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Bobby Gould will never forget Wales. He can't - the stunning views from his Portishead home, where he looks across the Bristol Channel daily Welsh coastline, ensure that.

From time to time, Gould will sit in his back garden, gaze over the water and reflect upon the proudest honour he had in football. The opportunity to manage an international team.

Gould's Wales tenure lasted from 1995-99. To say it wasn't without incident would be something of an understatement. His win ratio of 29% was actually better than the 27% under Mark Hughes, but to most the two eras were chalk and cheese.

Gould's record read: Played 24, won seven, drew four, lost 13. A mixed bag at best.

He gave a Wales debut to an unknown teenager called Craig Bellamy ("A real bundle of energy I'd spotted with the under-18s. A right know-it-all, I was warned. I preferred to focus upon his talent and incredible passion to learn about the game.")

He made an audacious bid to boost the domestic game by getting Princess Diana to attend the Welsh Cup Final between Barry Town and Llansantffraid.

But among the attention-grabbing stunts were a whole spate of other more unsavoury incidents.

The infamous "wrestle" with John Hartson in front of shocked players; a 7-1 hiding in Eindhoven; taking Wales to train inside a prison; throwing Robbie Savage out of the squad on the day of a crunch qualifier with Italy.

Fully two decades on, 72-year-old Gould still retains his smile and enthusiasm as he reflects upon his somewhat surreal time in charge.

These are the Wales years under Bobby Gould... through the eyes of the man himself.

The interview for the job

The FA of Wales drew up a short list of six candidates as they looked for a successor to Mike Smith in 1995. Ron Atkinson and Brian Flynn were the red-hot favourites. Gould was a big outsider, but his enthusiasm and vision for the role left a lasting impression on the committee.

Gould: "I was in the West Indies on holiday when the telephone rang. It was my best friend Bill Smith. 'I've got a job for you Gouldy - Wales want a manager,' he said.

There I was sunbathing on a beach in Grenada, pina colada in my hand, loving being able to relax. 'Yeah, I really want a job at the moment, Smithy!' I replied. 'Anyway, why would a bloke who's 50 per cent English and 50 per cent Scottish get the Wales job?'

'Because you're better than Ron Atkinson... and it looks like it's his,' came his answer.

(Image: Richard Swingler)

"Upon my return, and unbeknown to Smithy, I put in an application and was invited for an interview at a hotel in Wrexham. I knew I'd got the right venue when I saw the zimmer frames outside! That's the fun side in me, although I bet a few of those who interviewed me are still on the FAW today.

"I still remember the room crystal clear today. The committee formed a U-shape, I sat in front of them and my first words were, 'There was a black gentleman in the USA who once said 'I have a dream.' Well gentlemen I too have a dream, to become an international manager'."

The initial mistake

Gould started with a 1-0 win over Moldova, Gary Speed scoring, saw his team unluckily lose 2-1 to Germany on a day when Ryan Giggs was magnificent, and then scraped a 1-1 draw in Albania. But international football was already becoming a fast learning curve.

"I had real enthusiasm and passion for the job, just wanted to get up and running with the players straight away. Boom, boom, boom, let's go. I quickly realised it was a mistake, my own lack of experience as an international player coming into play.

"Dean Saunders says I showed them a video of the goals I'd scored in my career. The players looked at each other and smiled, 'Is that the standard? Hardly international football, is it Gouldy?'

"I'd brought in Tim Exeter as a fitness coach, planned to get training sessions going. What I didn't fully understand is how physically and mentally drained the players were from their rigours in club football, that they needed rest.

"It was easier for Mark Hughes, John Toshack, Gary Speed, Chris Coleman to understand this because they'd been in that position. I hadn't, was a little naïve.

"In the end I let the players relax by playing golf. I used to deliberately place Ryan Giggs in a group with Third Division players, so they could get to know one another better. That was important for team bonding, for them to see he's a human being, not just an elevated superstar with Manchester United.

(Image: EMPICS Sports Photo Agency)

"The trouble was some of those lower league players were damn good golfers... and beat Giggsy. I noticed, upon taking over as manager, he's supposedly banned golf. He must have gone these last 23 years thinking what the heck I had done to him!

"Giggsy knew he was a wonderful footballer, but not necessarily on the level of these others with a golf club."

Craig Bellamy? You don't want to know who he is...

Gould inherited an ageing squad and told the FAW he wanted to invest in youth. Back then the age-grade set-up wasn't as sophisticated as it is under Osian Roberts. Gould travelled thousands of miles to try to spot teenage talent - and helped unearth a 17-year-old unknown called Craig Bellamy.

