Matteo: Dominic

2000-2004 (Leeds Player Details) (Player Details)

Defender/Midfield

Born: Dumfries: 24-04-1974

Debut: v AC Milan (h): 19-09-2000

6’1” 12st 6lb (2003)

#34 in 100 Greatest LUFC Players Ever

Dominic Matteo was born in Scotland with English parents and Italian grandparents. He was first spotted by Liverpool scouts when playing for Birkdale United and he took the eye of Kenny Dalglish while he was watching his son Paul in action. Matteo joined Liverpool's School of Excellence with another eleven year old - Robbie Fowler. After progressing through the Liverpool Academy and Reserve teams, he made his Liverpool debut at Maine Road against Manchester City on 23rd October 1993 where he played on the left of midfield. Over the next couple of seasons he played in a variety of roles including left back, centre back and also in the midfield. He didn't have a set position in the side as the Liverpool staff went about working out which position would suit him best. He started the 1995-96 season as a sweeper and excelled to the extent that he was handed his first international call up for England. Unfortunately his subsequent England call-ups coincided with injury problems and in the following seasons he was unable to make the impact on the international stage that many felt his talent deserving of. Gerard Houllier saw him as a left back in his Liverpool restructuring plans, issuing a firm 'hands off' warning to any club thinking of launching a bid for the talented defender. The 1999-2000 season promised to be vital for Matteo in terms of establishing himself as a regular in the side, and a good end to the 1998-99 season along with an encouraging start to the following campaign suggested that, after a number of years on the fringes of the Liverpool team, he had finally made the big breakthrough and was in the side to stay. However, with Houllier opting for the experience of Staunton at left back, Matteo was once more faced with a fight to re-establish himself. Matteo had been loaned out to Sunderland in April/May 1995 and played one game there and had amassed a hundred and fifty-seven appearances for the Reds. This comprised one hundred and fourteen starts and fifteen appearances from the bench in League games, from which he had scored once, in the thirty-fifth minute with the third goal in a 7-1 romp against Southampton on 16th January 1999, and one further goal, after coming on as a thirty-fifth minute substitute for Steve Staunton, he scored the second goal in a 2-0 win at Huddersfield Town on 12th December 1999, in six starts and two games from the bench in the F.A. Cup Nine starts in the League Cup and seven starts in the European Cup Winners Cup and three starts and one substitute appearance in the UEFA Cup. While at Liverpool he made appearances for England Youth, gained one England 'B' cap, when he played the full game in a 1-2 defeat by Chile 'B' at the Hawthorns on 10th February 1998, and played four England Under-Twenty-One games, making his debut as a substitute for Dean Gordon of Crystal Palace in a 0-3 defeat by France on 31st May 1994 in the Toulon Tournament, in which he took part in three games, and then he started and played full games in a 2-0 win over Belgium on 5th June 1994 and also in another 2-0 win over Portugal two days later, before his final appearance in Aarau in a 0-2 defeat by Switzerland, in which he started but was replaced by Stephen Hughes of Arsenal. In the summer of 2000 Leeds United moved in to sign him for £4.75 million. They did so even though he was temporarily injured and it wasn’t until September that the deal was finalized. He was immediately thrust into the Leeds team at Elland Road on a night you would not have turned a dog out, but all was well as United triumphed over AC Milan. He quickly fitted into the Leeds team, no matter which position he was designated and he was rewarded with the first of his six Scottish caps, in a 0-2 defeat by Australia on 15th November 2000 at Hampden Park. He would no doubt have had more but he retired early from the international arena due to recurring injury problems, having represented Scotland four times in the World Cup Qualifiers in a 2-2 draw with Belgium on 24th March 2001, a 4-0 win over San Marino four days later and a 0-0 draw with Croatia on 1st September 2001, all at Hampden, before appearing in the 0-2 defeat by Belgium in Brussels four days later. He made his sixth and final appearance for Scotland in a 0-45 defeat by France in Paris on 27th March 2002. He continued to be one of Leeds' best players through their ECL campaign, in which they achieved a semi-final place. He is fondly remembered by Leeds fans especially for the goal he scored in that Champions League campaign at the San Siro against AC Milan, with the Leeds fans dedicating a chant to it. When Rio Ferdinand moved to Manchester United in the summer of 2002, Matteo was handed the full captaincy. When Leeds were relegated, and the club’s financial chaos was at its height, Matteo was compelled to leave on a free-transfer and signed a three-year contract on 7th July 2004 for Blackburn Rovers. He made his Blackburn debut against West Bromwich Albion in a 1–1 draw in the first game of the season on 14th August 2004. He scored once in thirty-six starts and three substitute appearances for Rovers. The goal came in one of the five games he started in the F.A. Cup, with Blackburn's third goal in the fifty-first minute of a 3-0 win over Colchester United at Ewood Park on 29th January 2005. In January 2007 Matteo moved to CCCL side Stoke City on a free transfer, where he signed a short term contract until the summer, playing a total of nine games and scoring one goal. Matteo still continued to play for Stoke during the club's 2007-08 pre-season campaign, despite being out of contract. However he was finally offered anew twelve-month contract by the club on 10th August 2007. He was made captain but he only played sporadically and had scored once, the second goal, in the twenty-sixth minute of a 2-0 win at Derby County on 21st February 2007, in twenty-three League starts and once in one start in the F.A. Cup but had seen no action after November 2007 until he came on as a substitute in a League Cup Tie against Cheltenham Town in August 2008. It was to be his last game as he had to have a major back operation and he retired in May 2009. Matteo studied for his UEFA coaching qualifications and was a coach for a short while and he also wrote a newspaper column, before becoming an ambassador for Leeds United.