All Time Swansea XI - Goalkeeper - Roger Freestone

First place in Swansea 'select' goes to legendary goalkeeper

What with there being no game this weekend, it seems we're likely to endure a couple of "slow news days" (we're even getting linked with Lukaku for Pete's sake), and with that in mind I thought I'd kick off an idea I've had bouncing around my head for a while - putting together an "All Time Swansea XI". 

Now, granted, I'm 27 so there are a lot of players who I won't have seen play, however I'm more than willing to be regaled with stories from times gone by so please feel free to comment and make recommendations. Knowledge is power and all that. I have been doing a fair bit of reading around this and I've got a vague idea of who will end up in the team, but almost every position is subject to debate! It seems opinion amongst fans is massively varied (even if the Lenny Johnrose suggestion was a joke) so no doubt there'll be a couple of choices you don't agree with, but as I'm going to be doing this one player at a time there's plenty of time to have your say. Tidy darts.  

So, without further ado, I give you the first inductee into "The Swansea Way All Time Swans XI" - Roger Freestone. Freestone beat off stiff competition from Dai "The Drop" Davies, who enjoyed two successful spells with the Swans (the second of which saw him play for the Swans during their short-lived stint in the old First Division), but ultimately it was Freestone's longevity which saw him make the cut.

Swans legend Roger Freestone

Born in 1968 in Caerleon near Newport, Freestone showed from an early age he was a talented goalkeeper, and started out being selected for various Newport Schools sides before starting his career with local club Newport County. Roger signed schoolboy forms with County in 1981, and it was actually Colin Addison (who later went on to manage [and was the last manager actually sacked by] the Swans) who secured his signature. Welsh football was, at the time, going through a bit of a renaissance, what with Toshack guiding the Swans through the leagues and County reaching the quarter-final of the Cup Winners Cup the previous season, and no doubt this had an impact on Roger's decision to sign with his hometown club, as there was interest from numerous clubs.

He signed his first apprentice contract for £25 a week in 1985, and the next day he was introduced to fellow new signing Darren Peacock; that both went on to secure long-term professional careers is possibly a credit to the Newport set-up of that time. That being said, they both spent their first day trimming Somerton Park's lambasted pitch with a Flymo - possibly not the start to their footballing careers that they had in mind. Can you imagine an apprentice being asked to do that now!? What's more, after a supposed "indiscretion" (not cleaning Linden Jones' boots well enough) Roger had his pants and trousers pulled down, and half his pubic hair removed. I would pay good money for someone to do that to Joey Barton.

Roger after signing
for Chelsea

In 1986 Roger signed his first professional contract with Newport, and set about displacing Mark Kendall (once of Spurs) from the first team (remarkably, a trick he'd repeat at Swansea as Kendall was no1 when Freestone arrived). He made his debut on the 28th of December 1986 and managed to hold down a starting place throughout the spring of '87, which led to rumours Tottenham were interested in his signature. As it turned out towards the end of March, Roger was asked into the boardroom after 1-0 win and was told Chelsea had offered £160k for his signature. After discussing this with his father it was obvious that for his development as a footballer, and with Newport in trouble financially, this was an opportunity both the club and the player needed to take. Roger travelled to London and signed for the Londoners, and remarkably it was John Hollins, another future Swans manager, who arranged the deal.

Freestone enjoyed some success in holding down a first team place during the next two seasons - helping Chelsea gain promotion back to the first division in the process, but understandably found it hard as he had Eddie Niedzwicki, Kevin Hitchcock and Dave Beasant to compete with - and ultimately found himself on loan to Swansea at the beginning of the 1989/90 season. Roger impressed (and enjoyed himself) on loan at the Swans, and following a 1-0 derby loss to Cardiff on Boxing Day 1989 Freestone asked then Chelsea manager Bobby Campbell to release him from his contract. Campbell refused, and despite the Swans offering £100k for his services Freestone again found himself in the Chelsea reserves, before being loaned out to Hereford United. Freestone again impressed during his time on loan, and returned to Chelsea hoping he could once again force his way into the first team reckoning. 

