Goulds Across The World

How many clubs have the various footballing members of the Gould family worked for between them?

From Central Scotland to Scandinavia and down as far as the Somerset/Dorset border, the total is already huge – and still climbing.

“The family were having this discussion recently about all our employers and we reckon it’s 88,” said Bobby’s grandson, Matthew. “All our generations are inspired by what my grandad achieved in the game but my dad has been in it for decades as well and won plenty of honours.

“Then there was Trevor Gould, my great uncle, who played for Coventry, Northampton and several non-League clubs before going into coaching and managing.

“I don’t think there are many stories like ours and I am proud to be helping carry it on, both as a player and by getting more involved in coaching.”

The Warwick-born 30-year-old spent ten of his formative years in New Zealand, to where dad Jonathan returned this summer to coach at A League newcomers Auckland following earlier service with Hawke’s Bay United, Wellington Phoenix and the national team.

And he attributes much of this all-round longevity in the game to the adaptability and unselfishness in the family network.

“My grandad has been a huge help to me and chucked me £50 here and there to keep my dream alive when I was a long way from home and living on poor wages,” Matthew said. “He also used to drive me to Bishop’s Cleeve when I was on loan there from Cheltenham and didn’t have a car.

“If you look at the travelling he did in his playing and managerial career, it’s obvious he couldn’t have been as successful without all that support he had from my grandma.

“He had two spells in London (Arsenal and West Ham) and his coaching career started in Norway, so that meant uprooting once more with a young family. I’ve just read his autobiography again – it’s a brilliant story and makes me very proud.

“Now my mum is showing the same support by travelling between the south-west and New Zealand to help with Dad’s career. She’s back in England soon, so I am staying a few nights each week at my grandparents near Bristol to save me being in an otherwise empty house.

“We’ve all had so much back-up from our loved ones….it would have been so much harder trying to make a living from the game otherwise.”

There are other Wolves links to this story on top of the two prolific Molineux spells his grandfather had in the 1970s. Bobby’s eldest son, Jonathan, had Paul Lambert as his captain during his trophy-laden seasons at Celtic while Ricki Herbert was his boss at Wellington.  

And Matthew, like his dad, is well known to Neil Emblen and Darren Bazeley – he might even have become a Kiwi international in January, 2022 as he was back-up in the squad who travelled for games in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. How ironic that he qualified through his residential arrangements after his dad gained two Scottish caps through his ancestry!

He has been much shorter on Football League experience than the more senior members of his family but spent time at two Scottish clubs and Down Under at Hawke’s Bay. He also totalled 300-plus appearances across his stays at Spennymoor and Stourbridge and was signed this summer by Yeovil following their return to the National League.

“I know Grandad would be at Yeovil’s games now if I was playing but I have been on the bench so far after we also signed Ollie Wright in the summer. He came in on loan for the season from Southampton.

“It’s a strange one for me because, as a player, I’d still like to be playing more. But I am also the goalkeeper coach, so Ollie playing well reflects better on me in that sense. 

“I know 30 isn’t old for a keeper but I have to be looking to my future as well and am running a goalkeeper academy with two others as well as popping up to the Midlands to learn more about strength and conditioning from a personal trainer.

“I was the keeper coach at Altrincham while playing there as well and looked after the keepers in Wigan’s under-23 and under-18 squads, so I’ve had this second career going for a year or two now.”

We round off this tale of family togetherness by revealing that Matthew’s sister, Louise – ‘more a horse rider and polo player’ – is in the media team at Tottenham after previously working on Celtic TV.

And with the reminder that Jonathan’s brother, Richard, holds the no 1 administrative job in English cricket after serving for many years as chief executive at Somerset and Surrey. 

Oh….and he has a football club on his CV, too, as he has had two spells at Bristol City, first as commercial director and more recently as chief exec. “His wife, my Auntie Becky, is another who has been prepared to do a lot of travelling around the world,” Matthew added.