Palace lose sporting director Freedman

18 Mar 2025 - Sport

By Matt Law FOOTBALL NEWS CORRESPONDENT

Crystal Palace will lose highly-rated sporting director Dougie Freedman at the end of the season after he agreed to take up a role overseas.

Sources believe Freedman is in line to take up a post in Saudi Arabia, although he is likely to remain available to help Palace unofficially through the summer.

Palace confirmed the departure but have not commented on any plans to succeed Freedman with some sources believing former sporting director Iain Moody, who resigned in controversial circumstances, is in the frame for a more prominent role.

However, Palace insiders say Moody – who has been managing director at Sapienza Football Consulting for the past 10 years and is close to co-owner Steve Parish – will stay in the same consultancy position, which could be enhanced.

A Palace statement read: “The club can confirm sporting director Dougie Freedman is leaving Crystal Palace to take up a role overseas.”

Moody was Palace sporting director for 11 months between 2013 and 2014, before resigning after it was alleged that he shared racist, sexist and homophobic texts with Malky Mackay while the pair worked at Cardiff City. In an interview with Palace fanzine Five Year Plan in 2015, Moody said: “Good people sometimes do bad things. I’m not denying it was me, but that’s unrecognisable and it’s not a reflection of what I stand for.”