Fraser Digby

Fraser Digby

Digby in 2013
Personal information
Full name	Fraser Charles Digby
Date of birth	(1967-01-23) 23 January 1967
Place of birth	Sheffield, England
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Swindon Town (Goalkeeping coach)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1985–1986	Manchester United	0	(0)
1985	→ Oldham Athletic (loan)	0	(0)
1986	→ Swindon Town (loan)	0	(0)
1986–1998	Swindon Town	420	(0)
1992	→ Manchester United (loan)	0	(0)
1998–2000	Crystal Palace	56	(0)
2001	Barry Town
2001	Huddersfield Town	0	(0)
2001–2003	Queens Park Rangers	20	(0)
2003	Purfleet	1	(0)
2003	Kidderminster Harriers	11	(0)
National team
1987–1989	England U21	5	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Fraser Charles Digby (born 23 January 1967 in Sheffield) is a retired goalkeeper who spent much of his career with Swindon Town, for whom he played in the Premier League. In 2008, he found new fame through repeated references to "Fraser Digby's washbag" on Danny Baker's 6–0–6 programme on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Playing career

Digby was a Manchester United apprentice, making his League debut whilst on loan at Oldham Athletic in 1985, joining Swindon Town on a free transfer in December 1986 after two loan spells.

Digby, who represented England schools, youth and U-21s,^[1] did not leave Swindon until 1998. He played in the 1993 play-off final against Leicester City, a match Swindon won, thereby securing a place in the Premier League, and represented the club during their season at the top level of English football.

In late 1992, he returned to Manchester United on loan as cover for Peter Schmeichel and was selected as a substitute on several occasions but never came onto the pitch.

In August 1998, Digby signed for Crystal Palace, before moving on to Queens Park Rangers in 2001. He was released by QPR due to money shortages after which he played a handful of games for non-league Purfleet. He joined Kidderminster Harriers in 2003 on a game-by-game basis (non-contractual), while at the same time rejoining former club Swindon and taking on the two roles of commercial manager and goalkeeping coach under Andy King.

Digby also played one game for Cirencester Town in the FA Cup in 2004, signed on an emergency deal as Cirencester had a keeper shortage, it was then known Fraser was good friends with Brian Hughes, the Cirencester Manager. The game was against Bognor Regis Town and finished 4–3 to Bognor, with Cirencester coming back from 3–0 down to 3–3 to make a thrilling finish.

Digby played for a Manchester United legends team touring Ireland; his last appearance was in a friendly match with Moyola Park FC in July 2008.

When Digby retired from professional football, he spoke out against the methods for earning coaching badges for goalkeepers:

The problem is that to obtain full goalkeeping coaching qualifications, you have to go through all the stuff for outfield players and I don't really want to do that.^[2]

Danny Baker on BBC Radio 5 Live

Digby has recently been the subject of many adaptations of popular songs, with lyrics written after a story from an anonymous correspondent to Danny Baker's radio show. It emerged that during a tour of Swindon Town's football ground, someone had come across Digby's washbag in the changing room and taken a tortoiseshell comb as a memento, thus coining the phrase 'Fraser Digby's Washbag' . Baker saw that there was 'music' in these words and latched onto it. The piece, entitled "Fraser Digby's Washbag" became a regular feature of Danny Baker's Tuesday night slot on BBC Radio 5 Live's 6–0–6 programme^[3] In December 2008, Digby surprised Baker live on air, by appearing at the BBC studios to join the show and sang a "Fraser Digby's Washbag" song himself.^[4]

Club history

• 25 April 1985 – 25 March 1986 Manchester Utd (Apprentice)
• 30 December 1985 – Oldham (loan)
• 27 March 1986 – 24 April 1986 – Swindon Town (loan)
• 25 September 1986 – Swindon Town (loan)
• 23 December 1986 – Swindon Town (£32,000)
• 4 November 1992 – 30 December 1992 – Manchester United (loan)
• 1 August 1998 – 18 August 2001 – Crystal Palace (free)
• 18 August 2001 – 11 October 2001 – Huddersfield (free)
• 11 October 2001 – 5 January 2003 – QPR (free)
• 31 January 2003 – 11 April 2003 – Kidderminster Harriers (free)

Honours

Swindon Town F.C.

• Division 3 Play-off Final Winner 1987
• Division 2 Play-off Final Winner 1990 (Club later demoted)
• Division 1 Play-off Final Winner 1993
• Division 2 Champions 1995/96

References

External links

• Fraser Digby career stats at Soccerbase