Ben and Frazer are joined in the All Things Business studio by Leeds and Liverpool legend Dom Matteo, along with his wife: dancer and entrepreneur Jess Matteo.
The couple first met when Dom signed for Leeds, but she was primarily working in America at the time. They dated briefly until she had to return to the States but reunited nine years later and have been together ever since.
Dom’s Career
Ben asks about the early stages of Dom’s career in the Liverpool academy. He shared a youth team with Kenny Dalglish’s son and was spotted by the manager at one of his games. Soon he was playing alongside the likes of Robbie Fowler and graduated to the first team, playing for Roy Evans and Gerard Houllier. In 2000, he moved onto Leeds. He found the move stressful initially but soon found his feet.
Ben asks Dom to put together an XI of players that he played with, and some of the legendary names that come up include Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard, Mark Viduka, David O’Leary and John Barnes.
Dom’s Retirement
When retirement came, Dom found himself still going to the training ground and feeling quite lost without the discipline and routine that professional football brought. He brought a bar in Leeds and some racehorses, but these ended up being negative influences on his life, developing problems with gambling. This tested his relationship with Jess, but they came through it together.
Unfortunately, tragedy struck in 2019. After experiencing headaches and blurred vision, he went to his GP who then referred him for a CT scan. His scan showed up a brain tumour and they kept him in the hospital where he subsequently had a seizure the next day. Jess recounts the trauma of his stay in hospital from her perspective, running off adrenaline during a nine-hour surgery. While he made a surprisingly quick recovery from the surgery itself, Dom’s struggles with things like reading and writing have continued even five years after having the tumour removed. The football world rallied around the family, taking over any press related to his recovery so Jess could focus on helping him in those tricky first months.
Dom Reuniting with his Birth Mother
The podcast ends with some discussion of Dom’s reunification with his birth mother Maggie. Dom found out he was adopted when he was nine but decided to seek her out her after his illness. It turned out that she had been in attendance at some of his games for Scotland, without knowing her son was on the pitch!
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Other All Things Business – The Podcast episodes can be found here.
