Steve Bould

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Steve Bould
Bould as Arsenal's assistant manager in 2014
Personal information
Full name Stephen Andrew Bould[1]
Date of birth (1962-11-16) 16 November 1962 (age 61)[1]
Place of birth Stoke-on-Trent, England[1]
Height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)[2]
Position(s) Centre back
Youth career
1978–1980 Stoke City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1980–1988 Stoke City 183 (6)
1982Torquay United (loan) 9 (0)
1988–1999 Arsenal 287 (5)
1999–2000 Sunderland 21 (0)
Total 500 (11)
International career
1994 England B 1 (1)
1994 England 2 (0)
Managerial career
2001–2012 Arsenal F.C. Academy
2012–2019 Arsenal (assistant)
2019–2021 Arsenal U23s
2022– Lommel SK
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Stephen Andrew Bould (born 16 November 1962) is an English football coach and former professional footballer. He is currently the head coach of Lommel SK.

As a player, he was a defender from 1980 until 2000. Bould began his football career with his hometown club Stoke City where he gained a reputation as an impressive young defender. After spending seven seasons with the Potters, and becoming one of English football's most coveted centre backs, he moved to Arsenal in 1988. At Highbury he formed a formidable back line with Tony Adams, Nigel Winterburn and his former Stoke teammate Lee Dixon. He left the Gunners in 1999 and ended his playing career with Sunderland.[1]

Since his playing career has ended Bould has worked at the successful Arsenal Academy as Head Youth Team Coach at Arsenal. He was promoted to Assistant Manager at the start of the 2012–13 season replacing the long serving Pat Rice.[3] He later had a spells as head coach of U23s side.

Club career[edit]

Stoke City[edit]

Born in Stoke-on-Trent, Bould signed for his hometown club Stoke City as a schoolboy in 1978, turning professional in November 1980.[1] He made his debut at right back in a 3–2 defeat away to Middlesbrough in September 1981.[1] However, he was unable to command a regular place in the team, and was loaned out to Torquay United in October 1982 to gain first team experience, playing nine league games for Bruce Rioch's side.[1]

Bould slowly became a regular in the Stoke side after Mick Mills switched him to centre back to replace Paul Dyson.[1] It proved to be a shrewd move as he excelled in his new position and became a first team regular for the "Potters". A back injury that required surgery cost him appearances in 1986–87 and arguably Stoke a play-off place.[1] By the end of the 1987–88 season it was generally acknowledged that Bould was now the best defender in Division Two. Both Arsenal and Everton made approaches for the defender.[1] After discussions Bould chose Arsenal and a tribunal set the price at £390,000, a small fee compared to what Stoke were demanding.[1]

Arsenal[edit]

He moved to Arsenal for a fee of £390,000 on 13 June 1988, and became part of their "famous back four" defensive line-up, with Tony Adams, Nigel Winterburn and his former Stoke teammate Lee Dixon. Bould won the First Division title twice in 1988–89 and 1990–91, playing in the club's famous 2–0 victory against Liverpool at Anfield where they won the title in the last minute of the last game of the season.[4] He was voted player of the year by the club's fans for the 1991–92 season, though it was a less successful season for the club as defending champions, managing only a fourth-place finish in the league and suffering an early exit from the European Cup, as well as a shock first hurdle exit from the FA Cup at the hands of minnows Wrexham.

On 15 August 1992, he had the distinction of being the scorer of Arsenal's first Premier League goal on the opening day of the season at Highbury, breaking the deadlock in the 28th minute although Arsenal went on lose the match 4–2 to Norwich City.[5]

However, injury ruled him out of the FA Cup and League Cup finals that Arsenal won in 1992–93, and his place in the team was taken by Andy Linighan who scored Arsenal's winning goal in the FA Cup final replay against Sheffield Wednesday.[6]

After winning the Cup Winners' Cup final in 1993–94, further success eluded Arsenal and Bould for several years, and the arrival of French manager Arsène Wenger in October 1996 led some to speculate the ageing Bould would leave the club (especially as he was now often second-choice behind Martin Keown); instead it spurred a brief revival, and Bould became an important member of the squad that won the double in 1997–98. He famously set up Tony Adams with a chipped throughball for the final goal in Arsenal's 4–0 win over Everton, the match that won them the Premier League title. Two weeks later they won the FA Cup to complete the double.

His final season at Highbury was a disappointing one. Arsenal reached the FA Cup semi finals where they drew with Manchester United to force a replay. With the score at 1–1 in the final minute of the game, Arsenal were awarded a penalty. Peter Schmeichel saved from Dennis Bergkamp and a winner from Ryan Giggs in extra time ended Arsenal's defence of the trophy. A month later they were beaten to the Premier League by Manchester United.

Sunderland[edit]

By now age was against Bould and he moved to newly promoted Sunderland in July 1999 for a fee of £500,000. Following the departure of skipper Kevin Ball in December 1999, manager Peter Reid made him club captain and he helped them finish seventh – just missing out on a UEFA Cup place. He stayed at the Stadium of Light until arthritis contributed to his retirement in September 2000 having played only 21 Premier League games for Sunderland.

International career[edit]

Despite forming part of one of the most secure top-flight defences of the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s, Bould won only two caps for England, far fewer than fellow centre half Tony Adams, and didn't make his first full international appearance until the age of 31. Both caps came under Terry Venables in Wembley friendlies against Greece (5–0) and Norway (0–0) at the end of the 1993–94 season.[7]

Coaching career[edit]

Bould in his role as Arsenal's assistant manager.

