Charles Richard Gough (born 5 April 1962, in Stockholm, Sweden) 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.

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Club

[edit] Early career

Born to a Scottish father (former Charlton Athletic player Charlie Gough) and Swedish mother, Gough grew up in South Africa 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 he was provisionally signed by Charlton Athletic. After returning to South Africa, he was signed by Scottish Premier Division team Dundee United in 1980.

[edit] 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".^[1]. Both Ally McCoist and Ian Ferguson however also received 9 league champions medals during the "9 in a row" run of title wins.

[edit] 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. He then linked up with his former boss at Rangers, Walter Smith, when he played two seasons for Everton, scoring once against Southampton.^[2] He also had a brief stint with Nottingham Forest.

[edit] International

Gough was also a regular in the Scotland national team if 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.

[edit] 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.^[3] 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^[4] although there is no suggestion that Gough himself was responsible for the breach of regulations.

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Richard Gough profile at scottishfa.co.uk

Richard Gough - Navigation boxes and awards v • d • e SPFA Players' Player of the Year 1978: Johnstone | 1979: Hegarty | 1980: Provan | 1981: McGhee | 1982: Clark | 1983: Nicholas | 1984: Miller | 1985: Duffy | 1986: Gough | 1987: McClair | 1988: McStay | 1989: Snelders | 1990: Bett | 1991: Elliott | 1992: McCoist | 1993: Goram | 1994: Hateley | 1995: Laudrup | 1996: Gascoigne | 1997: Di Canio | 1998: McNamara | 1999: Larsson | 2000: Viduka | 2001: Larsson | 2002: Amoruso | 2003: Ferguson | 2004: Sutton | 2005: Hartson / Ricksen | 2006: Maloney | 2007: Nakamura | 2008: McGeady | 2009: Brown v • d • e SFWA Footballer of the Year 1965: McNeill | 1966: Greig | 1967: Simpson | 1968: Wallace | 1969: Murdoch | 1970: Stanton | 1971: Buchan | 1972: Smith | 1973: Connelly | 1974: Scotland | 1975: Jardine | 1976: Greig | 1977: McGrain | 1978: Johnstone | 1979: Ritchie | 1980: Strachan | 1981: Rough | 1982: Sturrock | 1983: Nicholas | 1984: Miller | 1985: McAlpine | 1986: Jardine | 1987: McClair | 1988: McStay | 1989: Gough | 1990: McLeish | 1991: Malpas | 1992: McCoist | 1993: Goram | 1994: Hateley | 1995: Laudrup | 1996: Gascoigne | 1997: Laudrup | 1998: Burley | 1999: Larsson | 2000: Ferguson | 2001: Larsson | 2002: Lambert | 2003: Ferguson | 2004: McNamara | 2005: Hartson | 2006: Gordon | 2007: Nakamura | 2008: Cuéllar | 2009: Caldwell v • d • e Scotland squad – 1986 FIFA World Cup 1 Leighton • 2 Gough • 3 Malpas • 4 Souness • 5 McLeish • 6 Miller • 7 Strachan • 8 Aitken • 9 Bannon • 10 Bett • 11 McStay • 12 Goram • 13 Nicol • 14 Narey • 15 Albiston • 16 McAvennie • 17 Archibald • 18 Sharp • 19 Nicholas • 20 Sturrock • 21 Cooper • 22 Rough • Coach: Ferguson v • d • e Scotland squad – 1990 FIFA World Cup 1 Leighton • 2 McLeish • 3 Aitken • 4 Gough • 5 McStay • 6 Malpas • 7 Johnston • 8 Bett • 9 McCoist • 10 MacLeod • 11 Gillespie • 12 Goram • 13 Durie • 14 McInally • 15 Levein • 16 McCall • 17 McKimmie • 18 Collins • 19 McPherson • 20 McAllister • 21 Fleck • 22 Gunn • Coach: Roxburgh v • d • e Scotland squad – UEFA Euro 1992 1 Goram • 2 Gough • 3 McStay • 4 Malpas • 5 McCoist • 6 McClair • 7 Durie • 8 McPherson • 9 McKimmie • 10 McCall • 11 McAllister • 12 Smith • 13 Nevin • 14 Gallacher • 15 Boyd • 16 McInally • 17 Whyte • 18 Bowman • 19 McLaren • 20 Ferguson • Coach: Roxburgh v • d • e Livingston F.C. – Managers Bain (1974–76) · Ness (1976–78) · MacFarlane (1978–80) · Christie (1980–92) · Park (1992–94) · Lawson (1994–95) · Leishman (1995–97) · Stewart (1997–2000) · Leishman (2000–03) · Maximo (2003) · Hay (2003–04) · Preston (2004) · Gough (2004–05) · Lambert (2005–06) · Cleland (2006) · Robertson (2006–07) · Proctor (2007–08) · Landi (2008) · Hegarty (2008–09) · Murphy (2009) · Bollan (2009–)