Matt Holland
Encyclopedia
Matthew Rhys "Matt" Holland (born 11 April 1974) is a former English-born Irish
footballer, who represented Republic of Ireland
at international level. Since ending his football career he has worked in the media.
for being 'too small' he went to West Ham United
where he moved up the ranks of the academy
but did not play for the first team.
in January 1995. He played a total of 104 games, scoring 18 goals whilst at Dean Court, and also became captain.
captained the club into the Premier League by winning the First Division
play-offs in 2000. He captained the club to a fifth place finish and qualification for the UEFA Cup
in their first season in the Premier League in 2001. Though Ipswich were relegated in 2002 he stayed with the club after he turned down a £4.5 million move to . His spell at Ipswich is most remembered for the consistency he showed, after playing 223 consecutive games and only missing one league match (due to international duty) in the six years he was at Portman Road
.
, who became the first ever loan player to win the award the previous season.
following his release from Charlton.
to the 2002 World Cup
scoring the equaliser against Cameroon
in their opening game. Ireland were eliminated from this tournament in a Second Round penalty shootout against Spain
and Holland was selected to take a penalty, but missed it. Following Ireland's failure to qualify for the 2006 World Cup
, he announced his retirement from international football in early February 2006 having made 49 appearances and scoring 5 goals.
and Paul Jewell
) who acted as summarisers for BBC Radio Five Live
during the 2006 World Cup
. Holland has also appeared on the BBC
television program A Question of Sport
and the radio quiz Fighting Talk
. Holland as a freelance pundit has appeared on nearly every media outlet covering football in the UK. He has been a pundit on ESPN & Sky Sports
, appeared on BBC results service Final Score on the odd Saturday afternoon and appeared on ITV commentating on the UEFA Cup. He is also a presenter for the Eastern England edition of the BBC regional football show Late Kick Off
.
He has also appeared on many radio shows, he usually appears on talkSPORT
on kick off usually on Thursday nights and also appearing on Matchday Live on Saturday afternoons whenever he is not on Final Score. Holland has also appeared frequently on BBC Radio 5 Live as a Co Commentator. He usually appears on some sort of Premier League show every Saturday, either on talkSPORT, Final Score, Premier Soccer Saturday
or as an analyst for Setanta Sports
' live matches.
Holland began work with RTÉ
when he commentated along side George Hamilton during the Rep. of Ireland and Brazil friendly. He then appeared as a member of the panel on RTÉ's Premier Soccer Saturday for a number of weeks. He commentated the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
footballer, who represented Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland national football team
The Republic of Ireland national football team represents Ireland in association football. It is run by the Football Association of Ireland and currently plays home fixtures at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, which opened in May 2010....
at international level. Since ending his football career he has worked in the media.
Early career
Initially rejected by ArsenalArsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
for being 'too small' he went to West Ham United
West Ham United F.C.
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current...
where he moved up the ranks of the academy
The Academy of Football
The Academy of Football, or just The Academy, is a nickname of the English football club West Ham United.The title pays homage to the success of the club in coaching talented young players...
but did not play for the first team.
Bournemouth
In order to gain first team football, he joined South Coast side BournemouthA.F.C. Bournemouth
A.F.C. Bournemouth is an English football club currently playing in Football League One. The club plays at Dean Court in Kings Park, Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset and have been in existence since 1899....
in January 1995. He played a total of 104 games, scoring 18 goals whilst at Dean Court, and also became captain.
Ipswich Town
In the summer of 1997, Holland joined for a fee of £800,000. He again became team captain andcaptained the club into the Premier League by winning the First Division
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
play-offs in 2000. He captained the club to a fifth place finish and qualification for the UEFA Cup
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
in their first season in the Premier League in 2001. Though Ipswich were relegated in 2002 he stayed with the club after he turned down a £4.5 million move to . His spell at Ipswich is most remembered for the consistency he showed, after playing 223 consecutive games and only missing one league match (due to international duty) in the six years he was at Portman Road
Portman Road
Portman Road is an association football stadium in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. It has been the home ground of Ipswich Town F.C. since 1884. The stadium has also hosted a number of England youth international matches, and one senior England friendly international match, against Croatia in 2003...
.
