Former Coventry City player and manager Bobby Gould has said he would love to become City'd new manager and would do the job without wages.
Gould is one of the '100's' of people who phoned chairman Ray Ranson to apply for the vacant Coventry City hot seat after the previous incumbent Aidy Boothroyd was sacked for not motivating the players.
Gould, who was born in Coventry, played for his hometown club from 1963 to 1968 and managed them from 1983 to 1984 and again between 1992 and 1993, revealed he had not yet plucked up the courage to tell his wife of the offer he had made to the club.
Gould, now 62 years old, said, “It is my heart and my home and I don’t want any financial gain from it whatsoever, I just want to see my football club survive this season.”
“I wouldn’t want a salary. I played for £32.50 when I was at Coventry and the most money I ever had in management was when I managed the Sky Blues. It’s not about money, it is about what you want to do with your life and what you want to give to people."
“City have got to go to Burnley tonight and then what’s the points total after that?"
"My wife is going to put ‘Please Lord, let him get to 51 points as quickly as possible,’ when I pass on the other side so that I can relax. I haven’t told her that I have put in for the job yet.”
Gould revealed he has previously applied to Ranson for the manager's job, saying, “I have on past occasions contacted Ray Ranson and offered my services and I did that again yesterday morning."
“I have got a great slot at TalkSport but Coventry City is my football club and in my blood and no-one will ever take that away from me, no matter who manages it or owns it or plays for the club.”
Gould was asked why he wants t take on the job some have called a poisoned chalice, he replied, “I’ve got passion. I am very, very lucky because I have got a very stable life and I want to give back something to the club that gave me the great life I have got now."
“I was at Weymouth a couple of years ago and I learned a little bit, I went to Cheltenham and just failed there, but I was at Coventry City and they never got relegated with me.
"I kept Bristol Rovers up. OK I went down with West Brom but you learn from those experiences and at this moment in time, it’s like Red Adair. It’s all about experience and man management and what’s in that dressing room. What can I, as an individual, get out of those lads.
“It’s not about Bobby Gould or the players, it’s about Coventry City football club. I heard an interview with Aidy Boothroyd over the weekend saying Lady Luck isn’t with them but you make your own luck."
“It is getting the players to gel and play together and for each other and trust in you. I can go back to George Curtis and Ronnie Farmer, to the team I built with Dave Bennett, Terry Gibson and Brian Kilcline."
“There’s only one manager who keeps being successful and that’s Fergie. Arsene Wenger can’t win anything because he hasn’t got winners in his dressing room."
“I was at Arsenal in 1968-70 when Don Howe was virtually making winners no matter how much money they were earning.”
“Who wants to come in and be tainted with a relegation on their CV?, asked Gould, although he does have sympathy for Boothroyd not really being given enough time, only ten months, which he thinks is no where near enough.
Gould said, “It’s a very difficult situation but I have got to say that ten months in the job is not sufficiently long enough. I always say that you are only as good as your players.”