Matthew Spring

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Personal information
Matthew Spring
Full name	Matthew Spring
Date of birth	November 17, 1979 (age 27)
Place of birth	Harlow, England
Height	6'0
Playing position	Centre Midfield
Club information
Current club	Luton Town
Number	7
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1997-2004 2004-2005 2005-2007 2007-	Luton Town Leeds United Watford Luton Town	250 (26) 013 0(1) 048 0(9) 007 0(0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:55, 4 March 2007 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Matthew Spring (born Harlow, 17 November 1979) is an English central midfielder currently playing for Luton Town.

[edit] Career

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.

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.

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 20th 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 didn't 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. On 18 January 2007 Luton signed Spring back from Watford for a fee of £200,000 (rising to £300,000).

[edit] Rivalry

Spring is one of the few players to have played for both Luton and their arch-rivals Watford. On the 10th 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. His subsequent transfer to Watford was controversial amongst Luton fans. 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.