Charlton Athletic
After Ipswich failed to win promotion in 2003, Holland moved back to the Premier League by joining for an initial £750,000 fee which later rose to £900,000. Again with this move he assumed the captain's armband and was ever-present in his first season for the club. One of the longest-serving Charlton players, he claimed more than half the entire vote for the 2007–08 Fans' Player of the Year award to overwhelmingly succeed 2006–07 winner Scott CarsonScott Carson
Scott Paul Carson is an English footballer who plays for Bursaspor as a goalkeeper.He joined the Leeds United football academy in 2002, making his full first team debut for Leeds against Manchester United in February 2004...
, who became the first ever loan player to win the award the previous season.
After Charlton
In July 2009, Holland had an unsuccessful trial with Colchester UnitedColchester United F.C.
Colchester United Football Club is an English football club based in Colchester. The club was formed in 1937, and briefly shared their old Layer Road home with now defunct side Colchester Town who had previously used the ground from 1910....
following his release from Charlton.
International career
Although born in England, he qualified to play for Ireland through his grandmother who hailed from County Monaghan. He went with the Republic of IrelandRepublic of Ireland national football team
The Republic of Ireland national football team represents Ireland in association football. It is run by the Football Association of Ireland and currently plays home fixtures at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, which opened in May 2010....
to the 2002 World Cup
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup was the 17th staging of the FIFA World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan from 31 May to 30 June. It was also the first World Cup held in Asia, and the last in which the golden goal rule was implemented. Brazil won the tournament for a record fifth time, beating Germany 2–0...
scoring the equaliser against Cameroon
Cameroon national football team
The Cameroon national football team, nicknamed Les Lions Indomptables , is controlled by the Fédération Camerounaise de Football and is Africa's most successful side in FIFA world cup; having qualified for the FIFA World Cup six times – in 1982, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2010– more than any...
in their opening game. Ireland were eliminated from this tournament in a Second Round penalty shootout against Spain
Spain national football team
The Spain national football team represents Spain in international association football and is controlled by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the governing body for football in Spain. The current head coach is Vicente del Bosque...
and Holland was selected to take a penalty, but missed it. Following Ireland's failure to qualify for the 2006 World Cup
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...
, he announced his retirement from international football in early February 2006 having made 49 appearances and scoring 5 goals.
Club
| Season | Club | Division | League | FA Cup FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's... |
League Cup Football League Cup The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis... |
FA Trophy FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a knockout cup competition in English football, run by and named after The Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams... |
Play Offs Football League Play-Offs The Football League play-offs are an annual series of football matches to determine some of the promotion places within the Football League. Essentially, each division of the league offers a certain number of automatic promotion places to the top two or three clubs. A further promotion place is... |
Europe | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| 1992–93 | West Ham United West Ham United F.C. West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current... |
Division 1 Football League First Division The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship.... |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1993–94 FA Premier League 1993-94 -New league sponsors:From the start of the 1993-94 season, the FA Premier League was sponsored by Carling Breweries.-Promoted teams:Newcastle United and West Ham were promoted to the Premier League from the First Division as champions and runners-up respectively. The last promotion place was won by... |
Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1994–95 FA Premier League 1994-95 -Promoted teams:Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest were promoted from the Football League First Division as winners and runners-up respectively. Leicester City won the 1993-94 playoff.-Controversial incidents:... |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| West Ham United total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1994–95 | Bournemouth A.F.C. Bournemouth A.F.C. Bournemouth is an English football club currently playing in Football League One. The club plays at Dean Court in Kings Park, Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset and have been in existence since 1899.... (loan) |
Division 2 Football League Second Division From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams... |
15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 1 |
| 1995–96 | Bournemouth A.F.C. Bournemouth A.F.C. Bournemouth is an English football club currently playing in Football League One. The club plays at Dean Court in Kings Park, Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset and have been in existence since 1899.... |
44 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 10 | |
| 1996–97 | 45 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 7 | ||
| Bournemouth total | 104 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 116 | 18 | ||
