Gary Briggs (footballer)

Last updated

Gary Briggs
Personal information
Date of birth (1959-06-21) 21 June 1959 (age 65)
Place of birth Leeds, England
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Position(s) Centre back
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1977–1978 Middlesbrough 0 (0)
1978–1989 Oxford United 420 (18)
1989–1995 Blackpool 137 (4)
1995–19?? Chorley ? (?)
Total557(22)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gary Briggs (born 21 June 1959) is an English retired professional footballer. He made over 500 league appearances in an eighteen-year playing career, during which he became known as a no-nonsense, tough-tackling defender, hence his "Rambo" nickname.

Contents

Career

In the 1977–78 season, at the age of eighteen, Briggs signed for Middlesbrough but didn't make any first-team appearances for the club. Later that season, he moved to Oxford United. The fee was settled at the Football League's first-ever transfer tribunal. [1] Briggs spent eleven years at the Manor Ground, where he received the nickname "Rambo" and became a cult hero, winning the club's "Player of the Year" accolade three times. He formed a successful central-defensive partnership with club captain Malcolm Shotton as United won three trophies between 1984 and 1986: the Division Three championship in 1983–84, the Division Two championship the following season, and the League Cup in 1986. [2]

In May 1989, after 418 league games and 18 league goals for Oxford, Briggs moved back north to Blackpool, where he saw out the rest of his career. "Blackpool looked a club going places – and I want to go with them," he said at the time. [3] In the 1991–92 season he made 26 appearances in a start-stop season, and was voted the club's Player of the Month for September, October and November 1991. [4] The 1993–94 campaign ended in nail-biting fashion: a final-day 4–1 victory over Leyton Orient at Bloomfield Road meant the Seasiders avoided relegation by one point. [5]

In 2002, Briggs played for Bispham Juniors, [6] whom he later managed. [7]

In March 2005, Briggs unveiled Executive Box 28 at Oxford United's Kassam Stadium in his name.

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References

  1. ↑ Past Players at OxfordMail.co.uk
  2. ↑ "The forgotten story of … Oxford United winning the 1986 League Cup" - The Guardian , 27 February 2016
  3. ↑ Gillatt, Peter (30 November 2009). Blackpool FC On This Day: History, Facts and Figures from Every Day of the Year. Pitch Publishing Ltd. ISBN   978-1-905411-50-4.
  4. ↑ Blackpool Evening Gazette , 6 December 1991
  5. ↑ Ridgway, Mark (2 May 2014). "The Past: Last Day Survivals". Blackpool F.C. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  6. ↑ "It's prize day at last for Gary". Blackpool Gazette. 14 March 2002. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  7. ↑ "Gary Briggs". Where Are They Now?. Retrieved 19 December 2018.

Sources

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