Mathew Briggs

[Gary]

You know to this day i do not understand why we released him. Tall, fast, can play center back & left back! At some point even Manchester United were keeping tabs on him. sure hope Magath knows what he is doing cause Amorebeita is not left back material.

[Skatzoffc]

Sorry. Have  to disagree. He's had lots of chances and IMO has not delivered imo. Amo gets a lot of stick on here and I don't know why. I think he's better than Briggs.
Coyw

[SimpleTactics]

Too injury prone.

[Gary]

Surely you cant blame him for being injured..we had lts of good talent where only time and patience would have brought the best out of them. Remember Kerim Frei..same thing happened! I hope the same thing does not happen to Woodrow

[westcliff white]

Apparently he had attitude issues as well in relation to being a poor trainer. Also agree with Skatz had his chances and didn't take them

[dannyboi-ffc]

I would like to think neither amore or briggs would be anyone's choice for left back. I think amore got better towards the end but he would still be my 3rd choice cb on the bench. He's a good back up lb too so he kills two birds with one stone and saves a place on the bench for a different position.

Briggs was a weird one, i thought he was ok. Certainly not awful but he did get a few chances and never pushed on. You can't keep just being ok, he was also always injured especially when we were struggling for a lb (when richardson was always injured) which was frustrating. All in all i think the club made the right call releasing him. League one player at best. Physique and pace are great but you need the ability to defensive nous to go with it. That goal vs arsenal where he just stood there started the alarm bells even if he was young.

[dannyboi-ffc]

Surely you cant blame him for being injured..we had lts of good talent where only time and patience would have brought the best out of them. Remember Kerim Frei..same thing happened! I hope the same thing does not happen to Woodrow

Frei was decent but very one dimensional. He thought he was better than he was, a bit like tankovic. His dad was his agent and they were a nuisance.  His dad was down the training ground most days demanding a substantial pay rise which the club rightfully laughed off. In the end i think the club got rid of him rather than the other way round and he hasn't exactly lit the world alight since.

Briggs flat shared with frei when they both played for us and were good mates apparently so it wouldnt suprise me if briggs had the same poor attitude.

Its very frustrating for the club, you give these guys the chance of a lifetime and pay them bucket loads and they treat you like a  piece of poo. Woodrow looks to have his head screwed on, good asset for our club.

[Craven Mad]

His career hadn't progressed as it should've, probably due to a combination of the reasons above. Nonetheless, Briggs would've been a good squad option in my opinion. He also had experience of a promotion campaign (albeit an unsuccessful one) with Watford, too.

Sad to see him go.

[MasterHaynes]

Sorry but have to disagree, I'm afraid he never looked convincing and although he had all the physical attributes never seemed sure of what to do, relied on older players telling him where to run/position himself. The number of chances he had he really should have at the very least looked comfortable but rarely looked convincing positionally or closing down opponents. I thought he might press on but each season looked more and more like a stop gap. We have Kavanagh and Richards coming through at left back both of whom deserve a crack at the position.

[PaulJ123]

Briggs MIGHT make it as a decent LM, not a chance as a defender. As pointed out above, he has all the physical attributes to succeed but doesnt have a clue in regards to positioning etc.

Amore is a lot better than him at LB

[jmh]

You know to this day i do not understand why we released him. Tall, fast, can play center back & left back!

Yes, he can play two positions poorly.

[Nero]

from the description here we good have passed him off as the next glenn Johnson but right footed, get Liverpool on the phone

[Aaron]

He played a blinder and scored a fantastic goal against Crusaders away in the Europa League.  I'm pretty sure this was the first time I'd seen him play in the flesh and (despite the low quality of the opposition) I thought he was destined for bigger things. 

It turns out he wasn't, and he's not very good.

[HatterDon]

I think he has everything going for him physically, and I disagree that he's had "lots of chances." Both Hughes and Jol would give him a start against Chelsea or Arsenal and then drop him immediately afterwards.

Having said that, I dont' see him train. I don't know what his attitude is, and I don't know that the release was not his idea. So, I'll go with the club's decision.

Best of luck with the lad. I hope he finds a regular gig somewhere.

[bobby01]

You know to this day i do not understand why we released him. Tall, fast, can play center back & left back!

Yes, he can play two positions poorly.

A bit unfair really, he was good enough to be an u21 England centre half and I thought he played the position well, never suited to left back, but I think he has been poorly treated by the club in the last few years. Just my opinion and having met him socially he is also a nice fella.

[General]

I also remember him doing averagely when he played in the championship.. even though we're down in the championship the aim is to get back up to the premiership, not stay in the championship and be a middle of the table team there.

[bill taylors apprentice]

Another time another place he could have made it and it would have been interesting if he had been given an extended run in the team at some point.

But its over now and we have to be brutal and clear the decks, we need to remove the defeatist attitude, lazy and uncommitted as much as the poor quality players.

[Finnegans Wake]

Remember him playing against West Brom away season before? He got turned and left for dead ridiculously easily for their goal and then the same thing happened in the last few minutes and they nearly equalized.