Matt Holland

For other people named Matthew Holland, see Matthew Holland (disambiguation).
Matt Holland

Holland playing for Charlton Athletic in 2008.
Personal information
Full name Matthew Rhys Holland
Date of birth (1974-04-11) 11 April 1974
Place of birth Bury, Greater Manchester, England
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1992–1995 West Ham United 0 (0)
1994–1995 → Bournemouth (loan) 15 (1)
1995–1997 Bournemouth 89 (17)
1997–2003 Ipswich Town 258 (38)
2003–2009 Charlton Athletic 191 (13)
Total 553 (69)
National team
1999–2006 Republic of Ireland 49 (5)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Matthew Rhys "Matt" Holland (born 11 April 1974) is a former professional footballer, who played as a central midfielder. He began his career at West Ham United and subsequently joined Bournemouth, before spending long spells at Ipswich Town and Charlton Athletic, where he retired in 2009.

He represented the Republic of Ireland from 1999 to 2006 at international level, earning 49 caps and scoring 5 goals. He was included in their squad for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Since ending his football career he has worked in the media, including with the BBC, Setanta Sports, Talksport and RTÉ.

Club career

Early career

Initially rejected by Arsenal 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.

Bournemouth

In order to gain first team football, he joined South Coast side Bournemouth 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 Ipswich Town for a fee of £800,000. He again became team captain and 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 Aston Villa. 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.

Charlton Athletic

After Ipswich failed to win promotion in 2003, Holland moved back to the Premier League by joining Charlton Athletic on a four-year contract for an initial £750,000 fee,[1] 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.[2] His final match came in a 2–2 draw with Cardiff on 21 April 2009,[3] and the club released him after relegation to League One at the end of the season.

In July 2009, Holland trained with Colchester United following his release from Charlton in order to keep himself fit.[4]

International career

Although born in England, Holland qualified to play for the Republic of Ireland through his grandmother who hailed from County Monaghan.[5] He made his international debut on 9 October 1999 in an away Euro 2000 qualifier against Macedonia, playing the last five minutes as a substitute for Mark Kennedy.[6] His first goal came on his fifth cap, the equaliser in a 1–1 draw with Portugal on 7 October 2000 in qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.[7] Holland captained the side in three internationals, the first on his 28th cap, a 2–0 friendly defeat to Scotland.[8]

He went with the Republic of Ireland 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 shoot-out against Spain, with Holland among those who missed. Following Ireland's failure to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, he announced his retirement from international football on 5 February 2006 having made 49 appearances and scoring five goals. Manager Steve Staunton had attempted to persuade Holland to continue.[9]

Career statistics

Season Club Division League FA Cup League Cup FA Trophy Play Offs Europe Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
1992–93West Ham UnitedDivision 100000000000000
1993–94Premier League00000000000000
1994–9500000000000000
West Ham United total 00000000000000
1994–95Bournemouth (loan)Division 21510000000000151
1995–96Bournemouth441020403000005010
1996–974571020000000487
Bournemouth total 10418306030000011618
1997–98Ipswich TownDivision 1451040720020005812
1998–994652042002200549
1999–00461010400030005410
2000–01Premier League3832072000000475
2001–023831010000060463
2002–03Division 14572010000060547
Ipswich total 25838120246007212031346
2003–04Charlton AthleticPremier League3861020000000416
2004–053233010000000363
2005–062315120000000302
2006–073311020000000361
2007–08Championship3112010000000341
2008–093413010000000381
Charlton Athletic total 191131519000000021514
Career total 55369301396307212064478

Post-football career

He was one of several players and managers (including Danny Mills 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.[11]

He has also appeared on many radio shows, he usually appears on talkSPORT on kick off usually on Friday nights and also appearing on Matchday Live on Saturday afternoons whenever he is not on Final Score. Holland has also appeared frequently on Absolute Radio and BBC Radio 5 Live as a co-commentator as well as Final Score, Premier Soccer Saturday or talkSPORT. In addition Holland previously appeared as an analyst for Setanta Sports' live matches.

Holland began work with RTÉ when he commentated alongside 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.[12][13]

Holland lives in Essex.[14]

References

  1. ↑ "Charlton sign Holland". The Daily Telegraph. London. 16 June 2003.
  2. ↑ Charlton Athletic Playing Squad – Matt Holland
  3. ↑ Matthew Holland Bio, Stats, News – Football / Soccer – - ESPN FC
  4. ↑ "Colchester rule out Holland move". eleven-a-side.com. 30 July 2009. Retrieved 24 August 2009.
  5. ↑ Premiership life a beach for Holland – Telegraph
  6. ↑ Macedonia and Rep. of Ireland national football teams played to a 1:1 draw, 9 October 1999 – eu-football.info
  7. ↑ Portugal and Rep. of Ireland national football teams played to a 1:1 draw, 7 October 2000 – eu-football.info
  8. ↑ Matt Holland – national football team player – eu-football.info
  9. ↑ "Holland ends international career". BBC News. 5 February 2006.
  10. ↑ "Matt Holland Career Stats". Soccerbase. 28 December 2009. Retrieved 28 December 2009.
  11. ↑ "Matt Holland presents BBC One's Late Kick Off". BBC Suffolk. 16 January 2010. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
  12. ↑ Black, Fergus (2 June 2010). "RTÉ hopes Ossie and squad will spur fans to back home team". Irish Independent. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
  13. ↑ O'Malley, Carl (2 June 2010). "RTÉ roll out big guns for their 56 live games". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
  14. ↑ Question of Sport, 12 March 2014
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