Comfortable playing in any of the forward positions, Freddie Gauntlett took over as the leader of the Dons attack in the mid 1950s following the retirement of Harry Stannard. It was in 1940 that his potential was spotted when he turned out, as a teenager, for the Home Guards Eleven but it was only after he was demobbed in 1947 that he started playing football at a senior level when he joined Frinton Rovers. Coming to Plough Lane in the summer of 1947 he was free scoring inside forward for the next seven seasons. After stepping down from the first team he was an important part of coach Les Henley's back room team and was in charge of the club's youth team in the early 1960s.