Freddy Eastwood

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Freddy Eastwood
Personal information
Full name	Freddy Eastwood
Date of birth	October 29, 1983 (1983-10-29) (age 24)
Place of birth	Basildon, Essex, England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Number	23
Youth clubs
1999–2002	West Ham United
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2002–2003 2003–2004 2004 2004–2007 2007–	West Ham United Grays Athletic → Southend United (loan) Southend United Wolverhampton Wanderers	000 0(0) 055 (34) 004 0(4) 111 (49) 031 0(3)
National team2
2007–	Wales	009 0(4)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:09, 14 May 2008 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 20:09, 28 May 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Freddy Eastwood (born October 29, 1983 in Basildon, Essex)^[1] is an English-born footballer, currently playing for Wolverhampton Wanderers. He is a Welsh International, eligible to play for the Welsh national team as his maternal grandfather was born in Llanelli, Wales.

Contents 1 Background 2 Club career 2.1 West Ham United 2.2 Grays Athletic 2.3 Southend United 2.4 Wolverhampton Wanderers 3 International career 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Background

Eastwood was born in Basildon, Essex and is a member of the Romani community.^[2] He was often seen exercising his horse on the A127 road in Essex on the morning of a match day when playing for Southend United.^[2] He is married with two children.^[3]

He appealed to the British Government in August 2006 to keep his home on a travellers site in Basildon after Basildon Council refused planning permission.^[3] Eastwood and his family were told in November 2006 that the decision of Basildon Council would not be upheld by the Government and he was free to stay there for at least the next five years.^[4]

[edit] Club career

[edit] West Ham United

Eastwood began his 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. At West Ham, Eastwood played in the same youth team as Jermain Defoe, Anton Ferdinand and Glen Johnson but was not considered good enough by the then manager Glenn Roeder and was released by the Hammers^[5] in May 2003.^[6] After being released, he considered quitting football altogether and worked briefly as a car salesman.^[5]

[edit] Grays Athletic

Eastwood joined Conference South side Grays Athletic in August 2003^[6] He scored 37 league and cup goals^[7] in his first season, winning the Grays' Golden Boot^[7] and prompting attention from a number of professional clubs including Northampton Town,^[8] Swindon Town^[9] and Charlton Athletic^[10] as well as Southend United.

[edit] Southend United

Eastwood joined Southend United in October 2004, initially on loan.^[11] He made his debut for the club in spectacular style, scoring the opener after 7.7 seconds, an English league record for a debut, and going on to score two more to record his first of three hat-tricks for the club as Southend beat top of the table Swansea City 4-2.^[12] Eastwood joined Southend on a permanent basis in November 2004 for an undisclosed fee in a three-year deal from Grays.^[13] He finished the 2004-05 season with 24 goals from 42 appearances in all competitions^[6] and scored the opening goal in his club's 2-0 win over Lincoln City in the League Two Play-off Final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in May 2005 that resulted in promotion for Southend United.^[14]

Eastwood scored Southend United's 5,000th League goal on 2 January 2006 when he smashed home the late winner against Blackpool at Bloomfield Road as the Shrimpers went to the top of League One.^[15] He scored twice at Swansea City on 29 April 2006 to earn Southend United a 2-2 draw, a result which sealed promotion to the Football League Championship.^[16] By the end of the 2005-06 season, Eastwood was joint 18th in Southend's all time leading goal scorers list with 49 goals, 45 of which were in the league, two in the FA Cup and two in the Football League Trophy. He was also joint top scorer with Billy Sharp in League One in 2005-06 with 23 goals.^[17]

The following season, Eastwood scored his 50th goal for the club in the Championship opener game against Stoke City.^[18] It would prove to be a difficult season for the striker and despite scoring 11 goal in the Championship,^[6] Eastwood was unable to prevent relegation back to League One, however the highlight of the Shrimpers season came when Eastwood scored the only goal, a spectacular 30-yard free kick in front of the away fans in the North Stand, during the Football League Cup fourth round win against Manchester United on November 7, 2006 to put the holders out of the competition.^[19]

[edit] Wolverhampton Wanderers

Eastwood signed a four-year deal with Wolves in July 2007 after completing a £1.5m move from Southend.^[20] The striker started the 2007–08 season impressively, scoring his first goal for Wolves on his full debut in the League Cup first round win over Bradford City, and finishing the month with 4 goals to his name. This prolific start earned him the Championship player of the month award for August.^[21] However, his goals dried up in the following months and he was often on the substitutes' bench or left out of the squad completely, with Andy Keogh, Jay Bothroyd, Kevin Kyle and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake ahead of him in the pecking order. He was close to a move away from Molineux to Coventry City, but this collapsed at the last minute.^[22] and he remained at Wolves until the end of the season, when he was transfer-listed, with manager Mick McCarthy saying, "It's nothing personal, but it hasn't worked out how either of us would have liked. He hasn't fitted into my team but he wants to play and will do well elsewhere. We wish him luck."^[23] He was popular with the Wolves fans and that often caused a split between the fans towards the end of the season. He finished the season with just 3 goals in 10 league starts.

[edit] International career

As his maternal grandfather was born in Wales, Eastwood is eligible to play for Wales. He was selected for the squad for the international friendly against New Zealand in May 2006 and the crucial Euro 2008 qualifier against Czech Republic in June,^[24] however an existing back injury did not heal as quickly as hoped and Eastwood was forced to withdraw from the squad.^[25] He was selected for the squad to play Bulgaria and went on to score his debut international goal in the first half of their 1-0 victory on August 22, 2007.^[26] John Toshack, the Wales manager, said, "It was a really special goal [...] Now we have got a player up front who knows his business. We have been aware of his goalscoring exploits and have worked hard to make sure he became a Wales international."^[27] Despite being out of favour at Wolves during the 2007–08 season, Eastwood continued to be selected for the Welsh national team and scored both goals in a 2–0 win over Luxembourg in March 2008.^[28] He has scored four goals in seven international appearances.^[28]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official club profile
• Freddy Eastwood career stats at Soccerbase
• Feature on Southend United club website

v • d • e Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. – current squad 1 Murray • 2 D. Ward • 3 N. Collins • 4 Olofinjana • 6 Craddock • 7 Kightly • 8 Henry • 9 Keogh • 10 Bothroyd • 11 S. Ward • 12 R. Edwards • 14 Potter • 15 Little • 16 Davies • 17 Jarvis • 18 Gleeson • 19 Elliott • 20 Mulgrew • 21 Jones • 22 Gobern • 23 Eastwood • 26 D. Edwards • 27 Ebanks-Blake • 30 Ikeme • 31 Hennessey • 32 Foley • 33 Gray • 35 Bennett • 36 L. Collins • 37 Hughes • 38 Salmon • 39 Rósa • 40 Elokobi • 41 Bailey • – Vokes • Manager: McCarthy