Gary Briggs (footballer)

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.

Gary Briggs
Personal information
Date of birth (1959-06-21) 21 June 1959
Place of birth Leeds, England
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Position(s) Centre back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1977–1978 Middlesbrough 0 (0)
1978–1989 Oxford United 420 (18)
1989–1995 Blackpool 137 (4)
1995–19?? Chorley ? (?)
Total 557 (22)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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.

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

● Playfair football annuals 1978-79 to 1995-96

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