Leeds United deal with Crystal Palace unearthed Elland Road cult hero – he’s had key Selhurst Park role recently | OneFootball

Dougie Freedman joined Leeds United on loan in the summer of 2008 and very nearly delivered League One promotion to Elland Road.

At the back end of the 2007/08 campaign, Leeds United brought in Crystal Palace striker Dougie Freedman on a season-long loan deal to propel the Whites into the play-off places of League One.

The then former two-cap Scotland international had been at Palace from 1995 to 1997 and then back at Selhurst Park from 2000, until his loan move to Elland Road eight years later.

Having already forged out cult hero status in Croydon, having also enjoyed reasonably impressive spells at Barnet, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest as well – Freedman then became a key figure in Yorkshire.

As one of English football’s giants tried to pick themselves up from a massive fall, Freedman’s performances and crucial goals helped Gary McAllister’s side clamber themselves into the play-off places in the third-tier.

Dougie Freedman’s impact for Leeds United

Leeds, due to their major financial issues, had started the 2007/08 League One season on -15 points following their relegation from the Championship in the previous campaign and survival was always the first and foremost priority.

They won their first seven games of the season to climb to 18th and, remarkably, had got themselves into the top six and the play-off places as soon as mid-November following a 2-1 defeat of Swindon Town thanks to a brace from Jermaine Beckford.

However, a run of just seven victories in 20 matches saw them tumble back towards the middle of the table before the impressive loan spell of Freedman helped them stabilise themselves for the play-offs.

Signed on 6 March 2008, Freedman notched a brace against Port Vale to open his account for Leeds, before another crucial match-winning brace to defeat Carlisle United by three goals to two.

He would then score another winning goal in the penultimate game of the season, as they defeated Yeovil Town by a goal to nil at Huish Park.

In the first-leg of their play-off semi-final tie against Carlisle, Leeds suffered a 2-1 loss at home in which Freedman scored.

He then turned provider with a crucial assist for the first of a Jonny Howson brace at Brunton Park in the second-leg as Leeds defeated the Cumbrians 2-0 to win 3-2 on aggregate before losing the final to Yorkshire rivals Doncaster Rovers by a goal to nil at Wembley Stadium.

The striker partnership that Freedman and Beckford struck up in those final few months of the 07/08 campaign is one that will live long in the memory of Leeds supporters.

Despite being 33 at the time of his move to Elland Road, Freedman still provided a burst of energy and quality to McAllister's side, despite the team just falling short in their remarkable promotion push that season.

Freedman’s return to Palace

Following his departure from Leeds, Freedman spent a short amount of time at Southend United before hanging up his boots towards the end of the 2009/10 season at the age of just 36 to go into a career of coaching.

He took charge of Crystal Palace in the January of the 2010/11 season, taking over from George Burley, and he eventually led them to Championship survival in the final few months of the campaign.

In his first full season in charge of the Eagles, Freedman led Palace to a 17th-placed finish before beginning the 2012/13 campaign extremely well with 21 points collected from their opening 12 games of the season to leave them fourth in the second division before he departed for Bolton Wanderers.

Palace would eventually gain promotion via the play-offs that season, whilst Wanderers missed out on the final day of the season.

However, by early October of his second full season as Bolton boss, he would leave the club by mutual consent before taking charge of Nottingham Forest in February 2015 and lasting just over a year in charge of the City Ground.

During his managerial career, Freedman was always good at unearthing hidden gems in terms of players, whilst results perhaps didn’t match up for whatever reason – so his move into becoming a Sporting Director seems a smart one.

Freedman has been Palace’s Sporting Director since August 2017 and that has seen an influx of high level talent to Selhurst Park such as Marc Guehi, Adam Wharton, Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise.