Le God to make one last appearance in a Saints' shirt (From Daily Echo)

Le God to make one last appearance in a Saints' shirt

9:06am Friday 4th July 2008 in

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MATT Le Tissier will make his last ever Saints appearance in Claus Lundekvam's testimonial match against Celtic.

The Saints legend has confirmed that he, along with Francis Benali, will join Lundekvam andMichael Svensson for an emotional farewell in the final 15 minutes of the game against Gordon Strachan's side.

Le Tissier has been keen to try and not take the focus away from Lundekvam but has confirmed he will also be saying a few farewells to the fans along with the big Norwegian.

He said: "I'm looking forward to it.

"I am playing in a game a few days before, so I will have recovered by then - I hope!

"I didn't want to take away from Claus' big day but it will be lovely for me and I'm very grateful that Claus has asked me to play and given me the chance to play at St Mary's and in front of the Saints fans one last time.

"I'm not getting any younger and there are no more testimonials coming up in the future, so I believe thiswill bemy last ever game for Saints and at St Mary's and the last time I will ever pull on the Saints shirt again.

"I just want to appeal to people to get their tickets and come along and support Claus on what should be a really special night."

The game doubles up as a pre-season friendly with Jan Poortvliet's first match in charge at St Mary's coming against the Scottish champions before the final 15 minutes which will feature the high profile Saints legends guest appearances.

With Lundekvam forking out a combined £250,000 sum to stage the match, which includes returfing the St Mary's pitch and fees to bring Celtic down, he needs a considerable attendance just to break even.

Le Tissier, chairman of Lundekvam's testimonial committee, has always insisted that breaking even and for everyone to have a good night is all the centre half is looking for to celebrate his 12 seasons at Saints.

Even sales of 20,000 tickets would hardly see Lundekvam pocket a penny out of the game so Le Tissier hopes that Saints fans will appreciate his gesture and get behind him so he doesn't end up out of pocket in his farewell match.

• See today's Daily Echo for the full story