Reginald Fidelas Vincent Freeman (20 December 1893 – 4 August 1955) was an English
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
player and manager.
Career
Player
Freeman played 104 times for
Oldham Athletic
Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system.
The history of Oldham Athletic ...
, making his debut in January 1921 against
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...
.
Freeman joined
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area.
Until the early 1800s, the a ...
from the Latics in May 1923 for £3,600.
Whilst playing left-back for Middlesbrough, the team won the
Second Division
In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
title in
1926–27 in impressive fashion, scoring 122 goals in 42 league games.
He made 29 league appearances that season.
Freeman missed the majority of the following season through injury as Middlesbrough were relegated from the First Division, but he would win another Second Division title in
1928–29 with the club.
In total Freeman spent seven seasons playing at
Ayresome Park
Ayresome Park was a football stadium in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, England. It was the home of Middlesbrough F.C. from its construction in time for the 1903–04 season, until the Riverside Stadium opened in 1995. It was demolished in 1997 and r ...
before leaving for
Rotherham United
Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...
for £150 in 1930, where he became player-manager in 1934.
He played war-time football for
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
as well.
Manager
Freeman was manager for
Rotherham United
Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...
from 1934 to 1952. Rotherham finished as runners-up three time in succession between 1947 and 1949 and then were champions of the
Third Division North
The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...
in
1950–51. He was appointed as manager of
Sheffield United for the
1952–53 season, and immediately led the club to the Second Division title.
United narrowly avoid relegation in
1953–54, finishing 20th in the
First Division.
Other season highlights include the debut of goalkeeper
Alan Hodgkinson
Alan Hodgkinson MBE (16 August 1936 – 8 December 2015) was an English professional football goalkeeper and goalkeeping coach.
Playing career
Hodgkinson signed for Sheffield United from Worksop Town on 1 August 1953, and made 675 first-team ap ...
, plus the first floodlit game at
Bramall Lane
Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United.
The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramal ...
since the 19th century.
Two big defeats early in the
1954–55 season caused concern, but United completed the league double over
Steel City derby rivals
Wednesday on their way to a 13th-place finish.
However Freeman was taken ill and died before the start of the
1955–56 season.
Career statistics
Honours
Player
Middlesbrough
*
Football League Second Division champions:
1926–27,
1928–29
Manager
Rotherham United
*
Football League Third Division North champions:
1950–51
Sheffield United
*
Football League Second Division champions:
1952–53
References
1893 births
1955 deaths
Northern Nomads F.C. players
Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players
Middlesbrough F.C. players
Rotherham United F.C. players
English Football League players
English football managers
Rotherham United F.C. managers
Sheffield United F.C. managers
English Football League managers
English footballers
Association football fullbacks
{{England-footy-bio-stub