Given his impending departure to the ECB has been confirmed, Richard Gould (hopefully) won’t mind this small but significant anecdote coming to light that reveals a degree about what sort of CEO he was for Bristol City.
During one of City’s more trying spells last season, which isn’t exactly narrowing it down, Gould approached Bristol Live at the Robins High Performance Centre to gauge what we felt the reaction from within the fanbase was to the poor run of results.
At the risk of a glorious self-own, the response was essentially: “you know fans, they expect everything and sometimes don’t always fully absorb the realities and complexities of a situation in the moment.”
To which Gould immediately interjected and said with absolute conviction: “But that’s exactly what our fans should be like. They should expect the absolute best, they should be demanding and they should be ambitious and not settle for mediocrity. That sort of attitude is what helps drive us.”
It was hard to argue. And gives an insight into how Gould thought as a CEO because, fundamentally, City aren’t just losing a fine administrator and negotiator with a keen corporate eye, they’re losing someone who thought like a fan and understood them.
City, like most football clubs in the modern age (and, also, it has to be said local media organisations), are regularly lambasted for the lack of supporters in the company, which somewhat enhances a feeling of them vs us; whether that be in the coaching staff, media department or sales and commercial.
For the last 16 months, City have had one in the very highest appointed position at the club, and it’s a commodity - before we even get into the nitty gritty of what he did during his time here - they will unquestionably find hard to replace.
“Announce Richard Scudamore” you all cry. But the former Premier League chief executive distanced himself from the job last year, and it’s hard to see why he would have changed this time around.
Under Steve Lansdown’s ownership, City have been criticised for sometimes preaching a sort of “BL: Before Lansdown” and “AL: After Lansdown” timeline regarding history, with the latter heavily publicised at the expense of the former.
That is a touch unfair but one of Gould’s major achievements - and what could prove his lasting legacy in BS3 - is how he’s rebuilt a bridge with the past, which has softened some of those cold, corporate edges around the place.
Whether that be through his work in facilitating the establishment of the Former Players’ Association. And that’s not to downplay the work of Neil Palmer or, in particular, Scott Davidson, but the project would likely never have been green-lit from a football club standpoint without Gould and his coordination of it all. And, yes, it seems a totally straightforward and sensible thing to do that should have previously existed, but it didn’t, and now it does.
That pride you felt at how well the tributes to the Ashton Gate Eight were conducted, Gould played a driving role in that, bringing the relevant parties together and allowing them to mark one of the most important moments in the club’s history. Through the very public way they were recognised on the field, and the more private events at the stadium in the build-up.
Remember the hurried, disorganised and disappointing fashion the 125th anniversary was celebrated on the pitch in February 2020? That would have been done very differently, had it taken place over the last 16 months.
To put a finer point on it, he really did care about that sort of thing and what mattered to supporters. These weren’t token gestures, they had to be done right. That may not be a shiny new No9, or a bumper new contract for someone, but it matters to the fabric, identity and culture of a football club far beyond those slightly superficial offerings.
There were external forces to a degree, but the switch from Mansion Bet to Huboo as primary sponsor, also shouldn’t be overlooked. Fan frustration had been building through several seasons of gambling brands populating shirts and while government intervention could be on the horizon - albeit with nobody quite sure what will happen in this realm - clubs are still signing partnerships with betting firms.
City have not only moved away from that sphere, they’ve secured a deal with a local Bristol-based and created company. Again, a totally common sense decision but one that still needed to be made, all on his watch.
It’s, ultimately, impossible not to discuss Gould’s work at the club without referring to that of his predecessor Mark Ashton but was, certainly in terms of fan perception, the polar opposite in character and approach. But without wanting to go over old ground, Gould has proved the perfect counterpoint to that - precisely the right man at precisely the right time.
A particular strand of the online City intelligentsia have concluded that his departure from the post to take up the role as ECB chief executive is, in essence, irrelevant because his impact was minimal (and we’re being polite with that representation of their words).
Just reading that sentence back should confound such criticism. He is leaving to become one of the most powerful and influential men in, never mind just English cricket, but the world game. It is among the grandest possible appointments in sporting administration in this country.
Of course, such is the perennial navel-gazing of football that cricket is neither as important nor can skills be transferable, so it’s not a fair comparison. But you have to, at the very least, concede, he must have something about him.
We’re at risk of straw-manning things a bit here, but another observation has been that because he remained largely in the background as Nigel Pearson presented himself as football organiser-in-chief, again, exactly what he did isn’t wholly apparent. But that both misses the point and also reinforces it.
