BBC article on Matthew Briggs

FFChris · June 21, 2019, 03:19:04 PM

Quite interesting

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48372551

..FOF.. · June 21, 2019, 03:36:03 PM

I read his advice to Elliott as "be like Ryan Sess, which is to stay grounded and prove yourself at Fulham first without thinking too much about the transfer to big club because it will mess with your head."

Nero · June 21, 2019, 04:24:37 PM

Quote from: ..FOF.. on June 21, 2019, 03:36:03 PM
I read his advice to Elliott as "be like Ryan Sess, which is to stay grounded and prove yourself at Fulham first without thinking too much about the transfer to big club because it will mess with your head."

yep if he goes to Barca as rumoured he will just sit in the reserves with all his friends back in England, big risk for a young lad to go. When he can stay near his friends and get some 1st team football, 10k a week now a Barca may be the best it gets, x amount at Fulham first team football a big move may then be 80k per week in a couple of years, getting the cash in quick isnt always the best thing for you.

Dodgin · June 21, 2019, 04:32:39 PM

Interesting article, Matthew one of many young men who nearly made it. Wish him well.

hovewhite · June 21, 2019, 05:45:05 PM

Well he's still there believing which says to me he's a positive person who will always make a few quid££.

filham · June 21, 2019, 08:49:51 PM

Well ten years or so ago Briggs looked as if he had a big future, The big question for us right now is could Sess. be on the same route.

jarv · June 21, 2019, 09:37:53 PM

Interesting but a bit sad. It goes to show they need some nurturing and good advice at that age.

JoelH5 · June 21, 2019, 09:47:30 PM

"It was all Fulham's fault". Not the fact he wasnt good enough

JoelH5 · June 21, 2019, 09:48:26 PM

Quote from: filham on June 21, 2019, 08:49:51 PM
Well ten years or so ago Briggs looked as if he had a big future, The big question for us right now is could Sess. be on the same route.

Completely different situation. Briggs had a handful of appearances. Sessegnon has over 100

Andy S · June 22, 2019, 01:03:55 AM

Young people always need advice from people they trust. As long as those people have wide heads

..FOF.. · June 22, 2019, 01:27:26 AM

Quote from: JoelH5 on June 21, 2019, 09:47:30 PM
"It was all Fulham's fault". Not the fact he wasnt good enough

Probably need to read between the line and I don't find as a whole that he is blaming Fulham.

He was blaming his own mental state.

Slaphead in Qatar · June 22, 2019, 09:34:07 AM

Would have been better for him if he had been a teenager at championship level. Got games under his belt, learned his craft and then given the premier league a go

aaronmcguigan · June 22, 2019, 10:23:53 AM

Briggs was making headlines but went straight back into the Fulham youth team, not to start another first-team game for more than two and a half years.

"That knocked my confidence straight away and I don't think I ever came back from that, to be honest," Briggs said.

"As I was a big boy for my age I feel they treated me like I was already a man, and I was still very young mentally - I was still a kid and I needed that nurturing, support and guidance which I didn't really get."

You can't sit and say it isn't partly the clubs fault. Other than Sess who has been properly nurtured and given a decent chance, who else is there?
Throwing a kid in the first team then having him back in the youth games is a massive deal mentally that players who aren't mentally tough enough to deal with will struggle with.
I don't get the point of throwing 16 year olds in the first team before they've played maybe a full season progressing through the different age ranks or at least being out on loan.
The players need coached mentally and emotionally to deal with setbacks and I don't think Briggs and probably others got it.
You can say he wasn't good enough and it's his own fault, but the club were using him like some kind of marketing gimmick at the time. Even when he ended up back in the reserves they done a Cribs style promo Video with him and kerim frei.

The club need to give the youth a chance as well as an education in the realities of life. It looks as if we give them a chance, say in the league cup, and wait for their contract to run out while the footballers are none the wiser . I know we have player liaison officers but does this stretch to the academy?
The youth team have got to finals in the past few years so clearly there's something there but their strengths aren't being realised by the senior team, or they aren't being coached to really kick on either mentally or physically

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BBC article on Matthew Briggs