| 1997–98 | Ipswich Town Ipswich Town F.C. Ipswich Town Football Club are an English professional football team based in Ipswich, Suffolk. As of 2011, they play in the Football League Championship, having last appeared in the Premier League in 2001–02.... |
Division 1 Football League First Division The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship.... |
45 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 58 | 12 |
| 1998–99 | 46 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 54 | 9 | ||
| 1999–00 | 46 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 54 | 10 | ||
| 2000–01 | Premier League | 38 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 5 | |
| 2001–02 | 38 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 46 | 3 | ||
| 2002–03 | Division 1 Football League First Division The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship.... |
45 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 54 | 7 | |
| Ipswich total | 258 | 38 | 12 | 0 | 24 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 12 | 0 | 313 | 46 | ||
| 2003–04 | Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic F.C. Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. They compete in Football League One, the third tier of English football. The club was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area,... |
Premier League | 38 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 6 |
| 2004–05 | 32 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 3 | ||
| 2005–06 | 23 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 2 | ||
| 2006–07 FA Premier League 2006-07 The 2006–07 FA Premier League was the fifteenth season of the FA Premier League since its establishment in 1992. The season started on 19 August 2006 and concluded on 13 May 2007.... |
33 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 1 | ||
| 2007–08 | Championship Football League Championship The Football League Championship is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League... |
31 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 1 | |
| 2008–09 | 34 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 1 | ||
| Charlton Athletic total | 191 | 13 | 15 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 215 | 14 | ||
| 69 | 30 | 1 | 39 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 12 | 0 | 644 | 78 | ||||
- Stats accurate as of 19:36, 29 December 2009.
Media career
He was one of several players and managers (including Danny MillsDanny Mills
Daniel John Mills is a former English professional footballer best known for his time at Leeds United. His main position was right-back, though he could also play as central defender...
and Paul Jewell
Paul Jewell
Paul Steven Jewell is a former English footballer who is currently the manager of Ipswich Town.His playing career started with Liverpool before moving to Wigan Athletic and then a ten-year spell with Bradford City...
) who acted as summarisers for BBC Radio Five Live
BBC Radio Five Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
during the 2006 World Cup
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...
. Holland has also appeared on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television program A Question of Sport
A Question of Sport
A Question of Sport is a long-running BBC quiz show which started on 2 December 1968 and continues to this day. It is currently recorded at The Studios, MediaCityUK...
and the radio quiz Fighting Talk
Fighting Talk
Fighting Talk is a topical sports show broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live during the English football season. Its first series aired in October 2003, and was presented by Johnny Vaughan. The second series featured Christian O'Connell. It is currently hosted by Colin Murray and is aired on Saturday...
. Holland as a freelance pundit has appeared on nearly every media outlet covering football in the UK. He has been a pundit on ESPN & Sky Sports
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
, appeared on BBC results service Final Score on the odd Saturday afternoon and appeared on ITV commentating on the UEFA Cup. He is also a presenter for the Eastern England edition of the BBC regional football show Late Kick Off
Late Kick Off
Late Kick Off was a BBC One regional television football programme which was launched on 18 January 2010 and ran up to and including the 2010-2011 football season...
.
He has also appeared on many radio shows, he usually appears on talkSPORT
TalkSPORT
Talksport , owned by UTV radio, is one of the United Kingdom's three terrestrial analogue Independent National Radio broadcasters, offering a sports and talk radio service broadcast from London to the United Kingdom....
on kick off usually on Thursday nights and also appearing on Matchday Live on Saturday afternoons whenever he is not on Final Score. Holland has also appeared frequently on BBC Radio 5 Live as a Co Commentator. He usually appears on some sort of Premier League show every Saturday, either on talkSPORT, Final Score, Premier Soccer Saturday
Premier Soccer Saturday
Premier Soccer Saturday is the principal weekly club association football programme on RTÉ.It is broadcast on RTÉ Two every Saturday evening between 19:30 and 21:00 and occasionally on Sunday during the English league soccer season, showing highlights of Premier League football matches...
or as an analyst for Setanta Sports
Setanta Sports
Setanta Sports is an international sports broadcaster based in Dublin, Ireland. Setanta Sports was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events...
' live matches.
Holland began work with RTÉ
RTE
RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...
when he commentated along side George Hamilton during the Rep. of Ireland and Brazil friendly. He then appeared as a member of the panel on RTÉ's Premier Soccer Saturday for a number of weeks. He commentated the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
External links
- Matt Holland player profile at cafc.co.uk