Sadly, Freestone spent a year in the reserves at Stamford Bridge (commuting between London and Risca due to the birth of his first son), and it was with great relief that during training ahead of the 91/92 season Freestone was called into the office and told that Swansea had once again come in for him. Freestone was overjoyed, and immediately agreed to the move - which was a three month loan with a view to a permanent transfer. He made his debut (and met manager Frank Burrows for the first time) the very next day, and the Swans went down 3-0, but this wasn't indicative of how Freestone would come to be remembered by Swansea fans.

As it turned out, the Swans would play some illustrious opponents that season - and it's down to this that Freestone was signed on a permanent deal. With a Cup Winners Cup two-legged tie against Monaco (don't ask about the aggregate score) looming, the Swans also had the small matter of the reigning FA Cup holders Tottenham Hotspur to face in a Rumbelows Cup tie. Chelsea didn't want Freestone cup-tied, so then Swans manager Frank Burrows persuaded the board that Freestone's signing was imperative, and with hours to spare before the Spurs game Roger was confirmed as an official Swansea City player. He set about making a hero of himself in all honesty - keeping a clean sheet against their much-fancied opponents and helping the Swans to a 1-0 win (as mentioned prior to the Spurs game this year that 1-0 win remains the last time the Swans beat Spurs) courtesy of a Jimmy Gilligan goal. 

Freestone went on to make 549 appearances for the Swans; second only to Wilf Milne, and firmly established himself as a hero with the Swansea faithful. After nailing down his place in the first team, Freestone quickly established himself as one of the best keepers in the division, and surrounded by an increasingly competitive Swansea squad the future must have started to look a little brighter. The 93/94 season saw the Swans mount an assault on the Autoglass Trophy - which culminated in a trip to Wembley to face Huddersfield in the final. Roger could actually have been credited for an assist for the Swans goal, which saw his long free kick land at Andy McFarlane's feet before he rifled it home, but a more important contribution was yet to come; Huddersfield subsequently equalised which resulted in extra time, before the dreaded penalty shoot out. As it turned out, Freestone guessed the right way when Hudderfield needed to score, and his save saw the Swans lift the Autoglass Trophy - a trophy which remained the Swans' only cup success until the trick was repeated against Carlisle in the 2005 final. 

The Swans enjoy their 93/94 Autoglass Trophy win

The next season again saw the Swans enjoying their cup exploits. After dispatching non-league opposition in the first and second rounds, the Swans drew 1-1 with Middlesborough at the Vetch in the Third Round. Given that the draw for the fourth round paired Newcastle with Swansea or Middlesborough, both sides would have been itching to renew acquaintances given their respective motivation to meet the Geordies. The Swans beat the Teesiders 2-1 on their own patch, and so could start planning how they would once again leave the North-East with a victory under their belts. As it turned out, the Newcastle match saw the Swans miss some early chances which proved costly, as a second half Paul Kitson hat-trick sent the Swans packing, but something which undoubtedly brought a smile to Roger's face was being able to catch up with Darren Peacock, now a fixture in the heard of Kevin Keegan's defence.

Not long after this Freestone remarkably become the Swans official penalty taker. John Cornforth and Colin Pascoe had both missed penalties, and with Frank Burrows stuck for ideas, Roger offered his services as penalty taker. Burrows agreed to the idea, and Roger found himself practicing penalties in case one occured. He didn't have long to wait. In a match at Oxford United, the Swans gained a penalty and Roger trundled forward to, he hoped, beat his counterpart in the Oxford goal. It must have been a sight to behold - a lower league goalkeeper looking to get his name on the scoresheet, but the home fans won't have been laughing too long as Roger duly dispatched the penalty for his first goal as a professional footballer. Roger has since described it as "the best penalty he's ever seen"  (I'll have to take your word for that, Rog), but he went on to score all three of the spot-kicks he took - which is a good thing really given that I think even the man himself would admit he doesn't possess the kind of pace which would allow him to get back in goal before the opposition broke forward!