After retiring, he began working towards his UEFA coaching badges and in June 2001 moved back to Arsenal and became a coach for the youth teams. He was the head coach of Arsenal's U18 Academy side, whom he led to the Premier Academy League title in 2008–2009,[8] 2009–2010[9] and FA Youth Cup in 2008–2009.[10] On 10 May 2012, it was announced that Steve Bould would become Arsenal's new assistant manager following the retirement of Pat Rice at the end of the season. On 5 June 2019, Steve Bould swapped jobs with Freddie Ljungberg to become the U23s coach in a major restructuring of Arsenal's coaching staff.[11] In May 2021, he was sacked from his role as a coach of the U23 team.[12] In June 2022, he was appointed as the head coach of Lommel SK.[13]

Career statistics[edit]

Club[edit]

Source:[14]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Stoke City 1981–82 First Division 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
1982–83 First Division 14 0 0 0 0 0 14 0
1983–84 First Division 38 2 1 0 4 1 43 3
1984–85 First Division 38 3 2 0 2 0 42 3
1985–86 Second Division 33 0 0 0 3 0 2[a] 0 38 0
1986–87 Second Division 28 1 5 0 2 0 1[a] 0 36 1
1987–88 Second Division 30 0 2 0 2 0 2[a] 0 36 0
Total 183 6 10 0 13 1 5 0 211 7
Torquay United (loan) 1981–82 Fourth Division 9 0 2 0 0 0 11 0
Arsenal[15] 1988–89 First Division 30 2 1 0 5 0 1[b] 0 37 2
1989–90 First Division 19 0 3 0 0 0 22 2
1990–91 First Division 38 0 8 0 4 0 50 2
1991–92 First Division 25 1 0 0 0 0 1[c] 0 26 1
1992–93 Premier League 24 1 1 0 5 0 30 1
1993–94 Premier League 25 1 3 0 3 0 6[d] 0 37 1
1994–95 Premier League 31 0 1 0 5 0 8[e] 2 45 2
1995–96 Premier League 19 0 0 0 5 1 24 1
1996–97 Premier League 33 0 3 0 3 0 2[f] 0 41 0
1997–98 Premier League 24 0 5 0 3 0 2[f] 0 34 0
1998–99 Premier League 19 0 4 0 0 0 4[g] 0 27 0
Total 287 5 29 0 33 1 24 2 373 8
Sunderland 1999–2000 Premier League 20 0 2 0 0 0 22 0
2000–01 Premier League 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Total 21 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 23 0
Career total 500 11 43 0 46 2 29 2 618 15
  1. ^ a b c Appearances in Full Members' Cup
  2. ^ Appearances in Football League Centenary Trophy
  3. ^ Appearances in European Cup
  4. ^ Appearances in European Cup Winners' Cup
  5. ^ Six appearances and two goals in UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and two appearances in European Super Cup
  6. ^ a b Appearances in UEFA Cup
  7. ^ One appearance in FA Charity Shield and three appearances in UEFA Champions League

International[edit]

Source:[16]

National team Year Apps Goals
England 1994 2 0
Total 2 0

Managerial[edit]

As of 16 March 2024[17]
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team Nat From To Record
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
Lommel Belgium 1 July 2022 Present 59 29 9 21 95 72 +23 049.15
Total 59 29 9 21 95 72 +23 049.15

Honours[edit]

Arsenal[18]

Individual[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0952415100.
  2. ^ "England Players - Steve Bould". www.englandfootballonline.com. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  3. ^ "Pat Rice to leave post as Arsenal assistant manager". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
  4. ^ "Anfield 89". Arsenal F.C. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
  5. ^ "Arsenal 2–4 Norwich". Stat Bunker. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
  6. ^ "Football photographic encyclopedia, footballer, world cup, champions league, football championship, olympic games & hero images by sporting-heroes.net". sporting-heroes.net.
  7. ^ "Steve Bould". Englandstats.com. Retrieved 11 November 2013. Edit this at Wikidata
  8. ^ Tottenham Hotspur 0–1 Arsenal, arsenal.com. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
  9. ^ Arsenal 5–3 Nottm Forest, arsenal.com. Retrieved 18 May 2010
  10. ^ Liverpool 1–2 Arsenal, arsenal.com. Retrieved 18 May 2010
  11. ^ "Report: Steve Bould to fill U23 coaching vacancy after Ljungberg promotion". arseblog.news. 5 June 2019.
  12. ^ "Arsenal sack Steve Bould after over 30 years with club". The Athletic. 22 May 2021.
  13. ^ Wood, Liam (4 June 2022). "City Football Group appoint Arsenal favourite as new Lommel manager". Manchester Evening News.
  14. ^ Steve Bould at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
  15. ^ "Arsenal first team line ups". stats.woolwicharsenal.co.uk. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
  16. ^ Bould, Steve at National-Football-Teams.com
  17. ^ Steve Bould coach profile at Soccerway
  18. ^ "Steve Bould". Arsenal.com. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  19. ^ "Steve Bould: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  20. ^ Maidment, Jem (2006). The Official Arsenal Encyclopedia. London: Hamlyn. p. 148. ISBN 9780600615491.

External links[edit]