Welsh footballer and manager
Roger Freestone
(born 19 August 1968) is a former
Wales
international
goalkeeper
. He has the distinction of being one of a relatively small group of
British footballers to play 500
English Football League
matches for one club, the only other Welshmen being
Ryan Giggs
,
Neville Southall
and
Len Weare
.
Club career
[
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]
Born in
Caerleon
, near
Newport
,
Monmouthshire
, Freestone began his career at
Newport County
as a trainee before moving to
Chelsea
in 1987 for £95,000. During his time there he was never the established first choice, being behind
Eddie Niedzwiecki
,
Kevin Hitchcock
and
Dave Beasant
, and was loaned out to
Swansea City
and
Hereford United
. He eventually joined Swansea on a permanent deal in 1991, for a fee of £45,000, and went on to spend over a decade, the majority of his career, at the Welsh club.
In 2001 a rumoured move to rivals
Cardiff City
was met with anger from Swansea fans as they did not want to lose him.
[2]
He left the club after thirteen years and went on to sign for
Newport County
in 2004, but his contract was cancelled several months later by mutual consent owing to recurring injury problems
[3]
and he eventually retired.
The way in which he left Swansea City angered a lot of fans. Then-manager Kenny Jackett said he made a tough choice in releasing Roger Freestone and the supporters felt they had missed an opportunity to give a proper send-off that he deserved for his contribution.
[4]
Freestone is considered a legend among Swansea fans. In 1995, he briefly became the clubs penalty taker, where he converted three out of three spot-kicks. His talent as a shot stopper lead to him keeping 22 clean sheets in a season, which was a club record,
[5]
until
Dorus de Vries
broke the record in the 2009?10 season.
[6]
International career
[
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]
Freestone played for Wales at schoolboy, under-21 and B level before winning his first and only cap against
Brazil
in 2000.
[7]
Management career
[
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]
Freestone had a short-lived stint as manager at Swansea along with
Nick Cusack
.
[8]
He currently manages youth side, Risca & Gelli United in the Islwyn Youth League.
Career statistics
[
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]
Honours
[
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]
Chelsea
Swansea City
References
[
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]
External links
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]