Bobby Gould

Bobby Gould
Full name	Robert Anthony Gould
Nationality	England
Rovers apps (goals)a	36 (12)
Position	Forward
Date of birth	12 June 1946 in Coventry
Height	5 ft 10 in
Joined
October 1977 from Wolverhampton Wanderers
Left
September 1978 to join Hereford United
Senior clubs	Teams managed
Coventry City Arsenal Wolverhampton Wanderers West Bromwich Albion Bristol City West Ham United Wolverhampton Wanderers Bristol Rovers Hereford United	Chelsea (caretaker) Bristol Rovers Coventry City Bristol Rovers Wimbledon West Bromwich Albion Coventry City Wales Cardiff City Cheltenham Town Weymouth
a League appearances and goals only Last updated by Gasheadsteve on 22/11/2011

Robert Alfred Gould, better known as Bobby Gould, had three spells at Bristol Rovers – one as player-coach and two as manager.

As a player he made 36 league appearances (including one from the bench) and scored twelve times in just under a year with the club. His two stints as manager saw him take charge of a combined total of 196 games, winning 71 of them, drawing 42 and losing 83.

His first spell as manager, from October 1981 to May 1983, was his most successful, winning 40 out of 91 games and winning both Gloucestershire Cup matches played under his stewardship. He left Rovers in 1983 to take charge of his home town club, and the team where he started his playing career, Coventry City, but returned to Eastville two years later. His second spell with the Pirates saw him win 31, draw 25 and lose 49, before leaving to take charge of Wimbledon in 1987, who he guided to a shock FA Cup final win over Liverpool the following season.

Although he never played at the international level, Gould managed Wales for four years in the late 1990s. His son, Jonathan Gould, was a youth team goalkeeper with Rovers and after a spell with Clevedon Town he went on to play for West Bromwich Albion and Celtic, among others, as well being capped twice by Scotland.

Playing career

Bobby began his career playing as a forward for his home town club, Coventry City, turning pro with them in 1963 and remaining there for just under four years. He scored 40 times in 82 league appearances for the Sky Blues, attracting the interest of Arsenal, who paid £90,000 to take him to Highbury in February 1968.

The highlight of his two-and-a-half years with The Gunners was probably his equalising goal in the 1969 League Cup final, sending the game into an ultimately unsuccessful extra time period, but in spite of this he found himself increasingly on the margins of the club during the 1969–70 season. He moved to Wolverhampton Wanderers for a fee of £55,000 in June 1970, having made 65 league appearances for Arsenal and scoring 16 times and went on to score 18 in 40 league games for Wolves.

Just over a year later he moved to West Bromwich Albion for a fee of £66,666, making 52 league appearances and scoring 18 goals, before being sold to Bristol City in December 1972. After eleven months at Ashton Gate he moved on to West Ham United and from there back to Wolves in December 1975. He joined Rovers as a player-coach in 1977, and took up the same role with Hereford United for the 1978–79 season.

He played 35 times in the league, scoring 15 goals for Bristol City, before scoring 15 in 51 for West Ham, 13 in 34 during his second spell with Wolves, 12 in 36 for Rovers and 13 in 45 for Hereford. His final career totals were 440 league games played, 160 goals scored.

Career stats

N.B. Only Bristol Rovers league appearances are listed here. (Source: Pirates in Profile)

Season	Club	League
		Apps	Goals
1977–78	Bristol Rovers	32	10
1978–79	Bristol Rovers	4	2

Managerial career

After working as a player-coach at Rovers and Hereford United, Gould finally hung up his boots in 1979 to take up a position as assistant manager of Chelsea under 1966 World Cup hero Geoff Hurst. Gould got his first taste of management when Hurst was fired in 1981, leaving Bobby in charge for the final two games of the 1980–81 season. He was appointed to the position of Bristol Rovers manager in October 1981, but left in 1983 to take charge of the first club he played for, Coventry City. He returned to Rovers in May 1985 for a two-year stint.

Bobby Gould (right) oversees Alan Ball signing for Rovers in 1983

His biggest success came after leaving Rovers for the second time, in 1987. Despite not enjoying stellar success in his second spell with the Pirates he was taken on by First Division side Wimbledon, who he guided to FA Cup victory at Wembley in his first season with them. The Dons beat West Bromwich Albion comfortably in the third round, running out 4–1 victors, before seeing off Mansfield Town, Newcastle United, Watford and Luton Town on their way to the final. They were huge underdogs when they faced Liverpool in the final, but a single goal from Laurie Sanchez late in the first half was enough to cause the upset.

