Darren Barry Andduet Freeman (born 22 August 1973) is an English football manager and former professional player who played as a winger and striker, making over 130 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

between 1995 and 2001.

Playing career

Born in Brighton, Freeman played youth football for

Whitehawk Whitehawk is a suburb in the east of Brighton, England, south of Bevendean and north of Brighton Marina. The area is a large, modern housing estate built in a downland dry valley historically known as Whitehawk Bottom. The estate was original ...

and Sussex County Youth, making his first team debut at the age of 16. He scored the winner as a 17 year old in the RUR Cup Final against Peacehaven & Telscombe in March 1991 while also appearing in the County Youth Cup Final later in the season, earning trials at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

and Maidstone United. After playing for Isthmian League

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Ho ...

and Horsham he was signed by Gillingham. Following a successful loan spell at Glenavon, he went on to play in the Football League with Fulham, Brentford and

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

, making a total of 134 appearances. He retired from professional football in August 2001 due to an ongoing hernia problem. He returned to non-league football in June 2002 with

Margate Margate is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay and Westbrook. The town has been a significan ...

and Three Bridges, the latter as player-coach, before ending his playing career back at his first club

, joining in 2005–06, before taking on a player-coaching role in 2008. Freeman made 16 league and cup appearances in the 2007–08 season and a further 12 league and cup appearances in the 2009–10 season. His final ever appearance was from the bench in a Sussex Senior Challenge Cup tie at Horsham on 26 November 2013.

Coaching career

Freeman was appointed sole manager of

in May 2010, having previously been joint-manager of the club alongside George Parris since May 2009. Despite taking the club from the Sussex County League to the Conference South League with three promotions in four years, he was sacked by Whitehawk in January 2014. Freeman was appointed manager of Isthmian League Division One South side Peacehaven & Telscombe in August 2015 but left after just two months to take up the manager's position at nearby Lewes. On 2 April 2016, Lewes were relegated from the Isthmian Premier League to the Isthmian Division One South with three games of the season remaining. On 13 April 2018, the Rooks won promotion back to the Isthmian Premier League, eventually finishing the 2017-18 Isthmian Division One South season in 2nd place, behind Carshalton Athletic, on 99 points. Freeman left Lewes in October 2019 to take up a full-time role with the SportsTotal agency with his former teammate at Brentford,

Dirk Hebel Dirk Josef Hebel (born 24 November 1972) is a German former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. As a player, he played professionally in Germany, Turkey and England. He notably won the 1998–99 Third Division championship with ...

. Hebel named his son Darren after Freeman.

Personal life

Freeman was educated at

Varndean School Varndean School is a secondary school serving a large area of Brighton, England. In 2013, 2017 and 2022, Ofsted inspectors described Varndean as a 'Good' school. Varndean shares the Surrenden Campus with Balfour Primary School, Dorothy Strin ...

in Brighton and has two sons, Leighton and Stacey with his partner Lorraine. Stacey Freeman played in his father's team at Lewes. His father Reg died in August 2009 and was cited as an inspiration to Freeman's career. As a player, Freeman was notable for his long hair, modelled on Braveheart's Mel Gibson.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Darren 1973 births Living people English footballers English football managers Lewes F.C. players Horsham F.C. players Worthing F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Glenavon F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Margate F.C. players Three Bridges F.C. players Whitehawk F.C. players English Football League players Association football wingers Association football forwards English expatriate footballers Expatriate association footballers in Northern Ireland Whitehawk F.C. managers Lewes F.C. managers People educated at Varndean College Littlehampton Town F.C. players Footballers from Brighton