"He was with the under-18s at Bisham Abbey, ahead of flying out for a game in Scandinavia. Straight away I saw what is best described as an unstoppable surge from a young pro. A bundle of football energy, darting here, there and everywhere, possessing a clear understanding of the game.

"I asked our youth coach Jimmy Shoulder 'Who's that?'

"'You don't want to know,' came the reply. 'Gouldy, he knows everything!'

"Craig was certainly a straight-talker, but I warmed to him at once. Okay, he rubs some people up the wrong way, is viewed as a know it all. I see him in a different light. When he was at Norwich he used to fly to Europe to watch matches and broaden his knowledge.

"I have rarely come across someone with so much passion to learn about the game.

"I picked him and sent him on in a Euro 2000 qualifier against Denmark when he scored the winner. That was a huge win against a team high up the FIFA ratings. That night, walking back into the dressing room, I felt there was something special inside there, we might just have a little roll coming here.

"We followed it up with a win over Belarus back in Cardiff, but it was not to be."

The infamous 'wrestle' with Hartson

Things began to go wrong as Gould hit the headlines for a moment of rough and tumble with John Hartson in front of bewildered other players. (Gould doesn't like to use the word 'fight'). It's the kind of thing that used to happen with the Wimbledon Crazy Gang, but Wales...?

"If anyone had a problem, Dave Bassett would get everyone to form a circle and let the two in dispute have a wrestle, grapple, whatever you want to call it. There was no punching, no pinching, it wasn't a fight, just a way of letting off steam.

"After a while Dave would say 'That's enough, shake hands, friends again'. And everyone was better for it.

"We were in Newport, preparing for a game, and I walked out onto the training pitch. The only thing I could hear was Hartson this and Hartson that. Chirping away. He didn't like the fact I'd picked him for one game, left him out of another.

"The press and TV cameras were present, so I made sure we walked right to the far end of the pitch. I explained to the players what they did at Wimbledon, gave Neville Southall my watch, turned to John and said 'Do you want a rough and tumble? Because the only thing I can hear is your voice.'

(Image: Daily Mirror)

"'Yes, I want a piece of you,' he said. 'Right then, these are the rules,' I told him and got the players to gather in a circle.

"He's giving me a right old hiding. I'm down on the floor, John's on top of me venting his anger and frustration. We're having a good old rough and tumble. Towards the end I look up and see Mark Hughes screaming his head off. I've never seen him so animated. 'Come on John,' he was saying, really getting into it.

"Next thing I look up to my left and see Ryan Giggs jumping up and down. I thought to myself 'I bet Fergie wouldn't be doing this.'

"'Enough's enough, you've got it out of your system,' I told John.

"He's a strong old so and so and when I got back to my hotel room and took off my top, I had big red scratch marks left down my back. My wife Marge went mad. 'You've been with another woman,' she screamed.

"I tried to explain the truth. She took some persuading, but eventually saw the funny side."

(Image: Richard Swingler) (Image: Richard Swingler)

Vinnie, Eindhoven and a 7-1 thrashing

Wales were playing the Netherlands in a World Cup qualifier with regular skipper Barry Horne missing. Hollywood star-to-be Vinnie Jones ended up as unlikely Wales captain. It wasn't our finest hour, however.

"I decided to have a vote amongst the players. It boiled down to Dean Saunders or Vinnie - who should be captain?

"It was a secret vote and I was accused of not counting correctly. But the truth is Vinnie won it hands down. He was the captain, chosen by the dressing room.

"In hindsight, what I should have done was make my own decision, not put it to the players. I'd have gone for Vincent too, by the way. He'd played under me at Wimbledon, we had a rapport.

"I also handled another situation with him wrongly. When I ended his Wales career I told Vincent by phone, not in person. It was a coward's act... and one thing I've never been is a coward. I regretted that.

As for the Dutch game itself, we started well for 20 minutes, Deano missed quite a few good chances , then Frank and Ronald de Boer, plus Dennis Bergkamp, got to work and we were battered.

"It was the lowest I had felt in football. How I got through the post-match press conference I will never know.

"Marge didn't come to many games but she did that one. When I saw her back at the hotel her first words were, 'Oh, what an experience'.

"'Yes I know, I'm not used to losing 7-1,' I replied.

"'No, I don't mean that,' she said. 'There were huge heaters up in the roof of the stand and they kept us warm throughout the second half.'

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing. There I am trying to come to terms with the worst defeat I've had in football and she's going on about some state of the art heaters in some state of the art ground!

"Next day, while the team returned to Wales, I flew out to Istanbul to watch our next opponents Turkey.

"I'm on my own, really down after being thrashed 7-1, struggling to accept what had happened. My hotel room was on the 10th floor. I stood out on the balcony, overlooking the Bosphorus and thought 'Do I jump?'

