304: Bobby Gould, Wimbledon, Panini’s Football ’89 Sticker Album

Emlyn Jones looks into the perils of international management today with a look at a man who gave a whole raft of talented youngsters their first caps at the same time as alienating a patient and patriotic public. Maybe this was unfair, Simon Davies really wasn’t that bad, but then again some of today’s subject’s leftfield motivational techniques weren’t ones that his successors would repeat in a hurry. Over to Emlyn.

Supporting Wales has been quite enjoyable in recent years. A semi-final in 2016, Euro 2020/21 to look forward to, and currently atop their Nations League group unbeaten. Even prior to the current generation, near misses against Russia and top level players have made following the nation as it punches above its weight a great deal of fun.

Growing up in the 90s, it was a very different matter. Despite phenomenal players, such as Southall, Giggs, and Saunders, Wales were, to put it politely, really quite shit. Who was tasked with trying to fix things?

Bobby Gould was appointed Wales manager in June 1995. His managerial career had been most notable for managing the Crazy Gang of Wimbledon to FA Cup victory over Liverpool, and he had more recently managed to keep Coventry City and their snazzy kits in the Premier League. He was a surprise appointment, with Brian Flynn and Ron Atkinson the favourites, but impressed the FAW with a speech referencing Martin Luther King Jr and was given the job.

Gould's record as Wales manager was patchy, to say the least – losing 13 of 24 games in charge, but narrow losses to Germany and Italy while winning 7 games, albeit against the likes of Moldova in his first game. There were also plenty of bizarre incidents that I remember more vividly than the football itself.

Apparently, one of the first acts of Gould's reign was to show Mark Hughes and Ian Rush videos of some of the goals he'd scored in his career. While his career was by no means a failure, I'm not convinced players who'd scored countless goals for Juventus, Manchester United, Liverpool and Barcelona were going to be inspired by his League Cup Final goal in a 3-1 loss to Swindon Town.

Other bizarre decisions included running a training session in a prison, because the pitch was better than any available in Wales at the time; an impromptu wrestling match with John Hartson (leaving him bloodied, which didn't put Eyal Berkovic off trying it at West Ham); and in an effort to raise the profile of the Welsh domestic game, inviting Princess Diana to watch Barry Town v Llansantffraid.

Unfortunately, there were also clashes with his squad. The wrestle with Hartson had been the kind of thing encouraged at Wimbledon, but Nathan Blake refused to play for Gould after accusing him of racist comments, and Robbie Savage was exiled from the squad after a TV interview in which he binned Paolo Maldini's number 3 shirt, though Gould later relented to player power and reinstated him. He also ended Vinnie Jones' Wales career by telephone rather than in person, having already upset some of the squad by picking him as captain in the first place.

Public support for Gould had hit rock bottom with failure to qualify for the World Cup in 1998 and losses to Switzerland and Italy in the Euro 2000 qualifiers. Manic Street Preachers dedicated a live performance of hit single 'Everything Must Go' to the man, reimagined as 'Bobby Gould Must Go'. Gould resigned in 1999, replaced by Mark Hughes, and steadily things improved for Wales, despite a blip under John Toshack after Hughes departed. Gary Speed instilled a sense of belief and brought in youth prior to his tragic death, before Chris Coleman finally led Wales to an international tournament. Gould had made Speed captain, and given a debut to future captain Craig Bellamy, both huge parts of the Welsh rise in fortunes. So as shit as we were in the 90s, perhaps in hindsight he set the wheels in motion. And he wasn't John Toshack.