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Personal
Fullname: Jonathan Gould
Born: 18 July 1968
Birthplace: Paddington London
Signed: 2 Aug 1997 (free from Gillingham)
Left: 10 Jan 2003 (free to Preston)
Position: Goalkeeper
Debut: […]
Internationals: Scotland
International Caps: 2
International Goals: 0
Biog
| “I’ve spent the last year dreaming about being back at Celtic, waking up and wishing I was still there.” Jonathan Gould (2008) |
London born goalkeeper Jonathan Gould (son of English striker Bobby Gould) was signed by Wim Jansen from Bradford City at the start of the 1997-1998 season. Not an easy environment, with heads down at Celtic as the challenge to stop Rangers reaching ten-in-a-row was in full force. Gould’s signing was not whetting the appetite to be honest but he went on to prove the doubters wrong.
Gould recognised what he had in hand at Celtic:
“I won’t get any bigger than Celtic. This is the best move of my career.”
Gould was to be instrumental in the success of the Celtic team in stopping Rangers ten-in-a-row, a far cry from Bradford City Reserves where he had been just a year before. In many ways he was an unsung hero that season, keeping many clean sheets with only 24 goals conceded by Celtic in the league and only nine of those were at home. He deserves the credit for this as the first choice goalkeeper, albeit helped by a good defence. It made a huge difference all the way to the end of the season, a part for which fellow team-mate Craig Burley named him as his player of the season in a retrospective review, and there are others who would agree.
Some fans like to recall his excellent finger-tip save in a league match v St Johnstone that season at which point we were level on no goals, only for Celtic to rebuild and win by 2-0. There were many markers that season to the fightback to win the title, some like to put this result down as being significant with Gould’s save the high-mark. He actually made many crucial saves that season.
Despite injury problems in the 1998-1999 and the arrival of Russian international Dmirti Kharine Gould remained Celtic’s number 1 goalkeeper until the 2000-2001 season when he was replaced by Robert Douglas. It was quite a time, he’d managed to play under different managers in each of his first four seasons at Celtic: Jansen, Venglos, Barnes/Daglish & Martin O’Neill.
He never did recapture his best form again for Celtic after that first season, but rose to the challenge when Celtic needed it the most in that most critical of seasons (1998/99). He sadly played in the woeful 3-1 defeat to Inv Caley in the cup in 1999/2000 which was the nadir for Celtic that season but not that Gould was personally responsible for the defeat. It saw the manger sacked and all players heavily criticised.
He may not have been world class but he never acted as if he was, preferring to rely on his whole-hearted commitment to the side. Crossing was a bit of a bane for him (as it had been for many other Celtic keepers from the 1980s/90s), but despite that point, his form in the 1998/99 season was the best by a Celtic goalkeeper during the 1990s. Granted that may not be as high an accolade as it may at first sound (Celtic truly had some poor performances by keepers during that decade) but he was a bit of an exception to the rule. If anything, it wasn’t easy as his counterpart at Rangers was Andy Goram, who admittedly was an excellent goalkeeper at his best.
Gould also played twice for Scotland and was a member of the 1998 World Cup Squad although he was third choice behind Jim Leighton and Neil Sullivan.
One thing that was curious about Gould was that he did not do his pre-match warm-up in front of the goals. He used to take any shots in the warm-up by the goalkeeping coaches at him to the sides of the goals, on the bye-line or the like. He had some superstition (or routine) that by losing a goal in the net (even in the warm-up) was not a good thing for the mind-set. Interesting thought.
Gould stayed with Celtic until 2003 when he left to join ex-Scotland manager Craig Brown’s Preston North End in the English Championship.
Post-Playing
Gould retired and then moved to coach in the New Zealand league with his father.
In his role in New Zealand, Jonathan Gould did well. He was one of the prime movers in the setting up and running of the Hawks Bay club and had a reputation as a very good youth coach.
He was also an assistant coach with the Wellington Phoenix, the New Zealand club that compete in the Australian Hyundai A-League and was still not averse to turning out and playing at the age of 41. He later moved to Australia and then back to the UK in coaching circles.
Still, despite being so far away he treasures his Celtic time stating back in 2008:
“I’ve spent the last year dreaming about being back at Celtic, waking up and wishing I was still there,” Gould admitted. “Even under the circumstances of this week, with Tommy Burns and Phil O’Donnell, that’s when you see how deep-rooted the club is as a family. There are Celtic supporters’ clubs in New Zealand, where I make regular visits – that’s what the club is all about.”
It was not an easy move for Gould coming to Celtic. From the backwaters of Bradford City Reserves to the pressure pot at Celtic (especially back then with the pressure of the desperate need to “Stop The Ten”), but he can definitely hold his head up high, and all Celtic fans will remember him very fondly as the keeper in that memorable ‘One-in-a-Row’ season.
We wish him the best.
Quotes & Anecdotes
Craig Burley on Jonathan Gould, his player of the year for season 1997-8:
“I’ve thought long and hard about my player of the year, and my choice is Jonathan Gould.
He was a real unsung hero, and he came from nowhere.
He told me the story of when he phoned his mate to tell him that he was moving from being third-choice keeper at Bradford to Celtic.
His mate was happy and told him that it would be good for him to play first-team football again, that a bit of form might lead to him getting a move to a bigger club within a couple of months.
Gouldy’s reply was, “I won’t get any bigger than Celtic. This is the best move of my career.”
His mate said “Steady, Gouldy. Stalybridge Celtic are a decent club, but you’ve got to aim higher in the long run!”
His mate couldn’t believe it when Gouldy told him that it was Glasgow Celtic he was signing for.
He pulled off some great saves, and to go from being bombed out at Bradford to the pressure-pot of Celtic spoke volumes for his mental strength and ability.”
from The Inner Sanctum: The Secrets Behind Celtic’s 1997-8 Title Win by Mark Guidi
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1997-03 | 109(1) | 12 | 14 (1) | 21 | 156(2) |
| Shut-outs: |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish League
Scottish League Cup