Roger Freestone
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Roger Freestone | ||
| Date of birth | 19 August 1968 | ||
| Place of birth | Caerleon, Wales | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1986–1987 | Newport County | 13 | (0) |
| 1987–1991 | Chelsea | 42 | (0) |
| 1989 | → Swansea City (loan) | 14 | (0) |
| 1990 | → Hereford United (loan) | 8 | (0) |
| 1991–2004 | Swansea City | 549 | (3) |
| 2004 | Newport County | 14 | (0) |
| Total | 640 | (3) | |
| National team | |||
| 1990 | Wales U21 | 1 | (0) |
| 2000 | Wales | 1 | (0) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2002 | Swansea City | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Roger Freestone (born 19 August 1968) is a former Wales international goalkeeper.
Born in Caerleon, near Newport, Monmouthshire, Freestone began his career at Newport County as a trainee before moving to Chelsea in 1987 for £95,000. During his time there he was never the established first choice, being behind Eddie Niedzwicki, Kevin Hitchcock and Dave Beasant, and was loaned out to Swansea City and Hereford United. He eventually joined Swansea on a permanent deal in 1991, for a fee of £45,000, and went on to spend over a decade, the majority of his career, at the Welsh club.
In 2001 a rumoured move to rivals Cardiff City was met with anger from Swansea fans as they did not want to lose him. He left the club after thirteen years and went on to sign for Newport County in 2004, but his contract was cancelled several months later by mutual consent owing to recurring injury problems and he eventually retired.
The way in which he left Swansea City angered a lot of fans. Then-manager Kenny Jackett said he made a tough choice in releasing Roger Freestone and the supporters felt they had missed an opportunity to give a proper send-off that he deserved for his contribution.
Freestone is considered a legend among Swansea fans. In 1995, he briefly became the clubs penalty taker, where he converted three out of three spot-kicks. His talent as a shot stopper lead to him keeping 22 clean sheets in a season, which was a club record, until Dorus de Vries broke the record in the 2009–10 season. Such is his status as a Swans hero, when debutant replacement keeper Willy Guéret conceded two goals, the fans started chanting their regular Roger Roger chant towards the Frenchman. In May 2003 Freestone was granted a testimonial for the Swans, against his former club Chelsea. Despite fielding a team of mainly youngsters, Chelsea won the game 2-1. Freestone played both in goal and, for a brief time, up front, with around 4,000 fans of both sides at the Vetch Field. In 2002 Freestone had his life documented by leading Welsh author Keith Haynes in a heavily publisher edited book titled Another Day At The Office
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