Steve Bould

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Steve Bould
Personal information
Full name	Stephen Andrew Bould
Date of birth	November 16, 1962 (age 44)
Place of birth	Stoke-on-Trent, England
Height	6' 4"
Nickname	Bouldy
Playing position	Centre-back
Youth clubs
1978-80	Stoke City
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1980-1988 Oct-Dec 1982 1988-1999 1999-2000	Stoke City Torquay United (loan) Arsenal Sunderland	183 (6) 9 (0) 288 (5) 21 (0)
National team
1994 1994	England B England	1 (0) 2 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Stephen Andrew Bould (born November 16, 1962) is an English former football player.

Born in Stoke-on-Trent, Bould signed for his hometown club Stoke City as a schoolboy in 1978, turning professional in November 1980. He made his debut at right back in a 3-2 defeat away to Middlesbrough in September 1981. However, he was unable to command a regular place in the team, and was loaned out to Torquay United in October 1982, playing 9 league games for Bruce Rioch's side.

Bould slowly became a regular in the Stoke side, switching to centre half, although a major back injury in 1987 threatened his career, but after several operations he recovered. He moved to Arsenal in 1988, and became part of Arsenal's "famous four" defensive lineup, with Tony Adams, Nigel Winterburn and his former Stoke team-mate Lee Dixon. Bould won the First Division title twice in 1988-89 and 1990-91; injury however ruled him out of the FA Cup and League Cup finals that Arsenal won in 1992-93.

After winning the Cup Winners' Cup final in 1993-94, success eluded Arsenal and Bould for several years, and the arrival of French manager Arsène Wenger led some to speculate the ageing Bould would leave the club (especially as he was now often second-choice behind Martin Keown); instead it spurred a brief revival, and Bould was a member of the squad that won the Double in 1997-98 - Bould famously set up Tony Adams with a chipped throughball, for the final goal in Arsenal's 4-0 win over Everton, the match that won them the Premiership title.

By now age was not on Bould's side and after a final season at Highbury he moved to Sunderland in July 1999 for a fee of £500,000, manager Peter Reid immediately making him club captain. Bould stayed for two seasons at the Stadium of Light, but injury forced him to retire in September 2000 having played only 21 league games for Sunderland. He then began working towards his UEFA coaching badges and in June 2001 moved back to Arsenal and became a coach for the youth teams.

Despite forming part of one of the most secure top-flight defences of the late 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s, Bould won only two caps for England, far fewer than fellow centre half Tony Adams.

[edit] External links

• Photos and stats at sporting-heroes.net
• Statistics at soccerbase.com