Yorkshire Evening Post 27/6/08
Freedman keeps United door ajar
By Phil Hay
Dougie Freedman's reluctance to leave Crystal Palace last season was such that he would rather have incurred a heavy fine than complete an unhappy period on loan elsewhere.
Freedman was willing to suffer the financial consequences of cutting short his temporary transfer to Leeds United if the move failed to meet his expectations, but the pleasure he took from 11 weeks at Elland Road has left him "completely open-minded" about the possibility of extending his association with the club.
The 34-year-old's future was left unclarified after United's loss to Doncaster Rovers in the League One play-off final – the last match of his short-term loan with Leeds – but Freedman confirmed today that the offer of a permanent contract at Elland Road could tempt him back to Yorkshire this summer.
The striker's intention is to fulfil the one remaining year on his contract at Crystal Palace and he will not leave Selhurst Park if Neil Warnock promises to involve him in the club's first team next season, but the pair are not expected to discuss his position until Palace begin pre-season training on Wednesday.
A shortage of opportunities at Palace led Freedman to take up the opportunity of a loan at Elland Road in March, and though the former Scotland international admitted he would not consider a second temporary transfer to Leeds, he is unwilling to rule out "any available option" while he waits for Warnock to show his hand.
Freedman said: "I'm very open-minded about Leeds. I can honestly say that I don't have a clue what my future holds but I really enjoyed my time there and I know better than to rule anything out.
"One thing I have closed the door on is another loan at Leeds. I've made a decision that if I do go out on loan again, I'll look for a move in the London area which allows me to live at home with my family.
"If I was to move to Leeds or another club that's further away, I'd have to do it right and do it properly – it would have to be permanent. It's not easy being detached from your family for three months, and I don't think it's very fair on them.
"The situation is that I've got a year left at Crystal Palace and hope people understand when I say that my first choice would be to stay there. The club means a lot to me and I've got my testimonial coming up next month.
"At the moment I'm focusing my attention on that and my position will take care of itself. But I'd be stupid to rule anything out at this stage."
Leeds have made no comment on the likelihood of Freedman's return to Elland Road, and any interest in re-signing the forward would be entirely dependant on Warnock's plans for next season.
Freedman reached his 34th birthday on the afternoon of United's 1-0 defeat to Doncaster at Wembley, but the veteran forward brought dynamic influence to Gary McAllister's squad and looked far removed from the onset of retirement.
His full debut was marked by two goals in a dramatic 3-3 draw at Port Vale on March 15, and his 14 appearances brought six goals in total. None were more telling than his strike against Carlisle in the first leg of an encapsulating play-off semi-final, but as important to McAllister was Freedman's attitude and demeanour off the pitch which helped United's youthful squad negotiate their way through a pressurised stage of the League One season.
Freedman's motivation for joining Leeds was the challenge of winning promotion to the Championship, but James Hayter's goal at Wembley stole that prize away on a birthday which the striker is unlikely to remember fondly. The alternative conclusion had seemed virtually fated on several occasions during his stint at Elland Road.
"The atmosphere in the dressing room afterwards was very low," he said. "Everyone was desperate to escape as quickly as possible. That's the thing about play-off finals – if you win, people have to literally drag you out of Wembley. If you lose, you can't get away soon enough.
"I have to hold my hands up and say that, on the day, Doncaster handled the occasion better than we did and their players performed better than ours. That includes me. It wasn't the way I wanted my loan to end and, as I'd said from the start, the whole point of me going to Leeds was to win promotion.
"But as a whole, my time up there was brilliant. It gave me the motivation and the challenge I needed at a time when I was lounging about on the bench at Crystal Palace, and it says a lot about Leeds as a club that I enjoyed myself so much.
"I don't want to bang on about my family, but they're a major issue for me. I can honestly say that if I'd gone to Leeds and felt unhappy, I'd have gone home and back to Palace straight away.
"If that had cost me a fine then so be it. But at no point of my three months there did I ever feel like I wanted to be somewhere else.
"I've come away with some great memories, and none better than the semi-final games against Carlisle. You don't forget things like that. And although we lost at Wembley, it's only right that people also talk about the second leg at Carlisle and remember how well we held our nerve there. We were under a lot of pressure.
"For me, I saw it as my job to go to Leeds and help the younger lads through a difficult part of the season – to give them advice, to give them support and to have a word if anyone got too big for their boots.
