coventryplayersofthe60s

Full name Robert Anthony Gould
Date of birth 12 June 1946 (1946-06-12) (age 62)
Place of birth Coventry, England
Playing position Striker

Current club Hawke's Bay United (assistant)
Coventry City 82games 40 goals
Arsenal 65-16
Wolverhampton Wanderers 40 - 18
West Bromwich Albion 52 -18
Bristol City 35 - 15
West Ham United 51-15
Wolverhampton Wanderers 34 - 13
Bristol Rovers 36 - 12
Hereford United 45 - 13

Teams managed
Chelsea (assistant)
Bristol Rovers
Coventry City
Bristol Rovers
Wimbledon
Queens Park Rangers (assistant)
West Bromwich Albion
Coventry City
Wales
Cardiff City
Cheltenham Town
Peterborough United (coach)
Hawke's Bay United (assistant)

Robert Anthony "Bobby" Gould (born 12 June 1946 in Coventry)
Playing career
Gould started his career at Coventry City, making his debut for the club whilst still an apprentice at the age of 16. He didn't sign professional until June 1964. A striker, he scored 40 goals in 82 league games for the Sky Blues, helping them to win the Second Division title in 1966–67.

He moved to Arsenal in February 1968 for £90,000.He could not hold down a regular place in the Arsenal first team, although he did score a headed goal in the 1969 League Cup Final against Swindon Town, to send the game into extra time; Arsenal went on to lose 3–1. Gould played no part in Arsenal's 1970 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final win and by the end of 1969-70 was on the sidelines at Arsenal.

In June 1970 Gould was transferred to Wolves for a fee of £55,000, but after just 15 months he was signed by West Bromwich Albion manager Don Howe for £66,666. He made his Albion debut at home to Ipswich Town in the same month, and partnering Jeff Astle in attack, went on to score 12 goals in his first season at the Hawthorns. In all he scored 19 goals in 60 appearances for Albion, but when his form began to wane he was sold to Bristol City for £68,888 in December 1972.

Gould joined West Ham United in November 1973 for an £80,000 fee, and picked up a winners' medal in the 1975 FA Cup Final as a non-playing substitute. He re-joined Wolves for £30,000 in December 1975 and helped them to win the Second Division title in 1976–77. He moved on to Bristol Rovers for £10,000 in October 1977, assuming the role of player-coach. Between January and April of 1978 Gould coached the Norwegian side FC Aaslund, and joined Hereford United as player-coach for £10,000 in September of the same year.

Management and coaching career

Club management and the FA Cup
Gould joined Chelsea as assistant manager to Geoff Hurst in 1979, and briefly took charge of first team affairs when Hurst was sacked in 1981 before leaving shortly afterwards.

Gould began his managerial career with Bristol Rovers in October 1981 before returning to Coventry City as boss in May 1983. He remained there until December 1984 before going back to Rover for a second spell as as manager.

Gould is most famous for his achievements with Wimbledon. He moved to the South Londoners in the summer of 1987 after their first season as a First Division club. His first season brought one of the most famous FA Cup victories in history, when his unfancied Wimbledon side beat Liverpool to clinch the 1988 FA Cup Final at Wembley.

Gould remained with the Dons for two more seasons before quitting to make way for his assistant Ray Harford. On leaving Wimbledon, Gould was recruited by QPR to work as assistant to manager Don Howe, having played under Howe at West Bromwich Albion.

Fittingly enough, his short-lived spell at Loftus Road ended in January 1991 when he took the vacant manager's job at Albion. But he was unable to prevent them from suffering relegation to the old Third Division at the end of the 1990–91 season - the first time that Albion had slipped to such depths.

In 1991–92, Albion just missed out on the playoffs in their first season as a Third Division club and Gould left in June 1992 to join Coventry, his former club. He remained at Coventry City until December 1993, when he resigned despite defying all the odds and keeping them clear of relegation from the Premiership.
International management
His next stop was with the Welsh national team. He became national coach in June 1995 but quit four years later after their failure to qualify for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Gould was not highly regarded by the Welsh fans, following questionable tactics and major fallings out with players such as Nathan Blake, when Blake refused to play after accusing Gould of making a racist remark in training, as well as Mark Hughes. A comical incident occurred early in the career of Robbie Savage when Savage jokingly threw a replica of Paolo Maldini's shirt away on Sky Sports before a match against Italy. Gould initially dropped Savage from the squad for disrespecting Maldini, only to reinstate him the next day. Gould's final match was a 4-0 defeat to Italy in which he allegedly instructed Mark Hughes "not to tackle the Italians as they'll only dive".

Back to club football
In August 2000, Bobby Gould was named as manager of Division Three side Cardiff City. But two months later he handed over his duties to Alan Cork and was promoted to the role of general manager. After seeing the Bluebirds win promotion at the end of 2000–01 he left Ninian Park to seek a return to management.
Bobby Gould's final full time managerial post came in February 2003 when he took over at Division Two strugglers Cheltenham Town.Despite his efforts, Cheltenham were unable to avoid relegation back to Division Three and Gould resigned soon after the 2003–04 campaign was underway, following a run of six defeats in seven games. Gould was unpopular with the fans throughout the start of 2003–04, resulting in a demonstration after the home match with Rochdale during which he came out to announce that he had resigned.

In season 2004–05 Gould was employed to coach Peterborough United by owner Barry Fry but quit at half time during an LDV Trophy match with Bristol City after a disagreement with Fry. Bobby's son Jonathan Gould was also a professional footballer, who kept goal for clubs including Coventry City and Glasgow Celtic and became a full Scotland international.

In September 2006 it was announced that Bobby would be employed in assisting his son Jonathan who is head coach with Hawke's Bay United in New Zealand. Another son Richard is currently the Chief Executive of Somerset County Cricket Club.

Bobby appears periodically on BBC Five Live's Fighting Talk

Honours
As a manager
Wimbledon F.A. Cup winner - 1988

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