These parts:
"but often unpopular in dressing rooms, and reportedly largely disliked by those in the game these days".
I have never known/heard Freddie to be unpopular in the dressing rooms during his playing days - in fact i'd say he was immensely popular. Have seen any evidence that he disliked by those in the games these days either.
Well, maybe I'm wrong about that, or maybe I've overstated it.
Possibly I should say that I'd heard of his having a divisive effect on dressing rooms, or was not always the universally beloved figure the public perceived. Generally pros don't like to go on the record about dressing room stuff like that but it's the impression I've got from a few people over the years, and I've read allusions to these sorts of issues often enough - that Flintoff is not welcome in the England dressing room these days, for instance - that I'd just kind of thought it was the majority view of those "in the know".
IIRC Atherton has suggested he was not universally popular at Lancs, and Duncan Fletcher reportedly took a dim view of Flintoff's effect on the dressing room at times, especially as captain.
Flintoff can't stand Atherton, that's for sure, so there's some needle there from somewhere.
Like I said though, maybe I've got it wrong.
he was literally seen as a Viv Richards-level prodigy by many prior to his arrival in first class cricket, as they mistook his sheer physical strength for genius level batsmanship.
Dont recall anyone trying associating anything about Sir Viv to Freddie during his young days. I lived in Manchester during his younger days, Flintoff like many all-rounders, with his bit hitting was touted as the next Botham. He was mocked for his weight a lot between 98-2000.
I was in his age group and I played at Lancs. I first heard about him when he was 14, first saw him play at 15 (I was on the other team). By the time I got scouted at 16 he was already playing for Lancs seconds.
I knew quite a lot of people involved in the setup at Old Trafford through that. His batting stats as were absolutely phenomenal, and all the talk I heard about him prior to the age of 20 was about him smashing hundreds all over the place, and about the coaches at Lancs pressuring him to let the bowling go as it was a distraction and already giving him injury problems.
The only other guy in the country at the time posting stats like that with the bat as a junior was Marcus Trescothic, as far as I can remember.