Tuesday 18 March 2025 Sporting Director Dougie Freedman is leaving Crystal Palace.
1: Instant Reaction
2: Current Status in the position Sporting Director at Crystal Palace. (CPFC Statement).
3: Timing of the change & whom does it directly affect & their reactions.
4: Transition from one Sporting Director to another (A known one or someone new).
5: How do other Premier League, European & world clubs respond to the change.
6: Players now linked in/out.
7: A thank you to Mr Dougie Freedman.
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.
Freedman had two caps for the Scotland national team where he scored one goal in a 2002 World Cup qualifier against Latvia.
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.
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.
Then Wolverhampton Wanderers 1997 & Nottingham Forest 1998.
Then Back to Crystal Palace
Return to Crystal Palace
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.
Freedman’s coaching career began when he was appointed as the reserve team manager of Crystal Palace in November 2005. He was in this role alongside his playing duties for the club’s first team. This role ended when he joined Leeds United on loan the following March.
In March 2010, Freedman returned to Crystal Palace, now as the assistant manager to Paul Hart, with John Pemberton as first team coach.
At this time, Palace were in administration, with the new coaching staff’s task being to avoid relegation from the Championship, which was achieved on the final day of the season.
When George Burley was appointed as Palace’s new manager to succeed Hart, Freedman was retained to act as his assistant manager.
Burley was dismissed on 1 January 2011, resulting in Freedman being appointed caretaker manager.
Palace’s first-choice to replace Burley was AFC Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe, though he was appointed as manager at Burnley, with Freedman being made permanent manager of Palace, signing a two-and-a-half-year deal.
He quickly moved to bring in Lennie Lawrence as his assistant and former Palace teammate Tony Popovic as first team coach.
He was ultimately successful in guiding Crystal Palace out of the relegation zone, with the club achieving safety with a game to spare.
Palace began the 2011–12 season well under their new manager, occupying the playoff places at the end of October and also enjoying a good run in the Football League Cup, where they knocked out Manchester United 2–1 at Old Trafford with goals from Darren Ambrose and Glenn Murray.
Crystal Palace ended the season in 17th place. They made a strong start to the 2012–13 season.
On 23 October 2012, Crystal Palace released a statement announcing “that first team manager Dougie Freedman has joined Bolton Wanderers.
Nottingham Forest
On 1 February 2015, Freedman was appointed as manager of Nottingham Forest, following the sacking of Stuart Pearce.
Following a 3–0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday at the City Ground on 12 March 2016, in which eight Forest players were unable to play because of injury, Freedman was sacked the following day.
Return to Crystal Palace
On 21 August 2017, Freedman returned to Crystal Palace as sporting director.
In the summer of 2021, Freedman played a big role in helping bring former Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira to Crystal Palace as their manager.
He also secured the loan signing of Conor Gallagher from Chelsea as well as permanent deals for centre-back Marc Guehi and winger Michael Olise. All three signings turned out to be pivotal in the ensuing campaign as Crystal Palace reached the FA Cup semi-finals for just the fifth time in their history.