Episode 18: Freddie Dindeleux

Bobby Williamson had an eye for a Bosman free transfer signing. During the pre-season training camp of 1999, he invited Freddie Dindeleux on trial with the carrot of a new-TV-deal-funded contract for the French defender, recently released by his boyhood team, Lille. Lacking pace and physicality, with not a word of English, his eventual induction to the Kilmarnock Football Club Hall of Fame would have seemed unlikely in that first summer. But after a slow start, Freddie began to win over team mates and supporters alike.

After all, being able to run fast isn’t everything.

Freddie’s intuitive game awareness and positioning more than made up for any shortcomings. Bobby Williamson saw it straight away and, in due course, many would wonder how in fact the Kilmarnock manager had managed to sign Freddie in the first place…

But what else gave him that universal popularity which endures to this day? “The hair…THE HAIR!”

A stylish left-sided defender, a cult hero and a Hall of Fame member: Frédéric Dindeleux.

 

www.killiehistories.com/freddiedindeleux