Lee Briscoe

Date and Place of Birth 30th September 1975 - PONTEFRACT   Transfers to and from Burnley from SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY - 12th July 2000 released - 6th May 2003   First and Last Burnley Games BOLTON WANDERERS (a) - 12th August 2000   NORWICH CITY (a) - 12th April 2003 replaced by Gordon Armstrong   Other Clubs SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY, MANCHESTER CITY (loan) ---------------------------------------- PRESTON NORTH END

Burnley Career Stats

Profile by Tony Scholes

When Burnley won promotion in May 2000 with a 2-1 win against Scunthorpe at Glanford Park, Stan Ternent set about strengthening his squad for the 2000/01 season in Division One.

He made three signings, all of whom made their debuts on the opening day of the season at Bolton, one of whom was left back Lee Briscoe who had been released by Sheffield Wednesday.

Briscoe, coming through the youth ranks at Hillsborough, was thought to be a top player in the making. He made his debut in 1994 at the age of 18 and by April 1996 was called up to the England under-21s for whom he made four appearances in a twelve month period.

But his progress halted, he was proving to be an unpopular player with the fans, and in February 1998 he was loaned out to Manchester City who were then a division below Wednesday. It's hard to believe now but his five league appearances for City included games against Swindon and Oxford. He also scored the first goal of his career  when he netted City's second in a 3-1 win at Huddersfield.

Back at Hillsborough, his bit moment for the Owls came in September 1998 when he scored his only goal for the club, but even that was overshadowed by events prior to him even coming onto the pitch.

He was named as a substitute for the home game against Arsenal, a game that exploded right on half time when referee Paul Alcock sent off Arsenal's Martin Keown along with Wednesday's Paolo Di Canio in an incident that led to most of the two teams involved in a melee. Di Canio took exception, pushed Alcock to the ground and landed himself a ban of eleven games, one much shorter than most Sunderland fans would give him today.

Just 13 minutes into the second half, Briscoe was introduced as a substitute Niclas Aleandersson. He went on to miss a sitter, the best chance of the game, before blasting home a shot from just outside the box on the left hand side as Alcock was looking close to blowing the final whistle, a goal that gave Wednesday a 1-0 win.

He was in and out of the Wednesday team and at the end of the 1999/2000 season he was released having played just 78 league games for them with only 40 of  them starts.

It looked a good signing. Briscoe was 24 and had Premier League experience behind him. He quickly settled in at left back with Paul Weller on the right of a five man defence and kept his place until injury forced him off in a home game against Norwich.

He was out of the team for some time but came back and was in and out towards the end of the season but ended that first Turf Moor season back in the team.

The next season proved to be his best in terms of playing. He started all but two of the 43 league games as we spent most of the first half of the season on top of the league before managing to drop out of the play-off positions in the second half.

He might have  started all those games but the appearance most talked about was his one substitute appearance against Walsall at home. Ternent brought him on and played him in midfield with striker Ian Moore withdraw. It was much to the displeasure of the home crowd who had seen Walsall come back to equalise after we'd gone 2-0 up.

Briscoe immediately scored twice in three minutes and one further goal gave us a 5-2 victory. It left the manager having a go at the fans. "I was disappointed with the fans booking," he said. "Don't they trust me, don't they trust the players? And Brizza was a terrible sub wasn't he?"

The 2002/03 season proved to be Briscoe's last at Turf Moor. The season had its highs, certainly with the cup runs, and there were pockets of decent results in the league, but overall it was a disappointing season that left us down in 16th place with just 55 points.

An away defeat at Norwich proved to be his last game. He was substituted during the first half; Gordon Armstrong coming on for him, and Armstrong himself withdrawn early in the second half for Richard Chaplow to make a debut.

There were five games remaining with speculation that Briscoe, having learned he wouldn't be getting a new contract, having walked out of the club. He was certainly not in a match day squad again.

With Mo Camara having been brought in as his replacement, he signed for Preston during the following season but made just two appearances late in the season. He was substituted in both and was brought off long before half time in the second.

It signalled the end of his league career at the age of 28, a career that had seen him make a total of 191 league appearances, scoring nine goals.

He looked a decent player for us when he first signed but that early promise disappeared and there was very little to enthuse about during his last season and a half at Turf Moor, and that very much reflected the team's performance at that time.