Freddy Eastwood
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Freddy Eastwood | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Freddy Eastwood | |
| Date of birth | October 29, 1983 (age 23) | |
| Place of birth | Basildon, England | |
| Position | Striker | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Southend United | |
| Number | 10 | |
| Professional clubs* | ||
| Years | Club | Apps (goals) |
| 2002-2003 2003-2004 2004- |
West Ham United Grays Athletic Southend United |
0 (0) 67 (44) 91 (45) |
|
* Professional club appearances and goals |
||
Freddy Eastwood (born October 29, 1983 in Basildon, Essex) is an English striker currently playing for Southend United. He is a member of the Romany community.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Playing career
[edit] West Ham United
He began his senior career as a West Ham United Academy player after turning down an offer of a scholarship at Southend, where he had been a promising youth player.
As a Manchester United fan Eastwood twice attended the Bobby Charlton School of Excellence in his youth, the same scheme which brought David Beckham to the attention of Sir Alex Ferguson. However, he did not catch the eye of United's world famous youth scouts and he returned to Essex and West Ham.
After failing to get into the senior team he was released by the Hammers and considered quitting football altogether and worked briefly as a car salesman.
[edit] Grays Athletic
He then began to play for Conference side Grays Athletic in the summer of 2003. He scored 37 goals in his first season with the Essex-based side, prompting attention from a number of professional clubs including Swindon Town and Charlton Athletic as well as Southend United.
[edit] Southend United
He joined the Shrimpers on 4 October 2004, initially on loan. He made his debut for the club in spectacular style on 16 October 2004 when Southend United took on Swansea City, at the time sitting comfortable at the top of the League Two table. Eastwood scored the opener after just 7.7 seconds and went on to score two more to record his first of three hat-tricks for Southend United in a 4-2 win for the Shrimpers. He joined the Shrimpers on a permanent basis on 4 November 2005 for an undisclosed fee in a three-year deal which is thought to include a hefty sell-on fee for Grays.
He finished the 2004-05 season with 24 goals (19 lge, 5 LDV) from 42 appearances in all competitions and scored the opening goal in his club's 2-0 defeat of Lincoln City in the League Two Play-off Final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on 28 May 2005 that resulted in promotion for Southend United.
On 2 January 2006 he scored Southend United's 2000th League goal when he smashed home the late winner against Blackpool at Bloomfield Road as the Shrimpers continued to take League One by storm.
At the end of the 2005-06 season, Freddy was joint 18th in Southend's all time leading goal scorers list with 49 goals, 45 of which were in the league, 2 in the FA Cup and 2 in the LDV Vans Trophy. But at the rate he is scoring goals he could easily become one of the highest goalscorers in Southend's one hundred year history.
On 29 April 2006, Freddy scored at Swansea to help earn Southend a 2-2 draw, which earned Southend promotion to the Championship.
Eastwood was joint top scorer with Billy Sharp in League One in 2005-06 with 23 goals.
In the Championship opener game against Stoke City, Eastwood scored his 50th goal which resulted in a 1-0 victory.
Eastwood scored the only goal, a spectacular 30-yard free kick while facing the away fans in the North Stand, during the Carling Cup fourth round win against Manchester United on November 7 2006 to put the holders out of the competition.
His prowess in front of goal means that he has attracted interest from a number of clubs, including Championship sides Norwich City and Derby County. He has also recently been linked with Aston Villa and Newcastle United, Leeds United F.C. and with a return to West Ham.
[edit] Battle to keep his home and Romany roots
In August 2006 he appealed to the British Government to keep his home on a travellers site in Basildon after Basildon Council refused planning permission.[2]
On November 10 2006, only days after scoring against Manchester United in the league cup, Eastwood and his family were told Basildon Council's decision to bulldoze his home would not be upheld by the Government and he was free to stay there for at least the next five years. [3] In a statement Eastwood said: "This is excellent news. It is great that the plans have been passed."
Eastwood was often seen exercising his horse near to the A127 even on the morning of a match day as is traditional amongst the Romany community, although since gaining a certain level of fame through football he has stopped this.
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
- Freddy Eastwood career stats at Soccerbase
- Freddy Eastwood Football Boots
- Freddy Eastwood on myspace
- Feature on Southend United club website
| Southend United F.C. - Current Squad |
|---|
|
1 Flahavan | 2 Francis | 3 Wilson | 4 Hunt | 5 Prior | 6 Barrett | 7 Gower | 8 Maher | 10 Eastwood | 11 Cole | 12 Bradbury | 13 Collis | 15 Clarke | 16 Sodje | 17 Campbell-Ryce | 18 Hammell | 19 Paynter | 20 Lawson | 21 Hooper | 24 Harrold | 25 Moussa | 26 McCormack | 27 Arnau | Manager: Tilson |
