Minnesota’s first professional soccer coach, Freddie Goodwin, passed away last week. He was 82. Goodwin, who was born in Heywood, Lancashire, England, started his career at Manchester United in 1953 where he made 95 appearances for the club. He also played for Leeds United and Scunthorpe United before traveling to the US to play for the New York Generals of the NASL in 1967.
Goodwin was one of Manchester United’s famous “Busby Babes” but was not on the plane that crashed in the infamous Munich air disaster of 1958 that was traveling to Belgrade, Yugoslavia against Red Star Belgrade. Eight players where killed and others were injured. Goodwin was not on the travel roster.
Goodwin, who was lauded as a forward thinking manager, coached Scunthorpe United, the Generals in NY, Brighton and Hove Albion and Birmingham City before moving to the US permanently in 1976 where he was became the Minnesota Kicks head coach until 1978. At Birmingham his success earned the club promotion and two FA Cup semi-finals.
Goodwin was hired by Jack Crocker from the Super Value grocery stores chain who purchased the Denver Dynamo and moved the team to Minnesota for the start of the 1976 NASL season.
Former Kicks star and US Soccer Hall of Famer Alan Willey recently recalled Goodwin reaching out to him to play for the Kicks in the summer during the English offseason.
Goodwin, had scouted one of Willey’s Middlesbrough teammates and came to watch a reserve match. “I think I scored 5 goals and Freddy asked me if I’d be interested in coming to Minnesota. My first comment to him was, where is Minnesota,” asked Willey.
Alan Merrick, who came from West Bromwich Albion said Goodwin purchased his contract in early January of 1976. Merrick captained the Kicks from 76-78. Under Goodwin’s leadership Merrick said there was a “culture of the Kicks.” “It was all encompassing to each other and one that we didn’t expect anything but the best. Freddie was a hard working coach that explored many facets of the game and exposed us to them,” said Merrick who went on to be a strong influencer of the sport in Minnesota, himself. “I learned an awful lot from him. He was a very good player in his day and one of the best coaches I ever played for, yet he was still humble.”
Goodwin started out as coach and team president but stepped away from the the coaching role to be the clubs full time president in 1978 and remained in that position until 1981 when the Kicks folded.
Another Minnesota soccer influencer who was helped by Goodwin is former Minnesota Thunder founder and coach Buzz Lagos. A number of years ago several boxes of Goodwin’s records and documents were made available at the Minnesota History Center. A letter was found in one of those boxes from a very young Lagos to Goodwin where he analyzed a game and shared the tactical changes he would have implemented to improve the Kicks play. He sent the letter off and asked if Goodwin had the time to critique his observations. Evidently Goodwin was impressed with Lagos and soon after Lagos pro coaching aspirations bloomed as Goodwin used him to scout opposing teams.
Goodwin moved to the State of Washington after his years in Minnesota when he spent time in the travel industry. His health had deteriorated the last several years. He passed away on February 19th, 2016 in Gig Harbour, Washington.
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