gordon and I had a very good relationship and we have remained friends since, I am so pleased for him managing at International level.” 

Matt then lost the best part of the 2003/04 and 2004/05 seasons through injury at the end of which Southampton were relegated to the Championship. 

“My injury came when I was playing the best football so far in my career and on the back of a really good season. It was in the September of 2003 and we played Middlesbrough at home. The ball just broke between me and their midfielder George Boateng. I was going to go in for a tackle and the ball was going away from me. He was coming in quite aggressively. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to make the tackle so I jumped in the air and landed going in the opposite direction. I remember a pop going off in my knee and it felt like someone had stabbed me with a knife, I was in incredible pain for about thirty seconds and required the attention of the physio. I remember Gordon Strachan coming across from the dug-out as I was looking down at my knee. He said, ‘Are you alright?’ I said ‘Yeah. I’m really sore but it’s gone now.’ He said, ‘That’s good. I’ve made three substitutions so you’ll have to go back on!' in his typical jokey manner. So I had to carry on for the remaining ten to fifteen minutes. I finished the game but I had snapped my cruciate. That was the start of two dark years really. I was out for 16 months in the end from start to finish. I had some problems with it along the way. 

“When I got injured we were fourth in the Premier League. By the time I came back I think we were fourth from bottom, Gordon had left and we ended up getting relegated at the end of the season! In December the following season George Burley was in charge and I was back to playing well. I had a year left on my contract and we had discussions in the January about me signing a new three year deal. I was delighted and focused on signing but then I picked up a small injury. I was forced back to play too early and I re-ruptured my ankle tear. This then kept me out for a couple of months towards the end of that season. By the end of the season there had been no more negotiations and then I was offered a reduced one year contract and labelled as an injury prone by the chairman. In my mind I was looking forward to signing a three year contract and potentially going on to a testimonial because I had been there for over ten years. I wasn’t expecting to go and I don’t think the fans expected it either. 

“There was lots of talk over the summer and I had another meeting with George. He wanted me to stay but Rupert Lowe wouldn't budge on the length of time, something I required as I then had a young family. I couldn’t go forward with a one year contract when other clubs were offering three year contracts. The local media reported that I was demanding too much money and this upset me as this was not the full picture as I was only after security for my family, I was unable to put my story across to the fans and this was a difficult situation for me to accept.” 

Derby County, in the Championship, were one of the clubs. Billy Davies had been after Matt for a while. He phoned his agent to tell him he wanted him to help him rebuild the team at Derby and that he wanted him to be captain on a three year contract. 

Matt signed for Derby County in August 2006 and captained the Rams to promotion at the end of his first season two years ahead of schedule, but the team struggled in the Premier League. 

Paul Jewell became the manager in December 2007. Steve Howard left for Leicester City in January 2008 and soon afterwards he phoned Matt to tell him that Ian (Holloway) wanted him to come to Leicester who paid £500,000 for him at the end of the January transfer window. 

At this time, Leicester City was really struggling at the bottom of the Championship and were relegated at the end of the season to League One for the first and only time in their history. 

The following season in League One Leicester City won the League One title. Matt, captaining the side from midfield, scored a few goals as part of a 23 match unbeaten run, and was named in the League One team at the end of the season. 

“Relegation to League One was the end of the bad times for Leicester and the start of the rebuilding process. Nigel (Pearson) came in and he put a good structure in place to move forward. We won League One in style and it was an amazing feeling to lift the trophy in front of a capacity home crowd. We then continued our good form and got to the Championship Play-Offs the following season. It was sometimes difficult for me at Leicester because I came from Derby, but being captain I had a responsibility to the Club and I did develop quite a good relationship with the fans in the end. 

“After we lost the Play-Off semi-final against Cardiff, Paulo Sousa took over and had completely different way of doing things. Being captain, I became very close to Paulo but unfortunately results were poor and it didn’t work out for him. He is now doing very well at Fiorentina. 

“Again there was a change and the new owners from Thailand came in. Vichai and Top are amazing people and I had the pleasure of spending some time getting to know them. They have an incredible desire and passion for football and Leicester. The future is incredibly bright for the club. They brought Sven in to manage the team and this brought a lot of media attention, it was a bit of a whirlwind. Sven signed a lot of players. His plan was to have three players in each position. Leading up to that season, the FA changed the rules reducing the substitutes from seven to five. That caused Sven and the squad a lot of problems as there were about ten of us sitting in the stand at matches. There was an unsettlement in the changing room. When he told me that I wouldn’t be part of the starting eleven or the subs, I said I would train as hard as I could ready to play when needed but I asked him not to have me travel all around the country just to sit in the stands. He said he respected this and wanted me to help out with the young players. I respected Sven and was willing to help him with this. 

“I still felt fit enough and wanted to play but missed the competition after a while. I then had a call from a good friend of mine Paul Tisdale at Exeter and this brought me to where I am now. Last year, was a great year for me as I made 49 appearances, which was the most I’ve completed in a season in my whole career. The Liverpool FA Cup game, back in January was special and going back to Anfield at 38 was a proud moment of my life and for my wife and two daughters. 

“As well as playing, I am beginning to get involved in the recruitment side and also in the analysis role at Exeter. The Sports Science side of things, is quite a dominant part of what goes on in football clubs now, and I would like to study the psychology side at some point. 

“In my career, I had great success with Southampton, Derby and Leicester and I loved my time at all my clubs and most of all, had the privilege of captaining all of them. I am excited for Leicester, this year and hoping they can continue their incredible season and look forward to Southampton's progression from a relegation club when I played to being a consistent top ten club and future success. Derby are rebuilding and they too, could be back in the Premier League soon, and who knows what next for Exeter!”