"That sounds over-dramatic, but I felt awful. Probably a few in Wales will be thinking 'You should have jumped!'

"Here's a bizarre story. As manager of Coventry City, first year of the Premier League, we were doing really well. Six wins in our first eight games. After one match in London we stopped off for a McDonald's. I had a quarter-pounder, strawberry milkshake and apple turnover. Given we were on a roll and footballers can be superstitious, that meal became the norm.

"So a few years on I'm standing there on my 10th floor balcony in Istanbul, peering down, feeling down, and suddenly I thought, 'There must be a McDonald's here somewhere. I will have that, then think about jumping after.'

"I ventured out onto the street and asked a little Turkish fella where the nearest McDonald's was. He was poor as poor could be, asked if he could clean my shoes. I felt so sorry for him, let him do it, gave him some money and as a treat took him to McDonald's. We each had quarter-pounder, strawberry milkshake and apple turnover.

"As we talked, I realised there were plenty of people a lot worse off than me in the world.

"Mind, there's a twist. When I looked down I noticed the little so and so, who'd had his money and scarpered by this stage, had polished my beautiful brown shoes blue! I had to laugh, it lightened me up.

"We went to Turkey the following month and lost 6-4. So we were battered there, too.

"And since Eindhoven it's fair to say orange has never been my favourite colour."

The Savage shirt throwing controversy

It was September 5, 1998 and Wales were about to play a crunch Euro qualifier against Italy at Anfield. They were staying at Carden Park Hotel near Chester... but Gould didn't anticipate match-day preparations being upset in the manner they were.

"I'd been out for an early morning run, arrived back at the team hotel and my number two Graham Williams said 'Have you seen Sky? You better had.'

"I went back to my room, waited for the next bulletin and couldn't believe what I was seeing. Robbie had a dilapidated Italian number three shirt in his hand. He was asked by the TV interviewer 'What do you think of this?'

"Robbie replied 'Rubbish' and put the shirt into a waste paper bin. I was absolutely disgusted. It was horribly disrespectful to Paolo Maldini. Wasn't happy with the interviewer, either.

"It's early doors still but I raced to Savage's room, pretty much kicked the door in, got him out of bed and told him, 'Get your bags packed and drive home.'

"I was furious and he knew it. So did his room-mate, who just had a look of shock on his face.

"Let's remember I'd always had a special rapport with Sav, took him from under-18s into the senior team, gave him his debut, had an empathy with him because he'd been released by Manchester United, just as I had by Coventry City.

"So I kind of took Sav under my wing, but you cannot behave like this and I told him so. He was gone.

"Shortly afterwards I head down for breakfast. The news had got out and a deputation of Mark Hughes, Dean Saunders and Neville Southall approached me. 'We want him back,' they demanded. 'Well you can't have him back,' I responded.

"They told me the players had gathered in a meeting room and would like to talk about it with me. In I went. 'We want him back,' they repeated.

"I relented to a degree. 'Okay, he can come back, but he's not playing. I will put him on the bench, that's as far as I will go.'

"I phoned Sav and said 'Your fellow team-mates have stood up for you. Back you come, but you're only a substitute. I will only use you if I have to.'

"He returned like a shot. I chose to forgive in the end.

"There was an ironic twist to this story too. We lost 2-0 and Fabio Cannavaro was magnificent. I went into the Italian dressing room to congratulate him and he handed me his shirt.

"That one is definitely not going in the bin, I thought!"

(Image: Richard Swingler)

Training in that prison

Modern day footballers are accustomed to being pampered and having the state-of-the-art facilities, so it was something of a culture shock when Gould took Wales to train at Usk Open Prison. It was certainly different, but there was method behind the madness.

"Back then we didn't even have a training ground. We were like nomads, having to go wherever was available.

"The players deserved much better so one day I asked the FAW 'Where's the best playing surface in South Wales?' Someone said 'Usk Prison has a lovely pitch and it's hardly used'.

I approached the Governor, drove up to take a look for myself and saw it was a magnificent surface. The players actually loved it. The prison had much better grass than anything else they were accustomed to with Wales at the time.

Back then, I was taking a bit of a battering from the Welsh media. 'I'm going to have them,' I thought. 'They won't get out of this place!'

It was my way of having a laugh with the media, making it clear they don't control everything with the Welsh team."

The audacious bid to get Princess Diana at the cup final

The Welsh Cup was a proud old competition but had lost some of its status after Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham and Newport were kicked out. Finals were being played at the Arms Park, but next to no-one was watching. Gould tried to drum up interest for a clash between Barry and Llansantffraid.