After two more years with Wimbledon, Gould handed in his resignation. He eventually found work as assistant manager to Don Howe at Queens Park Rangers in December 1990, and two months later he was offered the top job at West Brom. The Baggies were already at the foot of Division Two when he took over and he was unable to save them from relegation to the third tier at the end of the 1990–91 season. After failing to bounce straight back up the following season Bobby left for a second spell in charge of Coventry City, this time competing in the newly-formed Premier League. Despite finishing in a respectable 15th in the inaugural Premier League season, Bobby resigned from his post in December 1993.

Gould (right) with Rovers former England international Mick Channon

After an 18-month break from football management he was appointed manager of the Welsh national team in June 1995, where his four-year tenure was marked by a number of controversies. He failed to qualify for either the 1996 European championships in England or the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, and had a difficult relationship with some players, not least Nathan Blake who refused to play for Wales under Gould after claiming that Gould had made a racist remark to him in training.

Following his departure from the Wales Job in 1999 he spent another year away before being appointed Cardiff City manager in August 2000, but after just two months he moved into a General Manager's role and handed the day-to-day running of the team over to Alan Cork. His final Football League management job was another brief one, taking over as Cheltenham Town boss in February 2003 but resigning nine months later after suffering relegation to Division Three and being the target of a fans' protest to have him sacked.

He had a spell coaching at Peterborough United during the 2004–05 season, but left after a falling out with owner Barry Fry. His final spell as a football manager came in April 2009 when he was given the task of managing Conference side Weymouth for their final five games of the 2008–09 campaign, but as with several of the other teams he managed he was unable to save them from relegation and he left the club that summer.

Managerial stats

Last updated 12 October 2011 (sources Soccerbase, Bristol Rovers Football Club: The Definitive History 1883-2003, rsssf.com)

Team	Nation	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Chelsea	England	24 April 1981	3 May 1981	2	0	0	2	0.00
Bristol Rovers	England	22 October 1981	1 May 1983	91	40	17	34	43.96
Coventry City	England	31 May 1983	28 December 1984	69	20	17	32	28.99
Bristol Rovers	England	16 May 1985	1 July 1987	105	31	25	49	29.52
Wimbledon	England	26 June 1987	18 June 1990	142	57	43	42	40.14
West Bromwich Albion	England	25 February 1991	5 May 1992	66	22	23	21	33.33
Coventry City	England	24 June 1992	23 October 1993	59	18	19	22	30.51
Wales	Wales	17 August 1995	6 June 1999	24	7	4	13	29.17
Cardiff City	Wales	8 August 2000	16 October 2000	11	3	6	2	27.27
Cheltenham Town	England	22 January 2003	6 November 2003	39	10	14	15	25.64
Weymouth	England	12 April 2009	27 April 2009	5	0	1	4	0.00
Total:				613	208	169	236	33.93

Record at Rovers

Season	Comp	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts	Pos	Round reached
1981–82	Division Three	35	14	11	15	43	49	-6	53	–
	FA Cup	1	0	0	1	1	2				First round
	League Cup	?	?	?	?	?	?				Second round
	Gloucestershire Cup	1	1	0	0	?	?				Winners
1982–83	Division Three	46	22	9	15	84	58	+26	75	7th
	FA Cup	3	1	1	1	3	3				Second round
	League Cup	4	2	1	1	7	5				Second round
	Gloucestershire Cup	1	1	0	0	?	?				Winners
1985–86	Division Three	46	14	12	20	51	75	-24	54	16th
	FA Cup	4	3	0	1	8	7				Fourth round
	League Cup	4	2	1	1	6	7				Second round
	Associate Members Cup	2	1	0	1	2	3				Group stage
	Gloucestershire Cup	1	0	0	1	?	?				Runners-up
1986–87	Division Three	46	13	12	21	49	75	-26	51	19th
	FA Cup	2	0	1	1	0	2				First round
	League Cup	2	0	0	2	1	6				First round
	Associate Members Cup	2	0	1	1	1	4				Group stage
Total	League	173	63	44	71	227	257	-30	233	–
	Cups							–	–	–
	All							–	–	–

Notes