Dougie Freedman

Douglas Alan Freedman (born 25 May 1974) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player.

He is the current sporting director of Crystal Palace.

Freedman played as a striker, primarily for Crystal Palace and also had spells as a player at Queens Park Rangers, Barnet, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Nottingham Forest, Leeds United and Southend United.

He then scored crucial goals in the 89th and 90th minutes of their Play Off semi-final tie with Wolves after coming off the bench with 17 minutes left.

Palace went on to win promotion in the Wembley Play Off final, beating Sheffield United 1–0.

Freedman began his career with top flight Queens Park Rangers in 1992, but never made their first team.

He moved to Third Division Barnet on a free transfer in July 1994, aged 20.

He made his league debut in August 1994 and quickly became the club's leading player as he struck 24 goals in his debut season.

A bright start to the following season attracted the interest of Crystal Palace.

Freedman was signed by Crystal Palace for a fee of £800,000 in September 1995.

He instantly showed he could continue his goalscoring form at the higher level when he netted 20 times in the 1995–96 season.

This haul included an 11-minute hat-trick against Grimsby Town on 5 March 1996.

The following, 1996–97 season saw a less prolific 11 league goals but helped the club to the promotion play-offs.

Freedman's experience of Premier League football in the 1997–98 season proved short-lived though as he only managed seven top flight games before being sold to Wolves.

Freedman joined Wolves, initially on loan, in October 1997.

After impressing with two goals in as many games, Wolves quickly made his contract permanent in a £800,000 combined deal with Palace defender Kevin Muscat.

However, Freedman's time at Wolves only lasted until the end of the 1997–98 season.

He was the team's top goalscorer with 13 in total in a season that saw Wolves fail to mount a serious promotion challenge.

The emergence of striker Robbie Keane during the season helped convince Wolves to sell Freedman.

In August 1998 Freedman signed for newly promoted Premier League side Nottingham Forest for a fee of £900,000.

He made his first appearance for Forest on 17 August 1998 as a substitute in a 2–1 defeat at Arsenal.

In his first full campaign in the top flight in 1998–99 he scored 9 league goals for Forest who were relegated that season to Division One.

In his second season at Forest in 1999–2000, the club languished in mid-table under manager David Platt.

Freedman made a total of 81 appearances, and scoring 23 goals, before being sold to Crystal Palace in October 2000.

Freedman rejoined Palace in October 2000 for a transfer fee of £600,000.

He rejoined the club during a relegation threatened campaign, but one which ended with perhaps his most famous goal for the club.

Relegation to the third tier loomed in their final game of the season at Stockport County, with three minutes left and no score.

Freedman then scored the vital goal that kept Palace in the division and relegated Huddersfield Town.

The following season saw Freedman bag 21 goals in all competitions, his best seasonal tally for Palace.

This also earned him a call-up to the Scotland national team, to add to his earlier Under 21 caps.

However, the next season was less of a personal success as he was dropped from the Scotland side, and began to find his appearances limited at Palace, as manager Trevor Francis largely preferred Ade Akinbiyi, Dele Adebola, and Andy Johnson to him.

Freedman had two caps for the Scotland national team where he scored one goal in a 2002 World Cup qualifier against Latvia.

His fortunes were revived in 2003–04 though, as he re-established himself as a first choice regular under new manager Iain Dowie.

A strong surge in the second half of the season saw the club go from relegation contenders to the promotion play-offs.

Freedman scored during the penalty shootout victory at Sunderland in the semi-finals to help the club to the final.

He was an unused substitute in the final though, which saw the club beat West Ham, the second time he had been promoted with the club.

Despite only spending a short spell at Barnet at the beginning of his playing career, Freedman was voted as the fans' favourite player in the club's all-time history in late 2007.

Freedman started his managerial career with Crystal Palace in 2011.

He moved to fellow Championship club Bolton Wanderers in 2012, but left this position in October 2014.

He became manager of Nottingham Forest in February 2015, with whom he parted company in March 2016.