A decent goalkeeper can make all the difference and that’s exactly what Jonathan Gould did for Wim Jansen’s Celtic…
A great goalkeeper can be the difference between success and failure. We’ve had some good keepers in recent years currently Kasper Schmeichel, before that we had Joe Hart and of course Craig Gordon and Fraser Forster, but once upon a time it was a totally different story when it came to relying on a decent figure between the sticks.
The dark days of the early to mid 1990s was a period of concern in every aspect at the club and the playing side was no different. Despite boasting talents such as John Collins, Paul McStay, and later on Pierre Van Hoojidonk Paolo Di Canio Andreas Thom and Jorge Cadete we were utterly devoid of talent in the number one department.
Pat Bonner’s best days were well behind him. Then we had Carl Muggleton who despite being roundly ridiculed was decent but not the answer. Gordon Marshall was and still is up there with Vasilis Barkas as the worst Celtic keeper in my lifetime, and then we had Stewart Kerr who was promising when he first exploded onto the scene but ultimately disappeared into obscurity.
When Wim Jansen arrived in that ever so vital season he had lots of conundrums on the playing front with the goalkeeping position being one of them. It didn’t take the Dutchman long to find out what we already knew about Gordon Marshall and Stewart Kerr had his injury problems so a new keeper was high on his list of priorities.
However it was fair to say that we had reservations over the man he brought in to rectify those woes. That goalkeeper was Jonathan Gould a 29 year old career journeyman who was the third choice keeper at Bradford City!
Even Jonathan’s mates were shocked at the next step in his career. One told him that it would do him good to get a few games elsewhere and hopefully land a bigger club. Jonathan replied that he wouldn’t get a bigger club than Celtic which shocked his mate who had mistakenly believed he was talking about Stalybridge Celtic!
Jonathan silenced any doubts over his ability and credentials as he slotted into the side as if he’d been there for years. His experience and ability were one of the main reasons for our success in stopping their dreaded ten.
He produced a number of great saves over the course of the campaign with one game at Aberdeen in March 1998 springing to mind in which he made a few outstanding stops in a vital 1-0 win.
Apparently that was the day young Lubo98 was born. His dad, of this parish, cheered loudly when Craig Burley scored as Lubo’s mum was in labour (the radio was turned down low apparently).
Anyway in comes the midwife from the next room and says ‘you do know there’s another woman in labour through there?’. Apologies were offered but a row wasn’t the reason for the interruption. The other women in labour had heard the cheer and wanted to know the score. The midwife returned to her own room, passed on the news and immediately the woman in labour let out a cheer of her own!
Anyway back to Jonathan Gould. Some credit the signing of Marc Rieper who formed a solid partnership with Alan Stubbs as the foundation for our success at the back, and whilst that has a great deal of truth, the impact of Jonathan Gould can’t be overlooked.
Just an Ordinary Bhoy
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I remember hearing that at one point we had Brad Friedel Shay Given and Stuart Kerr all at Barrowfield and we chose to keep Kerr and let the others go , i think it was from a Shay Given interview , safe to say we probably made the wrong choice , Hail hail .