With the departure of Burrows, things started to decline for the Swans. The next two years saw the Swans go through six managers, with the highlight of this period definitely being the Playoff Final against Northampton (under player-manager Jan Molby) which saw the Swans lose to a debatably retaken injury time freekick. Eventually the Swans appointed John Hollins in time for the 1998/1999 season, and he steadied the ship by implementing a frustratingly defensive playing style. This clearly worked, as the Swans reached the playoffs before being crowned champions of Division Three the following season, but with 51 goals scored in 46 games that year the strongest area of the team was clearly the defence.

A back four made up of Roger, Micky Howard, Jason Smith, Matthew Bound and Steve Jones was something which inspired confidence in the terraces. Ok, we were pretty average going forward, but the backline broke record after record that year. Roger kept 22 clean sheets that year (almost half of all games played) and during an extended unbeaten run the Swans also managed seven consecutive clean sheets at the Vetch. Impressive indeed. Hollins reluctance to address the lack of goals (or perhaps the boards refusal to back him in this area) led to the Swans being relegated back to Division Three the next season, and it was around this time that things got messy for the Swans. This was the era of Mike Lewis, Tony Petty et al, and while it's not worth regurgitating all of the negative memories those men provide, it's worth reading these comments from Roger regarding the renegotiation of his contract. That the Swans ended up in dire straights financially is no surprise... 

"I just wanted to sign and get it out of the way; I was getting annoyed with the manager because he was fobbing me off all the time, and it got to a stage where I was ignoring the man - he was making me angry, so I went and sorted it out with Lewis. In the end I agreed to the terms they offered and I wanted to stay at the club, so I signed.  

"The shock for me was when Lewis asked me about the signing-on fee. He then offered me a decent wedge to sign on again, and I left his office in a bit of a dither. It was the last thing I expected from him, to be offered money for extending my contract. I had never known it to happen before, but it was written in there so I took it gladly.  

"I think that was a mistake on his part, he came to the club as a commercial manager of sorts, having been a programme editor with Fulham, but he was the general manager, so who was I to argue with him?  

"Suffice to say that my wife Sue and I have now redecorated the house, with new flooring and furniture, and I would like to thank Mike Lewis personally for that."     Roger Freestone

Roger ended up spending 13 years at the club, gaining one Welsh cap (against Brazil) during his time here, and after a brief stint as caretaker manager (along with Nick Cusack) he was awarded a testimonial against Chelsea in May 2003, in which Wales manager Mark Hughes took to the field for the opposition. Roger actually ended the game playing up front, and the sight of "Tombstone" (a nickname given to Roger due to his missing front tooth) charging around up front is no doubt a great memory for anyone who was there to witness it.

Freestone enjoying his spell at
centre-forward against Chelsea

Roger sadly left the club under a bit of a cloud, released by Kenny Jackett in 2004 after struggling with injury problems, before rejoining Newport County. Sadly, he had to retire shortly afterwards due to an ongoing ankle problem, but it is for his Swansea City career that he is most remembered. Freestone was, during his time with the Swans, regarded as one of the best goalkeepers outside the top division, and it is a mark of his loyalty that he stayed with the Swans for so long. This, along with his exploits on the field, led to him being the first inclusion in the Swansea Way All Time XI.

Roger, we salute you.

Freestone when he left the Swans:

'Many people have said to me how much they have enjoyed their football supporting life here at Swansea City, and I feel quite embarrassed when supporters of this great club talk about me alongside such greats as John Toshack, Curt, Charlo, Robbie James, and the Allchurch brothers.

'It really should be me saying thank you to you, the loudest most passionate fans I have ever encountered in my playing career. I have never felt such emotion for Swansea City as I have over the past few years, and the awful things that some people have tried to do to our club. I am and always will be a Swansea City fan, no matter how my future stands this is the only place where my football heart will ever be. 

"You, the fans and my fellow players and colleagues here at The Vetch Field have made the last 12 years the best I could ever have wished for. Your support and friendship has meant more to me than almost anything, that friendship has made me want to give you all I can on the field of play. 

'Swansea till i die.'