David Friio

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Personal information
David Friio
Full name	David Friio
Date of birth	17 February 1973 (1973-02-17) (age 35)
Place of birth	Thionville, France
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2000–2005 2005–2006	Plymouth Argyle Nottingham Forest	0185 (44) 0
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

David Friio (born February 17, 1973 in Thionville) is a French former professional footballer who played in England for Plymouth Argyle before moving to twice European cup winners Nottingham Forest. Friio, a midfielder, had played for various clubs in France including Épinal, Nîmes and Valence, before Paul Sturrock signed him on a free transfer for Plymouth Argyle in 2000. He was a huge success with Argyle, adding class to the midfield whilst creating and scoring regular goals, most prominently exemplified by his first-half hat-trick in the 7-0 home drubbing of Chesterfield. Friio was a trademark box to box midfielder, with a ferocious shot and fantastic heading ability, which were the source of many of his 48 goals for Argyle, and subsequent solitary goal for Forest. During his time at Home Park, the club achieved two promotions, rising from the fourth tier to the second, with Friio making 158 appearances and he was named in the PFA Division Three team of the year for 2001-02.[1]

However, in early 2005 he moved to fellow Championship club Nottingham Forest in a £100,000 transfer, but Friio was unable to save the club from relegation and spent the rest of his time there in League One. Friio was coming to the end of his contract at Plymouth, and his agent indicated that several clubs had offered him in excess of £4,500 a week wages and that unless Argyle could match those offers, he would understandably be leaving. At the time Argyle were far from safety of relegation themselves and decided against breaking their player wage structure to hold on to their midfielder, effectively resigning themselves to losing him at a cut-price sale. The then Nottingham Forest manager Gary Megson wasn't prepared to let such a bargain evade him, and captured him in February 2005. However, like Megson, his time with the club was disappointing, with only 22 league appearances in over a year.

David announced his retirement from football on August 16, 2006 and returned to France to establish a business within football. Since his retiremement, Friio has since sent several players to Plymouth Argyle for trial periods, although former Argyle manager Ian Holloway chose not to sign any of Friio's recommendations.