Freddie Goodwin is a former English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 professional football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 player and manager.

Career

A half back

Midfielder

A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role...

, Goodwin was signed as a trainee from Cheshire Schoolboys by Manchester United

Manchester United F.C.

Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...

 on 1 October 1953 as one of the Busby Babes

Busby Babes

The Busby Babes were a group of Manchester United players, recruited and trained by the club's chief scout Joe Armstrong and assistant manager Jimmy Murphy, who progressed from the club's youth team into the first team under the management of the eponymous Matt Busby.The Busby Babes were notable...

. He made his senior debut for the club on 20 November 1954 against Arsenal

Arsenal F.C.

Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...

. He helped the club win the 1956 and 1957 league championships, and was a member of the United team that made a comeback from the Munich air disaster

Munich air disaster

The Munich air disaster occurred on 6 February 1958, when British European Airways Flight 609 crashed on its third attempt to take off from a slush-covered runway at Munich-Riem Airport in Munich, West Germany. On board the plane was the Manchester United football team, nicknamed the "Busby Babes",...

 that claimed the lives of eight players and ended the careers of two others, to reach the 1958 FA Cup Final

1958 FA Cup Final

The 1958 FA Cup Final was contested on 3 May 1958 by Bolton Wanderers and Manchester United at Wembley Stadium, London, in front of a crowd of almost 100,000. The referee was J. Sherlock. Bolton won 2–0, with a double by Nat Lofthouse, who scored the goals in the 3rd and 55th minutes...

, losing 2–0 to Bolton

Bolton Wanderers F.C.

Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....

. He was not on the plane to Munich, having not been selected in the squad for the quarter-final second leg tie with Red Star Belgrade

Red Star Belgrade

Red Star Belgrade is a football club from Belgrade, Serbia. The club is a part of the Red Star Sports Society.Red Star Belgrade is the most successful Serbian club, with a record of 25 national championships and 23 national cups in both Serbian and ex-Yugoslav competitions...

 of Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

.

In his United career, he scored eight goals in 107 appearances. He was signed by Leeds United on 16 March 1960 for £10,000. In the 1963–64 season

1963-64 in English football

The 1963–1964 season was the 84th season of competitive football in England, from August 1963 to May 1964:-Overview:* Liverpool won the League Championship.* West Ham United won the FA Cup.* Leicester City won the League Cup.-Diary of the season:...

, a collision with former Leeds team-mate John Charles

John Charles

William John Charles, CBE , commonly known as John Charles, was a Welsh international footballer best remembered for spells with Leeds United and Juventus. Rated by many as the greatest all-round footballer ever to come from Wales, he was equally adept at centre-forward or centre-back...

 in an FA Cup tie against Cardiff City

Cardiff City F.C.

Cardiff City Football Club are a Welsh professional football club based in Cardiff, Wales. The club competes in the English football pyramid and is currently playing in the Football League Championship. Cardiff City is the best supported football club in Wales, averaging approximately 22,500 for...

 caused him to suffer a triple fracture of his leg, eventually resulting in his retirement from playing on 1 December 1964. He scored two goals in 120 appearances for Leeds.

Goodwin went on to become a player-manager at Scunthorpe United

Scunthorpe United F.C.

Scunthorpe United Football Club is an English association football team based in the town of Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, who play in the Football League One....

, although he did not play many games due to his injury, making six appearances and scoring one goal for the club. He left Scunthorpe United on 1 June 1966 and then became a manager for the New York Generals

New York Generals

For the collegiate baseball team, see New York Generals The New York Generals were a soccer team based out of New York that played in the non-FIFA sanctioned National Professional Soccer League. Their home field was Yankee Stadium...

 and Brighton and Hove Albion, before becoming manager of First Division

Football League First Division

The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....

 club Birmingham City

Birmingham City F.C.

Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...

. It was at Birmingham where he introduced the young Trevor Francis

Trevor Francis

Trevor John Francis , is a former footballer who won the European Cup with Nottingham Forest and played for England 52 times. He was England's first £1 million player...

 into league football. At Birmingham, he was also known for introducing yoga, psychological testing and other new training techniques.

From 1976 to 1978, he was the first coach and president of the Minnesota Kicks

Minnesota Kicks

Minnesota Kicks were a professional soccer team that played at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota from 1976 to 1981. The team was a member of the now defunct North American Soccer League. The team had relocated to Minnesota after having been based in Denver, Colorado as the Denver Dynamos...

 of the North American Soccer League

North American Soccer League

North American Soccer League was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.-History:...

. He remained as president of the club until June 1981. He coached the team for portions of the 1980 and 1981 seasons. Goodwin and wife Sylvia retired to the Pacific Northwest in the early 1990s.