David Friio

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David Friio (born February 17, 1973 in Thionville) was a French professional footballer who played in England for Plymouth Argyle before dropping down leagues to play for Nottingham Forest. Friio, a midfielder, had played for various clubs in france including Épinal, Nîmes and Valence, before Paul Sturrock signed him on a free transfer for Plymouth Argyle in 2000. He was a huge success with Argyle, adding class to the midfield whilst creating and scoring regular goals, most prominently exemplified by his first-half hat-trick in the 7-0 home drubbing of Chesterfield. Friio was a trademark box to box midfielder, with a ferocious shot and fantastic heading ability, which were the source of many of his 48 goals for Plymouth Argyle, and subsequent solitary goal for Nottingham Forest. During his time at Home Park, the club achieved two promotions, rising from the fourth tier to the second, with Friio making 158 appearances.

However, in early 2005 he moved to fellow Division One club Nottingham Forest in a £100,000 transfer, but Friio was unable to save the club from relegation and spent the rest of his time there in League One. Friio was coming to the end of his contract at Plymouth Argyle, and his agent indicated that several clubs had offered him in excess of £4,500 a week wages and that unless Argyle could match those offers, he would understandably be leaving. At the time Plymouth Argyle were far from safety of relegation themselves and decided against breaking their player wage structure to hold on to their midfielder, effectively resigning themselves to losing him at a cut-price sale. The then Nottingham Forest manager Gary Megson wasn't prepared to let such a bargain evade him, and captured him in February 2005. However, like Gary Megson, his time with the club was disappointing, with only 22 league appearances in over a year.

David announced his retirement from football on August 16, 2006 and returned to France to establish a business within football. Since his retiremement, Friio has since sent several players to Plymouth Argyle for trial periods, although current Argyle manager Ian Holloway has yet to have signed any of Friio's recommendations.