Disastrous – Wales under Bobby Gould

Bobby Gould is most famous for leading the Crazy Gang of Wimbledon to one of the most famous upsets in FA Cup history. Gould managed the side that won the 1988 FA Cup after Lawrie Sanchez’s header secured a 1-0 victory against the superstars of Liverpool. By Welsh fans he is also remembered for a disastrous spell in charge of the National side between 1995-99 which included numerous fall-outs with players and tactics that quite frankly didn’t make a lot of sense to the fans nor to the players on the pitch.

Bobby Gould was appointed Wales manager in June 1995 ahead of Ron Atkinson after taking over from Mike Smith. In 1993, Welsh football was in a good place, boosted with the considerable talents of Ryan Giggs, Mark Hughes and Ian Rush and Wales were 24th in the FIFA world rankings but ultimately failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup but finished with an admirable points total in a tough group. Following the failure to qualify, Terry Yorath stepped down and was replaced by John Toshack. This where things quickly unraveled, Toshack lasted 41 days in charge, resigning after his first game having booed off after a 3-1 defeat to Norway. Mike Smith took the reigns for 10 games and then Bobby Gould stepped into the driving seat. Having led the Crazy Gang to that famous FA Cup win, it seemed Gould attempted to transfer the crazy to Wales but forgot to bring the element of success with him.

Gould’s absurd tactics were evident immediately arranging a friendly 48 hours before an Euro 96 qualifier against Germany. In a move that would’ve sent most club managers potty, Gould played most of his starting 11 against a Wales Press XI. The press team were beaten 3-0 before Wales performed admirably against the eventual Euro 96 champions losing 2-1. After the game against Germany, things got worse for Wales as they finished bottom of their group which contained minnows such as Albania and Moldova in a campaign which included a thumping 5-0 defeat versus Georgia. During some games in the qualifying process for Euro 96, Gould took a lot of flak from the press after dropping Ian Rush, again Gould thought the players’ performances were suffering because of too much pressure off the media. In an attempt to take the pressure off the players, Gould took the bizarre step of holding a training camp in a prison. Gould took his players to Usk prison and proclaimed it was because the media were making things hard for him, so he wanted to make things hard for them.

The qualifying group for the 1998 World Cup saw Wales in an incredibly tough group with Netherlands, Belgium and Turkey. Results for Gould were deemed good enough to allow him to continue for the World Cup campaign. The decision to let Gould to continue proved to be an enormous mistake and it was emphasised in May 1996, when Gould himself went on to organise an alternative friendly to the usual international friendly before the start of a international qualifying campaign. Gould’s Wales played against Leyton Orient who had just finished 21st in what is now League 2, essentially the 89th ranked side in the Football League at the time. As Gould wanted to keep his players match fit, the side featured Ryan Giggs, Gary Speed, Neville Southall, Dean Saunders and Chris Coleman. Again Gould’s tactis again came into question as Coleman usually a centre-back spent the game on the right wing. Wales had taken the lead through John Robinson, but Orient equalised before sealing an unlikely win 10 minutes from the end after A Trialist scored the winner. Neville Southall had to do the post-match interviews as Gould had rushed off at full-time to watch his son play at Wembley in a play-off final.
Wales played another club side days later, and it was Cwmbran Town who had the honour of facing the national side and to Wales’ credit they did win 6-1. As a measure of the opposition’s quality, consider the identity of the scorer of Wales’ sixth goal, as Gould himself had brought himself on for Gary Speed and popped up to nod in a Ryan Giggs’ cross. While Gould himself could be satisfied with his day’s work, however the downfall of Welsh football since that fateful Paul Bodin penalty miss in the final World Cup 1994 qualifier against Romania was clear for all to see. Gould’s reign stumbled into chaos, as the 1998 World Cup qualifying campaign was an atrocious one from Wales’ point of view. Bar two straight-forwards victories against San Marino, Wales could only muster a point from the other six fixtures a goalless draw at home to Turkey and were hammered 7-1 against Netherlands at Amsterdam.

The end for Gould arrived as the draw for the qualifiers for Euro 2000 was announced, Wales were included in a group with Italy, Denmark, Switzerland and Belarus and Gould obviously didn’t care much for squad morale as he openly said Wales would not qualify for the tournament, to his credit he was right. His tactics once again were called into question during the attempt to qualify, Mark Hughes played in midfield, Ryan Giggs played as a striker and Dean Saunders was dropped because Gould thought that Giggs could not play behind a front two. A public fallout with Robbie Savage also didn’t help as Gould sent Savage home having seen the midfielder’s act of throwing a replica Paolo Maldini shirt in the bin as disrespectful. Some would’ve praised the manager for showing that sort of discipline, well if they had the time they would as Savage was re-instated to the squad 24 hours later.The return fixture against Italians proved to be his last in charge of Wales. The fixture ended in a thumping 4-0 loss at the hands of the Italians, Gould letting the players know his disappointment in them as he labelled them a ”disgrace” at half-time. After the game he resigned live on the BBC after the game ending a turbulent spell in charge of the Welsh national team. Gould left Wales a lowly 103rd in the FIFA world rankings, having slid an astonishing 79 places during his spell in charge.

Bobby Gould had been a successful manager, winning the FA Cup with Wimbledon and also keeping Coventry City, who had been tipped for relegation in the Premier League in the 1992-93 season, making shrewd signings such as Micky Quinn, but in international terms, things went south very quickly for him. His spell in Wales is best remembered for the continuous clashes with players, Nathan Blake had refused to play for his country after accusing Gould of a racist remark at training. He had refused to choose John Hartson for the national side, ignoring his stellar performances and goals for his club, citing that he was overweight and unfit, however when he did choose Hartson, Gould engaged in wrestling bouts with the forward. Vinnie Jones said that players couldn’t wait to go back to their clubs while on international duty and in his final match in charge Gould, allegedly instructed Mark Hughes not to tackle the Italians ”as they’ll only dive”. In his autobiography, Ryan Giggs recalled that the players mentally punched the air in delight on hearing of his resignation.

Gould’s spell in charge of Wales is not something that is fondly remembered by Welsh football fans, the football was rarely in the news and the downfall in the team since Terry Yorath’s spell in charge was alarming, constant clashing with players clearly affected the team’s morale and it showed on the pitch with defeat after defeat following. The bizarre tactics might have worked for the Crazy Gang of Wimbledon, but for Wales they failed miserably and the football was disastrous. Today Wales are in a crest of a wave and have reached consecutive European Championships, and are lucky that Ryan Giggs didn’t take any tips when playing under the ”tactican” that is Bobby Gould.