England legend Graeme Le Saux gives stirring team talk to intra-mural team

When a 5-a-side team at Bournemouth decided to name themselves “Le Saux Solid Crew” – a reference to former Chelsea full-back Graeme Le Saux and UKG group So Solid Crew – they did so with the ambition to one day get their defensive idol to deliver a team talk.

And, just like he did with so many pacy runs down the left flank at Stamford Bridge, Graeme delivered.

Ahead of the season starting, the team turned to Twitter to try and get Graeme on board. Eventually, DMs were exchanged, an agreement was reached, and a date was set for Graeme to speak to the lads on the phone before kick-off.

He told them they were representing the family name

Concerted effort, via social media, to contact Mr le Saux.

Initially the team hoped Graeme would deliver his team talk prior to the opening fixture, but it wasn’t to be. Instead, it took a few weeks for Graeme to deliver, and it wasn’t until the team had suffered their first defeat of the season that the former England international finally rang.

As a player Graeme was always known as being a cut above the rest because he had gone to uni and read The Guardian. Even in retirement, the team said the man remains a class act.

Le Saux Soild Crew

Graeme inspired the guys with a series of motivational statements such as “I don’t want you to feel pressured, I want you to feel motivated” and telling them tales from his time as a professional footballer.

He told them: “Whenever people were late to training, that was a couple of hundred quid in the Christmas fund. Whoever was late most often tried to get their money’s worth at the Christmas party.”

One of the team said: “He spoke individually with each of the players, keeping us entertained with little anecdotes of his time as a player, and made sure to impress on each of us that we were representing the Le Saux family name.”

A true man of class, which can’t be said of a lot of people who have played for Chelsea FC.

His team talk obviously worked wonders, as the team fought strongly over the two halves to win a close game 10-7 – moving them up to second in the league table, trailing the leaders on only goal difference.

We are (joint) top of the league!

Captain Oli Wright was delighted to hear from Graeme.

“I’m surprised it actually happened – we went three weeks without any contact. But it made my day, my week, my month – possibly my year. This may be the biggest achievement of my life.

“It demonstrates the power of social media in today’s society, that you can attempt to get in contact with a celebrity or an idol. I’ve never had any contact with a celebrity and now I’m in weekly contact with Graeme Le Saux.”