Source: FOOTYMAD
Gould backs Thorn as City manager
High praise from Sky Blue legend Former Coventry City striker and two time manager Bobby Gould had added his voice to the increasing demands of the Coventry City supporters for the board to appoint caretaker boss Andy Thorn as the next full time manager. Gould managed Thorn when he was in charge of the infamous Crazy Gang at Wimbledon and well knows the personality,character and attributes that Thorn has to offer. He hailed Thorn's impact as temporary manager as "stunning" and claimed he has "turned the club on its head" and has called upon the board to look no further and appoint him as the new manager. Gould has been so impressed with Thorn he has telephoned his to thank him for what he has done for the club that he loves. He revealed, “I have been in touch with him to thank him for what he has done to my football club because how many people would have been able to go in and do that?” "Just look at some of the experienced managers who were given jobs in and around the same time and Andy has produced some outstanding results. The job he has done is stunning. He’s turned the club on its head.” Gould says Thorn, along with former Sky Blues captain Trevor Peake has one of the best footballing brains of any those players he has ever worked with. He was asked directly if he thought Thorn should be appointed the full time manager and said, “It is nothing to do with me but if the board see what he has created and the chairman sees what he has done in a short period of time it makes you wonder what’s round the corner if they give it him full-time. “If they go and get someone who has applied for the position, does he know the players any better than Andy? He recommended most of them and brought them in. They look at him and he looks at them and he believes in them and they believe in him because they know that he recommended them to the managers as chief scout.” He continued, “I said at the time when he took over as caretaker, don’t underestimate him because he was educated at a very, very hard school with the Crazy Gang.” Gould then revealed that as Thorn was a bit of a joker he called him the giggler. He said, “I called him the giggler because he instigated a few things but he was never at the front of the line when anyone was getting a rollicking. He would often light the touch paper but he was always wise enough not to hang around for the consequences. He’d be the one giggling in the background." Gould managed Wimbledon's Crazy Gang in their heyday of the late 1980's when they had players such as Dennis Wise, John Fashanu, Vinnie Jones and Lawrie Sanchez as well as Andy Thorn. “You had to be one hell of a person to withstand all that went forth in that dressing room and if you were accepted into that regime then you were schooled in the hardest school in professional football because if you stepped out of line you would know about it," he said. “I had to show them the cane once or twice, as did Dave Bassett, but they knew and understood, and Andy had an excellent football brain. He was a useless runner. He wasn’t an athlete but his brain got him there." "People often ask me who were the best players I managed or were associated with. One was Trevor Peake and the other was Andy Thorn because they had this anticipation and understanding of what defending is all about." “We often used to say when I was at Coventry who headed that one off the line? It was usually Peakey. Who made that tackle? It was Peakey, and Andy comes into the same category.” Now that his playing days are over, Gould believes that Thorn has all the necessary attributes to become a class manager and will be able to recreate the tremendous team spirit that the legendary manager Jimmy Hill achieved in the 1960's and the managerial partnership of John Sillet and George Curtis managed in the mid eighties. “He knows when you have got to go long and when to go short. It wasn’t all long ball at Wimbledon. They were brought up and nurtured to understand what winning was all about and what you need to create that, which is not always what goes on on the training field." “It goes beyond that. It is all about camaraderie and if you look back at the history of Coventry City the club had exactly the same under Jimmy Hill and later under George Curtis and John Sillett, all the teams that were successful." “They were regimes that were fun and the players wanted to go to work. He understands them. He has been one of them and lived the life. OK his opportunity for a management or coaching job didn’t come earlier but now, with the experience he has got, he needs a chance." “He has been given that chance and he won’t let it go without a hell of a fight.”