"I was brought up under Jimmy Hill at Coventry, a great visionary. He once got a full-on England XI to Highfield Road for a testimonial match. Unheard of, but you have to have dreams.

"I just thought the Princess of Wales at the Welsh Cup final would increase interest and mooted the idea.

(Image: Colin Edwards)

"As a youngster I used to stay at the YMCA on Barry Island, and always thought I'd like to manage Barry Town one day. So the final meant something to me personally.

"Welsh domestic football needed a boost. I felt we had to go out there, sell, push the product, whatever it took. Having the Princess as our guest of honour would have been quite a coup, guaranteed greater publicity for the game. It didn't come off, but was worth the try."

The key players under his command

Gary Speed

"I made him captain. When I told him the good news his first reaction was 'You took your time asking, didn't you?'

"Gary was such a natural leader and knew the job should have been his. He was always challenging you and as a manager I loved that. It was because Gary cared so much. Everyone loves playing for Wales, but he perhaps wanted it more than anybody else.

"I started travelling with the FAW before games to make sure we had better training facilities and hotels, something Wales hadn't been accustomed to. Gary would have demanded that.

"What a footballer, box to box, scored goals, won headers. I was doing Sky work at Swansea v Aston Villa that Sunday when Hartson walked into the press room. Our eyes met, tears were running down his cheek. He told me the news. Everything just evaporated out of me in that moment.

"'Bob, I don't think I can do Sky,' said Harts. 'You've just got to,' I told him. 'You've got to do it for Gary'."

Mark Hughes

"I loved him, great player, studious, cared so much. I'd left him out of a friendly in Switzerland and he wasn't happy, wanted to see me. We landed back at Heathrow and given Chelsea's training ground was nearby I went straight there.

"When we met, if Sparky wasn't exactly pinning me to the wall, let's just say he had a forceful manner.

"'Don't you dare leave me out of any Wales squad again,' he said.

"I never did. Well, would you have taken on Sparky? Talk about caring so deeply for your country."

Neville Southall

"Great keeper and brilliant to me. He joined my coaching staff and it was good for each of us. There was a mutual respect there. He could see where I was coming from and vice-versa."

Ryan Giggs

"Incredible footballer, let's just hope he succeeds as manager too.

"When he got the job I left a message on his phone. Told him if he wanted any advice, good, bad or ugly, I'd meet up for a cup of tea. No matter who you are, you need to learn from others.

"It would be fabulous for Giggsy if the FAW could get together a delegation of Chris Coleman, Mark Hughes, John Toshack, myself. Sadly Speedo couldn't be there.

(Image: Propaganda)

"We could sit down as a group, Giggsy could tap into our experiences, good and bad. Wales would be better for it.

"As I sit here 20 years on discussing my own time in charge, it makes me realise there is simply no substitute for experience. We each want the same thing - for Wales to succeed."

The biggest disappointment

"That probably came two decades on when I didn't go to the Euros. I'd been doing work for TalkSPORT for eight years and was really hoping they'd send me to cover Wales. Danny Gabbidon was chosen instead, I was so very disappointed.

"In my retirement that was one of the saddest moments I've known. Not because of Danny, I like him, took him to Cardiff City with me. But if there was something I didn't want to miss in football, it was being there to watch Wales reach the semi-finals of the Euros. I will never stop supporting Wales.

"I was sorry to have to number the international days of a legend like Ian Rush, but even back then I'd identified the need to get more Welsh youngsters into Premier League academies.

"Gareth Bale would have been about eight at the time. When he drove Wales in those Euros, next to a group who had come through the age-grade system together, I remember thinking that's exactly what I had wanted to implement."

(Image: Richard Swingler) (Image: Richard Swingler) (Image: Richard Swingler)

The sad Bologna ending, a pickpocket and summing up his tenure

"Remember, I wasn't sacked, I chose to resign after we'd lost in Italy. I just thought I'd taken the team as far as we could possibly go.

"Wales needed a Welshman in charge at that point. The FAW asked my opinion and I told them my wish was to see either Mark Hughes or Neville Southall become manager. That happened, which pleased me.

(Image: EMPICS Sports Photo Agency)

"Here's another quirky story. On the morning of that game in Bologna, we'd gone out for a walk. To relax, settle nerves. Usual routine for the staff. When I got back to the hotel I realised my wallet was missing. A pickpocket had been at work.

"Not a great start to the day and not a great ending either. There I am deep into the Bologna night, we've lost 4-0, I've resigned - and I've got no wallet or money!

"You'd think it couldn't get much worse than that. But let me tell you nothing, and I do mean nothing, will dampen my enthusiasm for my time in charge of Wales.

"It was an absolute privilege and I loved every single minute of it. Good or bad moments.

"It was a unique opportunity. Thank you Wales."