"I can't say whether I made a difference or not but I gave as much as I could to Leeds, which is what their supporters deserved. Leeds United are everything you look for in a football club."
The end of last season was also the conclusion of Freedman's 10th on the books of Crystal Palace, and the London club have rewarded him with a testimonial against Fulham at Selhurst Park on Tuesday, July 29.
The 34-year-old is gradually approaching the end of his career, but his prominent involvement with Leeds last season stifled the idea that retirement might be around the corner.
Warnock appointed him as Palace's reserve team coach last season, and Freedman is already mapping out a career in management. Within days of the play-off final, he was enrolled in a coaching course, the prelude to his summer holiday in Dubai.
But the striker said: "I'm not ready to call it a day.
"I don't always agree with people who tell you to play for as long as you can because there comes a point where you have to be honest with yourself. If a club like Palace or Leeds tried to sign me and I didn't think I could still score goals, I'd be taking money for nothing. The buck has to stop with me.
"But I got the buzz again last season and the goals are still coming. Retirement's not on my mind."
Leedsunited.com 26/6/08
NO CONSIDERATION
Gary McAllister admits he is firmly siding with the fans who have voiced their frustrations after a number of early season kick-off changes.
Four of our five opening away matches have been the subject of kick-off changes, and by the time we travel to Millwall in mid-October we will have played just one away game at the traditional 3pm kick-off time.
The opening day trip to Scunthorpe is a 12 noon kick-off, the trip to Yeovil has a 1pm kick-off, our away game at Carlisle kicks-off at 12.15, and our first ever league trip to Peterborough on October 4 is another midday start. Only Swindon Town on September 13 remains a 3pm kick-off.
"When you see the changes you instantly think how awkward it is for our fans to travel across the country," said the boss.
"As players you can deal with it. All our organisation is done and travel arrangements are sorted. "But people have to work and there's no consideration to the travelling Leeds fans with these kicks offs.
"I've never sensed anything from the Leeds crowd other than a group of fans who go to support their team. And if anything they boosted the whole division last season.
"There's not many chairmen don't want Leeds fans because they fill their ground every time."
Freedman keeps United door ajar
By Phil Hay
Dougie Freedman's reluctance to leave Crystal Palace last season was such that he would rather have incurred a heavy fine than complete an unhappy period on loan elsewhere.
Freedman was willing to suffer the financial consequences of cutting short his temporary transfer to Leeds United if the move failed to meet his expectations, but the pleasure he took from 11 weeks at Elland Road has left him "completely open-minded" about the possibility of extending his association with the club.
The 34-year-old's future was left unclarified after United's loss to Doncaster Rovers in the League One play-off final – the last match of his short-term loan with Leeds – but Freedman confirmed today that the offer of a permanent contract at Elland Road could tempt him back to Yorkshire this summer.
The striker's intention is to fulfil the one remaining year on his contract at Crystal Palace and he will not leave Selhurst Park if Neil Warnock promises to involve him in the club's first team next season, but the pair are not expected to discuss his position until Palace begin pre-season training on Wednesday.
A shortage of opportunities at Palace led Freedman to take up the opportunity of a loan at Elland Road in March, and though the former Scotland international admitted he would not consider a second temporary transfer to Leeds, he is unwilling to rule out "any available option" while he waits for Warnock to show his hand.
Freedman said: "I'm very open-minded about Leeds. I can honestly say that I don't have a clue what my future holds but I really enjoyed my time there and I know better than to rule anything out.
"One thing I have closed the door on is another loan at Leeds. I've made a decision that if I do go out on loan again, I'll look for a move in the London area which allows me to live at home with my family.
"If I was to move to Leeds or another club that's further away, I'd have to do it right and do it properly – it would have to be permanent. It's not easy being detached from your family for three months, and I don't think it's very fair on them.
"The situation is that I've got a year left at Crystal Palace and hope people understand when I say that my first choice would be to stay there. The club means a lot to me and I've got my testimonial coming up next month.
"At the moment I'm focusing my attention on that and my position will take care of itself. But I'd be stupid to rule anything out at this stage."
Leeds have made no comment on the likelihood of Freedman's return to Elland Road, and any interest in re-signing the forward would be entirely dependant on Warnock's plans for next season.