Ashton heavily and very publicly involved himself in the recruitment side of things, to the point he was parodied for it. He was, to his credit and detriment, front and centre and often the one taking the shots. But for those who didn’t like that style - which by the end of his tenure was pretty much an overwhelming majority - surely Gould’s approach is precisely what you wanted?
By his own admission, and no doubt your own external perceptions, Pearson can be an irascible and difficult character when he wants to be. He is, with the greatest of respect to the man, a unique challenge. But having Gould alongside him, albeit more detached from the on-the-ground football organisation, has helped create a considerably more serene and manageable environment at the HPC.
Amid intense financial pressures, a team struggling towards the foot of the Championship and his own health issues which caused him to miss periods at the start of last season, chaos presided over that corner of Failand and while it may well have seemed that way, at times, ultimately City navigated any irregular squalls and finished the season intact.
That slightly self-inflicted disagreement between Jon Lansdown and Nigel Pearson towards the end of last season? Without the mediation and calming influence of Gould, it could well have gotten worse.
Those financial pressures have, of course, underpinned his time at the helm as his first summer window, and all the subsequent ones since then, was one of the cuts - to the playing squad and the wage bill, while having to work with Pearson in trying to build and then negotiate transfers for a competitive squad.
The decisions to release and sign certain players obviously lay with Pearson, but there had to be a certain degree of managing expectations from within and conveying the message to the manager. Even considering Pearson’s inner-pragmatism and understanding of the situation, in what was his first opportunity to shape his squad having been appointed on a permanent contract in April, the manager would have wanted considerably more than what he got.
Over the next few months we should see the fruits of some of the outgoing CEO’s labour in terms of reducing the wage bill with the accounts for 2021/22 to be published. Contrary to popular belief, releasing players, especially good ones, is not an easy decision. Especially when there’s every reason to suggest if they stay they could positively impact the time.
Likewise negotiating a sunken transfer window when you’re trying to actively move players on - Adam Nagy, Tyreeq Bakinson and Kasey Palmer - isn’t a straightforward task but all have been moved on, and while financial impacts were suffered by the former, substantial savings were made on the latter pair.
As Gould leaves before a summer of considerable decision-making with double figures first-team players out of contract. And while there is talent to be retained, the financial landscape simply may not permit it, it should also be highlighted by the volume of young players that are now under contract for lengthy periods of time.
City have strong assets both for now and in the future with regards to Alex Scott, Tommy Conway, Ayman Benarous, Dylan Kadji, Sam Bell and, below that quintet, the raft of impressive individuals in the Under-21 set-up such as Seb Palmer-Houlden, Raphael Araoye, Callum Wood, Jamie Knight-Lebel and Omar Taylor-Clarke.
This sort of housekeeping can sometimes be ignored, badly-planned or left to the last minute. With the exception of the Massengo situation - and City offered the Frenchman a contract last December and were open to selling him this summer only to receive no credible takers, so basically did all they possibly could - there isn’t a young asset that isn’t protected by at least some length of contract.
Of course, returning to an above mentioned theme, Gould was not a “football man” - or whatever that concept means - and as a result of that he was nowhere near as hands-on in the governance of the club in that way, and nor did he want to be.
As mentioned, a major aspect of his skillset is as a coordinator and getting the best possible people in the right roles, doing the correct jobs relevant to their abilities, all working within the resources that are possible.
That sense, allowing Pearson near-full direction on the football side has made perfect sense, irrespective of what your personal opinions may be of the manager, because that’s a separate debate.
Gould, as CEO, has taken a backseat on such matters. Which is why one of the few black marks on his copybook is that interview on BBC Radio Bristol with Geoff Twentyman in November last year amid growing rumours about Pearson’s long-term future at the club.
It did, to a point, take him out of his comfort zone and did perhaps reveal a gap in the organisational structure of the club that a Director of Football is required, rather than constantly blurring the lines between CEO (as was the case with Ashton) and manager (as is the case with Pearson).
That’s a debate for a different day and who City turn to next taps into that argument and the profile of the candidate. Much like a managerial appointment, what sort of style and remit do they want their CEO to have? And you can make a case for a number of different approaches.
The key point is that Gould’s calming presence has created something of a blank canvas and a far more manageable organisation to step into, whoever his successor may be.
SIGN UP: For our daily Robins newsletter, bringing you the latest from Ashton Gate
READ NEXT
