A ROMANY gypsy former footballer, who scored a stunning winner against Ronaldo’s Manchester United has revealed that his life is very different now.
Not many can say they put one over on the all-time great Red Devils team in their pomp, but this ex-striker left the game to pursue an unexpected new career.
The former striker knocked the dominant Manchester United team out of the League Cup in 2006Getty
GettyFreddy Eastwood scored the free kick stunner that sent Southend through to the quarter finals[/caption]
The 2006/7 United team won the Premier League and included eight players who made that season’s PFA Team of the Year, but they failed to defend the League Cup after a stunning fourth round loss to Southend.
The man responsible for that loss was Freddy Eastwood, who scored an incredible free-kick winner to dump the most dominant team in the country out of the competition.
Freddy, who was raised on a travellers site, revealed to The Athletic that he walked away from the beautiful game nine years ago and embarked on a new journey running his own building firm near London.
The now 39-year-old explained: “I enjoy it because I’m my own boss.
“I can work my own hours, even though there are a lot of hours involved.
“Football is a completely different ball game. If you’re five minutes late, you’ll get a fine.”
However, he still has fond memories of his playing days, which saw him score 49 goals in 111 appearances for Southend, on top of stints with Coventry, West Ham and Wolverhampton, between 2002 and 2014.
Freddy recalled: “I always thought I was a big-game player, like when I scored against Manchester United and in the Millennium Stadium, when we beat Lincoln to get promoted.
“And the next season we went to Swansea needing a point to get promoted to the Championship with two games to go. We were 1-0 down, I scored, we went 2-1 down and I scored again. We got a point and got promoted.
“On the way home the gaffer got crates and crates of beer and we celebrated all the way home from Swansea. That was brilliant.”
Despite the shocking upset, he added that the goal against Sir Alex Ferguson’s men wasn’t actually the best of his career.
He explained: “Everybody always asks me what was my favourite goal or favourite memory and they think I’ll say Manchester United.
“That was great but it wasn’t in a final or anything like that. I look at the Millennium Stadium and that Swansea game as bigger moments, because we actually won something.”
The AthleticNow 39, he runs his own building firm near London[/caption] Read More