Matt Holland has achieved something that every footballer sets out to achieve during their playing careers. He has no regrets.
Born in Bury, north of Manchester, in April 1974, Holland made almost 700 appearances during his career for AFC Bournemouth, Ipswich Town, Charlton Athletic and the Republic of Ireland, qualifying through his County Monaghan-born grandmother. He would captain all four.
The former Academy of Football midfielder represented his country 49 times and was included in the Ireland squad for the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals.
Holland has been a football fanatic since his youth and joined the Hammers at the age of 15 after previous spells with Southampton and Arsenal.
“Football has always been my thing,” Holland said. “I always used to go to watch my Dad play on a Saturday afternoon and I always played with a ball on the sidelines whilst I was watching.
“I was football mad, in fact I even slept in my first pair of football boots! Football has just been my ultimate passion right from the very start.
"My Dad actually received an offer from Barrow when they were in the Football League but he turned it down. He had a secure job at a bank and he was more than happy playing football on a Saturday afternoon with friends. Those are my early memories of football and that's where my journey began.
“I moved South at the age of nine. I was playing local football and Southampton approached me when I was eleven. They were the first club that I ever signed for. I then signed for Arsenal at the age of 13 but they released me two years later for being too small, which was a polite way of saying that I wasn’t good enough at that time.
“I started to play local and county football again and six to eight months later Frank Lampard Senior was on the touchline watching one of my matches. I was invited to train with West Ham and I signed for the club a few weeks later after some positive training sessions and matches.”
LESSONS AT CHADWELL HEATH
The young Holland enjoyed his time at Chadwell Heath, learning important lessons from some Hammers legends.
Holland continued: “I absolutely loved my time at West Ham. I matured immensely during my time at the club and as a team we worked extremely hard, whether that was in training or whether we were doing jobs. We cleaned the first team players’ boots, we tidied the training ground and so on. I remember Ronnie Boyce used to check the top of the doors for dust to see if we had done our jobs properly!
“It was a great learning curve for me. Paul Hilton was in charge of the youth team and Tony Carr was the reserves manager when I was coming through. I remember looking up to some of the first team players at that time including the likes of Alvin Martin, Tony Gale, Julian Dicks, Frank McAvennie and so on. I used to talk to them and pick their brains. They gave me some great advice.
“Stuart Slater in particular was superb with me. I was his designated ‘boot boy’ and I remember him giving me a big bonus at Christmas. He was a fantastic role model for me to have during my time in youth football. It was a fantastic time for me and I look back at my time at West Ham with great fondness.”
Holland faced tough competition for places, though, with the midfielder struggling to break into the senior side.
After two loan spells and an honest conversation with manager Harry Redknapp, Holland decided that it was time to pursue a new chapter.
“I had two loan spells before leaving the club. I went to Farnborough Town who were non-league and a year later I went on loan to Bournemouth. Harry Redknapp was the West Ham manager at that time and he had a good relationship with Bournemouth so I went there on loan.
“At the end of my loan spell I had a chat with Harry and he told me that he was happy for me to stay at the club and that I would be offered a new deal. However, he was very honest and he said that I was his fifth or sixth-choice centre midfielder and that I wasn’t immediately in his plans.
“At that point I felt that I needed to leave. I wasn’t going to progress as a footballer in the reserve team and I decided to sign for Bournemouth permanently. It was the right thing for me to do at that stage in my career.
“Results matter when you play for a first team, and you didn’t really feel that way when you played for the reserves. I loved my time at West Ham but that felt like the right moment for me to start a new journey at a new club.”
MOVING ON
After making over 100 appearances for Bournemouth, Holland signed for Ipswich Town in 1997 and captained the Suffolk side to promotion to the Premier League through the Play-Offs in 2000.
He spent six years with the Tractor Boys, making over 300 appearances before departing for Charlton in 2003. But moments into his Charlton debut, Holland was struggling. He was unable to tell his own side from the opposition.
“Being colour blind has never been a massive problem throughout my career,” Holland reflected. “Most of the time the opposition wore a completely different colour to the one my team wore, so it’s normally fine for me. There were times in training where the bibs are slightly similar colours and I struggled to differentiate.
“One match stands out in particular and it was my very first match for Charlton. It was pre-season and we were away to Plymouth. We were wearing red and they were wearing dark green and I could not see the difference between the two shirts. I ran over to the bench and Mervyn Day, who used to play for West Ham, was the assistant to Alan Curbishley and I told him that I was colour blind and that I couldn’t tell the difference between the shirts. That’s the only time that I have ever really been affected in a match.”
BEHIND THE MIC
Since retiring from football, Holland has stepped into the world of sports media and has worked with the BBC, Talksport and BT Sport.
Twenty years on from achieving his boyhood dream of representing his country at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, where he scored against Cameroon but unfortunately missed a penalty in the round of 16 defeat by Spain, the 48-year-old travelled to Qatar to commentate on the action.
He concluded: “I look back on my career with a great sense of pride. I’m not sure how much more that I could’ve got out of my career. I was never the most talented player but I was wholehearted and I always gave my everything on the training ground and in matches. There were better players than me that never made it as a professional but my mindset was always right and I’m immensely proud of what I have achieved.
“I was always ambitious and I always had dreams. Every footballer wants to play on the biggest stage and the biggest stage is the World Cup. That was so special for me. My first memory of watching the World Cup was 1982 and Brazil were always my favourite team to watch. To say that I have played at a World Cup is so special.
“I’ve been working in the media since I retired. My plan was to leave as many doors open as possible when I finished my career. I did my coaching badges and I did some media work too. When I retired the door that opened the widest was the media side of things. I was asked to do commentary and some bits in-studio and I really enjoyed it. It took off from there.
“I was fortunate to go to Qatar, where I was commentating for the Host Broadcasting Services alongside Simon Brotherton. I covered ten matches and I was able to go and watch another four or five as well. It was a fantastic experience and a fabulous World Cup. It was obviously controversial for Qatar to be the host nation, but I had a very enjoyable experience.”