Les Fridge

Leslie Francis Fridge (born 27 August 1968) is a Scottish former football goalkeeper. He was formerly manager at Nairn County.

Les Fridge
Personal information
Full name Leslie Francis Fridge[1]
Date of birth (1968-08-27) 27 August 1968
Place of birth Inverness, Scotland
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1985 Inverness Thistle 1 (0)
1985-1987 Chelsea 1 (0)
1987-1993 St Mirren 70 (0)
1987 → Stirling Albion (loan) 1 (0)
1988 → Arbroath (loan) 3 (0)
1993–1995 Clyde 68 (0)
1995-1996 Raith Rovers 1 (0)
1996-1997 Dundalk 35 (0)
1997-2002 Inverness CT 63 (0)
2002-03 Ross County 2 (0)
Total 245 (0)
National team
1989 Scotland U21[2] 2 (0)
Teams managed
2004–2016 Nairn County
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

A product of the Scottish Highland Football League, Fridge began his senior career with his home town club, Inverness Thistle of the Scottish Highland Football League, and as a 16-year-old played for Inverness Thistle, in goal, in the 1984-85 Scottish Cup against Celtic in a Fourth Round tie at Celtic Park in a 6-0 defeat.[3]

He transferred early in his senior career, to Chelsea in April 1985. He played regularly for the Juniors in 1985-86. A goalkeeper with a good physique, he made his first-team debut for Chelsea in the last game of the 1985-86 season at home to Watford. Chelsea lost 5–1. This game was his first and his last game for Chelsea.[4]

He returned to Scotland and spent six years with St Mirren, including loans to Stirling Albion and Arbroath before having spells with Clyde and Raith Rovers.[5] This was followed by a season playing for Dundalk in Ireland.[6]

After much travelling Fridge soon returned home to sign for Inverness Caledonian Thistle. He spent four years with Caley but struggled to be regular choice at the Caledonian Stadium with the likes of Jim Calder and Nicky Walker to contend with.[7] In 2002, he signed for near neighbours Ross County.

Fridge retired in 2003, and in 2004 became manager of nearby Nairn County of the Highland Football League. After twelve years and 477 games as manager,[8] he left the club in 2016.[9] He was also briefly a coach for Caley Thistle's youth teams.

References
  1. "Les Fridge". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  2. "Scotland U21 Player Les Fridge". fitbastats.com. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  3. "1985-02-16: Celtic 6-0 Inverness CT, Scottish Cup 4th Rd - The Celtic Wiki". www.thecelticwiki.com. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  4. "Chelsea v Watford, 05 May 1986". 11v11.com. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  5. "Les Fridge | Football Stats | No Club | Age 52 | 1985-2003 | Soccer Base". www.soccerbase.com. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  6. "Les Fridge | History of Dundalk F.C." www.dundalkfcwhoswho.com. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  7. Findlay, Stuart. "Can you do me a favour? How Caley Thistle hero Jim Calder was always willing to bail his teams out - in more ways than one". Press and Journal. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  8. "Les Fridge | Manager Statistics | Nairn County (Nairn County Archive)". www.nairncountyarchive.co.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  9. "Manager Les Fridge quits Nairn County". Inverness Courier. 24 May 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
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