Freedman reached his 34th birthday on the afternoon of United's 1-0 defeat to Doncaster at Wembley, but the veteran forward brought dynamic influence to Gary McAllister's squad and looked far removed from the onset of retirement.
His full debut was marked by two goals in a dramatic 3-3 draw at Port Vale on March 15, and his 14 appearances brought six goals in total. None were more telling than his strike against Carlisle in the first leg of an encapsulating play-off semi-final, but as important to McAllister was Freedman's attitude and demeanour off the pitch which helped United's youthful squad negotiate their way through a pressurised stage of the League One season.
Freedman's motivation for joining Leeds was the challenge of winning promotion to the Championship, but James Hayter's goal at Wembley stole that prize away on a birthday which the striker is unlikely to remember fondly. The alternative conclusion had seemed virtually fated on several occasions during his stint at Elland Road.
"The atmosphere in the dressing room afterwards was very low," he said. "Everyone was desperate to escape as quickly as possible. That's the thing about play-off finals – if you win, people have to literally drag you out of Wembley. If you lose, you can't get away soon enough.
"I have to hold my hands up and say that, on the day, Doncaster handled the occasion better than we did and their players performed better than ours. That includes me. It wasn't the way I wanted my loan to end and, as I'd said from the start, the whole point of me going to Leeds was to win promotion.
"But as a whole, my time up there was brilliant. It gave me the motivation and the challenge I needed at a time when I was lounging about on the bench at Crystal Palace, and it says a lot about Leeds as a club that I enjoyed myself so much.
"I don't want to bang on about my family, but they're a major issue for me. I can honestly say that if I'd gone to Leeds and felt unhappy, I'd have gone home and back to Palace straight away.
"If that had cost me a fine then so be it. But at no point of my three months there did I ever feel like I wanted to be somewhere else.
"I've come away with some great memories, and none better than the semi-final games against Carlisle. You don't forget things like that. And although we lost at Wembley, it's only right that people also talk about the second leg at Carlisle and remember how well we held our nerve there. We were under a lot of pressure.
"For me, I saw it as my job to go to Leeds and help the younger lads through a difficult part of the season – to give them advice, to give them support and to have a word if anyone got too big for their boots.
"I can't say whether I made a difference or not but I gave as much as I could to Leeds, which is what their supporters deserved. Leeds United are everything you look for in a football club."
The end of last season was also the conclusion of Freedman's 10th on the books of Crystal Palace, and the London club have rewarded him with a testimonial against Fulham at Selhurst Park on Tuesday, July 29.
The 34-year-old is gradually approaching the end of his career, but his prominent involvement with Leeds last season stifled the idea that retirement might be around the corner.
Warnock appointed him as Palace's reserve team coach last season, and Freedman is already mapping out a career in management. Within days of the play-off final, he was enrolled in a coaching course, the prelude to his summer holiday in Dubai.
But the striker said: "I'm not ready to call it a day.
"I don't always agree with people who tell you to play for as long as you can because there comes a point where you have to be honest with yourself. If a club like Palace or Leeds tried to sign me and I didn't think I could still score goals, I'd be taking money for nothing. The buck has to stop with me.
"But I got the buzz again last season and the goals are still coming. Retirement's not on my mind."
Leedsunited.com 26/6/08
NO CONSIDERATION
Gary McAllister admits he is firmly siding with the fans who have voiced their frustrations after a number of early season kick-off changes.
Four of our five opening away matches have been the subject of kick-off changes, and by the time we travel to Millwall in mid-October we will have played just one away game at the traditional 3pm kick-off time.
The opening day trip to Scunthorpe is a 12 noon kick-off, the trip to Yeovil has a 1pm kick-off, our away game at Carlisle kicks-off at 12.15, and our first ever league trip to Peterborough on October 4 is another midday start. Only Swindon Town on September 13 remains a 3pm kick-off.
"When you see the changes you instantly think how awkward it is for our fans to travel across the country," said the boss.
"As players you can deal with it. All our organisation is done and travel arrangements are sorted. "But people have to work and there's no consideration to the travelling Leeds fans with these kicks offs.
"I've never sensed anything from the Leeds crowd other than a group of fans who go to support their team. And if anything they boosted the whole division last season.
"There's not many chairmen don't want Leeds fans because they fill their ground every time."
