Richard Gough

This article is about the football player. For the 18th-century antiquarian, see Richard Gough (antiquarian).

Richard Gough

Personal information
Full name	Charles Richard Gough
Date of birth	5 April 1962 (1962-04-05)
Place of birth	Stockholm, Sweden
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position	Defender
Youth career
1978-1979	Charlton Athletic
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1979	Wits University
1979–1980	UCD	3	(0)
1980–1986	Dundee United	165	(23)
1986–1987	Tottenham Hotspur	65	(0)
1987–1997	Rangers	294	(25)
1997	Kansas City Wizards	17	(0)
1997–1998	Rangers	24	(1)
1998–1999	San Jose Clash	19	(2)
1999	→ Nottingham Forest (loan)	7	(0)
1999–2001	Everton	38	(1)
National team
1983–1993	Scotland	61	(6)
Teams managed
2004–2005	Livingston
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Charles Richard Gough (born in Stockholm, Sweden, 5 April 1962) is a former Scottish football central defender who enjoyed great success as captain of Rangers. He also played for Scotland 61 times and had a brief spell as manager of Livingston. He is now resident in San Diego.

Playing career

Club

Early career

Born to a Scottish father (former Charlton Athletic player Charlie Gough) and Swedish mother, Gough grew up in South Africa, Went to school at King Edward VII and began his career playing with the Wits University club. Looking to build a career in British football, Gough went on trial to Rangers, but was turned down. After that had a spell with University College Dublin After leaving Ireland to return South Africa, he was signed by Scottish Premier Division team Dundee United in 1980.

First spell in Scotland

He played for Dundee United for six seasons, finishing with 23 goals in 165 appearances and helping them to the League title in 1982-83. In 1986, Gough was sold to English First Division club Tottenham Hotspur for £750,000, where he played for slightly over a year, and captained the Tottenham team which lost to Coventry City in the 1987 FA Cup Final. Although there was no doubt over his talent, Gough began to feel homesick and, early in the 1987-88 season, returned to Scotland, joining Rangers and becoming the first Scottish player to be signed for over £1,000,000. His debut was at Tannadice in a defeat against former club Dundee United. Gough remained at Ibrox until 1997, captaining the side that achieved nine consecutive League titles. He was quoted as being "very proud to be the only Rangers player to receive 9 medals". Both Ally McCoist and Ian Ferguson however also received 9 league champions medals during the "9 in a row" run of title wins.

MLS

In 1997, Gough left the United Kingdom to play in the United States' nascent professional league, Major League Soccer. Gough remained in the league for two seasons, the first with the Kansas City Wizards, the second with the San Jose Clash; although Gough only played intermittently in those two seasons, totalling 2 goals and 2 assists in only 36 games, he was named to the MLS Best XI for his 1997 season with the Wizards.

Gough returned to Rangers after the 1997 MLS season, and played with the club for one more season. In all, he played 318 league games with Rangers, scoring 26 goals.

Everton

After leaving Rangers he linked up with former boss Walter Smith at Everton. He played two seasons at Goodison Park making 38 appearances and scoring once against Southampton. During his time at Everton he was made captain on several occasions.

He also had a brief stint with Nottingham Forest.

International

Gough was also a regular in the Scotland national team in the 1980s. He made his debut against Switzerland in 1983, and went on to gain 61 caps. His international career was ended prematurely, however, after he was critical of coaches Andy Roxburgh and Craig Brown and withdrew himself from further selection. During the run up to the Euro Championships in England in 1996, Gough orchestrated a media campaign through the Rangers friendly factions in the press to have himself reselected for Scotland. Gough was incredibly vocal offering to make up with Craig Brown and demanding that as he was the best player available to Scotland then he should be included. Tired of the incessant pressure from Gough and many sports columnists close to the player, Craig Brown announced that "I could take this off the back pages and put it on the front pages". To this day, nobody knows for certain what Brown meant by this, though most have a fair idea. Seemingly chastened, Gough never made any further comment about his reintroduction to the international squad.

Managerial career

On 30 November 2004 Gough landed his first managerial job with Scottish Premier League team Livingston. He resigned in May 2005 after saving the club from relegation, having wrangled with the club's owner over the budget for signing players. The club was fined £15,000 by the SFA for a breach of transfer regulations over the signing of Hassan Kachloul during Gough's time as manager although there is no suggestion that Gough himself was responsible for the breach of regulations.

Career statistics

Club performance			League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Scotland			League		Scottish Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
1980–81	Dundee United	Premier Division	4	0	-		-		-		4	0
1981–82			30	1	4	0	6	1	5	0	45	2
1982–83			34	8	1	0	9	1	8	0	52	9
1983–84			33	3	3	0	10	5	8	0	54	8
1984–85			34	6	6	1	6	0	6	1	52	8
1985–86			31	5	5	1	5	2	6	1	47	9
1986–87			3	1	-		-		-		3	1
England			League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
1986–87	Tottenham Hotspur	First Division	40	2	6	0	9	0	-		55	2
1987–88			9	0	-		1	0	-		10	0
Scotland			League		Scottish Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
1987–88	Rangers	Premier Division	31	5	2	0	1	0	2	1	36	6
1988–89			35	4	7	0	5	1	4	0	51	5
1989–90			26	0	1	0	3	0	1	0	31	0
1990–91			26	0	3	0	5	1	3	0	37	1
1991–92			33	2	5	1	3	0	1	0	42	3
1992–93			25	2	2	0	5	1	7	0	39	3
1993–94			37	3	5	0	5	0	1	0	49	3
1994–95			25	1	2	0	2	0	2	0	31	1
1995–96			29	3	2	0	3	0	8	2	42	5
1996–97			27	5	2	0	5	0	7	1	41	6
USA			League		Open Cup		League Cup		North America		Total
1997	Kansas City Wizards	Major League Soccer	17	0	N/A		-		-		17	0
Scotland			League		Scottish Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
1997–98	Rangers	Premier Division	24	1	6	1	-		-		30	2
USA			League		Open Cup		League Cup		North America		Total
1998	San Jose Clash	Major League Soccer	19	2	N/A		N/A		-		19	2
England			League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
1998–99	Nottingham Forest	Premier League	7	0	-		-		-		7	0
1999–00	Everton		29	1	3	0	-		-		32	1
2000–01			9	0	1	0	-		-		10	0
Career total									69	6

External links

• Richard Gough at scottishfa.co.uk