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Matthew Spring
Personal information
Full name	Matthew John Spring
Date of birth	17 November 1979 (1979-11-17) (age 30)
Place of birth	Harlow, Essex, England
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Charlton Athletic
Number	14
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1997–2004 2004–2005 2005–2007 2007–2009 2008–2009 2009–	Luton Town Leeds United Watford Luton Town → Sheffield United (loan) Charlton Athletic	250 (26) 013 0(1) 045 0(8) 058 (10) 011 0(1) 022 0(2)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:27, 19 December 2009 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Matthew John Spring (born 17 November 1979, in Harlow, Essex) is an English central midfielder playing for Charlton Athletic.

Career

Luton Town

Spring started his career at Luton, making his debut as a half-time substitute in a 3-0 loss to Bristol City on 27 September 1997. He went onto make 12 further appearances that season, and in the 1998-99 season established himself as a first-team regular. In total he made 289 appearances for the Hatters, scoring 30 goals.

Leeds United

Despite missing the last three months of the 2003-04 season through injury, Spring was signed by newly appointed Leeds United manager Kevin Blackwell on a Bosman transfer, as he re-modelled his newly relegated side. Spring's first season in the Championship was an unhappy one, with a combination of injuries and personal problems restricting him to just 15 appearances.

Watford

As the 2005-06 season commenced Watford manager Adrian Boothroyd, who had worked with Spring when he was first team coach at Leeds, brought the midfielder to Vicarage Road to be part of his reshaped side. Spring scored on his debut, coming off the bench to put in a late third in a 3-1 victory over Burnley on 20 August 2006. As Boothroyd's side flew high in the Division, Spring, a regular in the side, scored 7 further goals from central midfield by January. However, he did not score again until Watford reached the play-offs in May, when he scored the third goal in the 3-0 victory against Crystal Palace in the first leg of the semi-final.

Spring's chances were limited in Watford's Premiership campaign. Making only two starts all season, he found himself behind new signing Damien Francis and Al Bangura.

Luton Town

On 18 January 2007 Luton signed Spring back from Watford for a fee of £200,000 (rising to £300,000).

On 31 July 2008, Spring joined Sheffield United on a year long loan deal, signalling the end of a disappointing second stint at Luton Town.^[1] He made his debut for the Blades in the first round of the League Cup, a home tie against Port Vale in August of that year.^[2] Injuries initially hampered his time at Bramall Lane but by October he began to feature regularly for the first team. He netted his first goal for the Blades at the end of November.^[3]

Spring's loan deal with The Blades was cut short and he was released at the start of January to seek a permanent move elsewhere following his lack of first team opportunities.^[4]

Charlton Athletic

On January 9 he joined Charlton on an 18-month contract.^[5] Since joining the Addicks has winner against rivals Crystal Palace in his third game for his new employers.

Rivalry

Spring is one of the few players to have played for both Luton and their arch-rivals Watford. On the 10 September 2002 he scored a 30-yard goal in a 2-1 victory over Watford in the League Cup, the first meeting of the two sides for over three years. Meanwhile Watford supporters often regailed Spring with the chant of "Oh Springy, Springy, used to be a scummer but he's alright now" during his time at the club.

Miscellaneous

Matthew grew up a fan of Everton FC. He attended the Broxbourne School in Hertfordshire, two years below Stephen Clemence, son of goalkeeping legend Ray Clemence, who also pursued a career in professional football, playing in midfield for Tottenham Hotspur, Birmingham City and Leicester City.

References

External links

• Matthew Spring career stats at Soccerbase