Le Tissier quits as Southampton ambassador after Ukraine tweet

LONDON : Southampton great Matt Le Tissier quit as an ambassador for the Premier League club on Wednesday after deleting a link to a social media post that questioned reports Russian forces executed civilians in Ukraine.

The former England international midfielder, who scored 161 goals in 443 league appearances for Southampton between 1986 and 2002, said on Twitter he had "decided to step aside".

"My views are my own and always have been, and it’s important to take this step today to avoid any confusion," he explained.

"This does not affect my relationship with and love for my club, and I will always remain a fan and supporter of everything Saints.

"I can, however, see that due to recent events it’s important to separate the work I believe in from my relationship with the club I have supported and played for most of my life."

Le Tissier had retweeted a post from the @UnityNewsNet account, adding the word 'this' and a pointing finger emoji.

The 53-year-old explained to his followers he deleted the tweet because people were "as usual missing the point" which he said was about "media manipulation".

United News net said Le Tissier had been 'cancelled' and was entitled to his opinion.

"All Matt Le Tissier did was share our tweet that said the MSM (mainstream media) has a history of lies and shouldn't be trusted," it said on Twitter.

Ukraine has accused the Russian military of massacring residents of Bucha, a town outside the capital Kyiv that Russian troops had occupied for several weeks before withdrawing. Moscow has called the allegations a "monstrous forgery."

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)