David Friio

David Friio

Personal information
Full name	David Friio
Date of birth	17 February 1973 (1973-02-17) (age 38)
Place of birth	Thionville, France
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1994–1997	Épinal	104	(5)
1997–1999	Nîmes	48	(2)
1999–2000	Valence	33	(3)
2000–2005	Plymouth Argyle	167	(39)
2005–2006	Nottingham Forest	22	(1)
Total		376	(50)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

David Friio (born 17 February 1973 in Thionville, Lorraine) is a French former professional footballer who achieved notable success in England with Plymouth Argyle between 2000 and 2005. He was a midfielder and now works as a scout for Manchester United.

Club career

French football

Friio began his career as a defender with local club Épinal in 1994. He made 104 league appearances for the club, scoring 5 goals, before he joined established Ligue 2 club Nîmes in 1997. In his two-years at the club he made 50 league appearances, scoring 2 goals, before being transferred to fellow Ligue 2 club Valence ahead of the 1999-2000 season, where he would first meet Romain Larrieu. He made 33 appearances in his one-year at the club, scoring 3 goals, as the club suffered relegation.^[1] Valence had to cut back and as a result released a number of players, Friio was included along with Larrieu.^[2]

Plymouth Argyle

He moved to England with Larrieu early on in the 2000-2001 season, where Plymouth Argyle manager Paul Sturrock offered them a trial. It was here that Friio would be converted from a defender into a box-to-box midfielder.^[3] He signed a contract until the end of the season in November and made his debut for the Pilgrims in the 2-0 Devon derby victory over Exeter City on 2 December.^[4] He figured consistently for the remainder of the season, scoring 5 goals, and signed a two-year contract extension in the summer of 2001. Friio went from strength to strength in the following season as he established himself as a key player, scoring 11 goals, as the club were crowned Third Division Champions. He was named in the division's Team of the Year by the PFA along with three of his team-mates, Larrieu, Paul Wotton, and Graham Coughlan.^[5]

Friio enjoyed another productive season in 2002-2003, making 41 appearances in all competitions, scoring 7 goals, as the club finished 8th in the Second Division. He signed a two-year contract extension in April 2003.^[6] The following season was the best of his career as he sealed his place in the affections of the clubs supporters. He made 40 appearances in all competitions, scoring 15 goals, including a hattrick in the 7-0 demolition of Chesterfield,^[7] and consecutive doubles in a 5-1 win at Port Vale and a 3-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday. The club were crowned Second Division Champions and Friio was named in the divisional Team of the Year for the second time.^[8]

The 2004-2005 season was to be his last for Argyle. His mentor Paul Sturrock had moved on, at the back end of the previous season, and Bobby Williamson had taken over. So Friio began their first season back in the Championship - previously known as the First Division - since 1992 in an unusual role, as a substitute. He forced his way back into the starting-eleven in September 2004, scoring 2 goals that month and followed that up in October with a remarkable double against Gillingham.^[9] In a game which looked like ending in frustration for the Pilgrims, Friio had other ideas, trailing 1-0 heading into injury-time he scored with two trademark, pin-point headers inside the last 96 seconds of the game.

January came and with Friio's contract expiring rumours were rife about his future with several clubs apparently interested.^[10] His last goal for the club came in a 1-1 draw with Wolves on 1 January 2005 and his last appearance in a green shirt was at Reading on 5 February 2005, somewhat fittingly, with an estimated 4,000 of the clubs supporters there to see it.^[11] Contract negotiations had broken down, with Williamson unwilling to break the club's wage structure in order to keep the Frenchman. So instead of losing him for nothing in the summer the club accepted an offer of £100,000 from fellow Championship side Nottingham Forest.^[12]

In all competitions, he made 185 appearances for the Pilgrims, scoring 44 goals.

Nottingham Forest

Friio signed for Nottingham Forest on 14 February 2005 and made his debut against Preston on 23 February.^[13] A calf injury hampered him for the remainder of the season, he made 5 appearances in three months as Forest were relegated to League One. The 2005-2006 season started well for him, he featured regularly for the club from August to late October, scoring once against Walsall,^[14] before injuries struck again. His last game for the club was in a 1-1 draw at Rotherham United on 21 January 2006. He reported for pre-season training ahead of the 2006-2007 season, but had his contract terminated in August 2006 after deciding that he wanted to retire from playing.^[15]

After retirement

Scouting

Friio returned to France following his retirement to set up a business within football. However, he did link up again with Nottingham Forest three months later in October 2006 after then manager Colin Calderwood asked him if he would like to be a scout for the club in his native France. He blamed a lack of desire to continue playing as the reason he hung up his boots.^[16] He was instrumental in the signing of Guy Moussi, having recommended him to the club after watching Moussi play for Angers in his homeland.^[17] Friio is now working as a scout for Manchester United.^[18]

Footballing honours

Club

Plymouth Argyle

• Third Division Champions (1): 2001–02
• Second Division Champions (1): 2003–04

Individual

• PFA Third Division Team of the Year (1): 2001–02
• PFA Second Division Team of the Year (1): 2003–04

Career statistics

Club	Season	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Other1		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
SAS Épinal
	1994–95	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1995–96	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1996–97	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total	104	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	104	5
Nîmes Olympique
	1997–98	25	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	27	2
	1998–99	23	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	24	0
	Total	48	2	0	0	3	0	0	0	51	2
ASOA Valence
	1999–00	33	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	33	3
	Total	33	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	33	3
Plymouth Argyle
	2000–01	26	5	0	0	0	0	1	0	27	5
	2001–02	41	8	4	2	1	0	1	1	47	11
	2002–03	36	6	4	1	1	0	0	0	41	7
	2003–04	36	14	1	1	1	0	2	0	40	15
	2004–05	28	6	1	0	1	0	0	0	30	6
	Total	167	39	10	4	4	0	4	1	185	44
Nottingham Forest
	2004–05	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
	2005–06	17	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	17	1
	Total	22	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	22	1
Career Total		376	50	10	4	4	0	4	1	394	55

^1 Football League Trophy

^[19]

References

1. ^ 1999-2000 Ligue 2 Table
2. ^ Johnson reminiscent of Larrieu and Friio
3. ^ GoS Archive November 2003
4. ^ Exeter City 0-2 Plymouth Argyle
5. ^ Four Pilgrims Selected
6. ^ Friio Extends Contract
7. ^ Plymouth Argyle 7-0 Chesterfield
8. ^ Friio in Team of the Year
9. ^ Plymouth Argyle 2-1 Gillingham
10. ^ Friio interests Clarets
11. ^ Reading 0-0 Plymouth Argyle
12. ^ Forest Agree Deal
13. ^ Nottingham Forest 3-0 Preston
14. ^ "Walsall 3-2 Nott'm For". BBC. 9 August 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/4126974.stm. Retrieved 25 March 2010. 
15. ^ Friio to Retire
16. ^ French Connection
17. ^ Moussi Joins Forest
18. ^ Gordon Sparks - Twitter
19. ^ David Friio at GoS

External links

• David Friio career stats at Soccerbase
• David Friio French league stats at LFP.fr (French)

Persondata
Name	Friio, David
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	17 February 1973
Place of birth	Thionville, France
Date of death
Place of death