One Percy Freeman | Page 2 | Vital Football

One Percy Freeman

nlondonimp said:
i have one childhood memory of him barging the goalkeeper and the ball into the net, and the goal being given.
Click to expand...

Sure that wasn't Dixie McNeil? October 1972 v Doncaster - picture below.

Of course that's not say there wasn't an occasion when Percy Freeman also barged a goalkeeper into the net! May not have been as blatant as this one though when the keeper was simply standing still on the line.

Dixie goal.jpg
 
Merthyr Imp said:
Sure that wasn't Dixie McNeil? October 1972 v Doncaster - picture below.

Of course that's not say there wasn't an occasion when Percy Freeman also barged a goalkeeper into the net! May not have been as blatant as this one though when the keeper was simply standing still on the line.

View attachment 33808
Click to expand...
i thought it was freeman going up with the keeper and taking him and ball into the net. but yes, could well have mixed it up with that one over time...
 
nlondonimp said:
i thought it was freeman going up with the keeper and taking him and ball into the net. but yes, could well have mixed it up with that one over time...
Click to expand...

Like I said - could have been another incident when that happened.

With McNeil, the keeper had caught the ball on the line and stood waiting for his defence to move upfield in the usual fashion when Dixie just walked up to him and shoulder charged him into the net as shown in the picture.

I always cite it as an instance when a player was credited with a goal without having touched the ball.
 
nlondonimp said:
i have one childhood memory of him barging the goalkeeper and the ball into the net, and the goal being given.
second childhood memory was a great picture of him in the echo, power heading the ball into the net in a game at grimsby.
third childhood memory was when he turned up at the house and was as big as the door.
Click to expand...
Thought that was Dixie McNeil who barged the keeper for a goal? Percy may have similar of course though I cant recall seeing him do it.
 
See I'm off the pace with this! Percy definitely took keeper into the goal v Brentford resulting in the goal collapsing, last minute of a 2-0 win and a 20 min delay to get it fixed, think it was his home league debut? Await correction by those with better memories and archives!
 
Chesterimp said:
Percy definitely took keeper into the goal v Brentford resulting in the goal collapsing, last minute of a 2-0 win and a 20 min delay to get it fixed, think it was his home league debut?
Click to expand...

No goal was scored in the goalpost collapsing incident though. A cross came in and either the goalkeeper caught it or everybody missed it and the momentum of the players charging in and grabbing hold of the net as they fell brought the posts down.

It was Percy Freeman's home debut and he scored after 10 and 61 minutes in the 2-0 win, although on this occasion neither were from headers.
 
I am fairly sure it was Ron Atkinson who said he had never seen one player cover so much ground and single handedly terrorise his entire defence as Percy had done in a game. Must have been Cambridge and it was said many years later so must have left an impression.
 
I went to the game at Cambridge and Ron Atkinson was their manager at the time and he had Brendon Batson marking Percy and the poor chap never stood a chance - if Percy did not power past him he went straight threw him - he was awesome. Walking backed to my car after the match and the comments from the Cambridge fans varied from - poor old Batson never stood a chance against that bloody monster to that is the best away team performance I have ever seen at our ground. I was a proud Imps fan driving home to Colchester.
 
Such is the legendary status of Percy, the excitement he created for Imps fans even without the ball and the fear he drew from the opposition, that 50 years later he gets mentioned on here on a weekly basis.
 
Ex-Ref said:
Such is the legendary status of Percy, the excitement he created for Imps fans even without the ball and the fear he drew from the opposition, that 50 years later he gets mentioned on here on a weekly basis.
Click to expand...

Agreed, made a huge impact on me as a youngster.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.