An absolutely remarkable result for Matt Gould and Stourbridge, reaching the 3rd round of the FA Cup this week, knocking out League One side Northampton Town 1-0.
Stourbridge are in the Northern Premier Premier division. That's Tier 7 of the English pyramid, 4 tiers below Northampton.
What a great result for @mattgkgould & @StourbridgeFC knocking out League One side Northampton Town! https://t.co/fhuMIyzJBV
— NZFootballers OS (@NZFootballersOS) December 14, 2016
On 7 January Stourbridge's impressive FA Cup run came to an end as they lost away to Wycombe 2–1. 2 clean sheets in the FA Cup, including against Northampton Town. Good stuff.
not that I'm suggesting he should play for the All Whites but is he eligible?
not that I'm suggesting he should play for the All Whites but is he eligible?
Someone on the previous page of this thread who seems to have inside knowledge says that Gould Jr has a NZ passport.
So, yes.
He lived here from age 11 to 19 and his parents have NZ residency although they have moved back to the UK while dad Jonathan works at WBA.
His parents still own a house in Hawkes Bay apparently.
Here's a good detailed report on Gould Jr. with interview quotes and the story of Stourbridge's Cup run.
Gould Jr. has been benefitting from training with his dad full-time at WBA and their international keeper's Ben Foster (England) and Boaz Myhill (Wales):
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/world-game/8...
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There are lots of NZ connections with Wimbledon's 1988 FA Cup winning team:
- Manager Bobby Gould: teenage son Jonathan played in NZ's national league at that time (as a centre-back!) for Napier City Rovers.
Bobby Gould spent a season as assistant coach to his son Jonathan at Hawkes Bay United a few year's ago.
- John Fashanu: Wimbledon striker and future England international played a season in our national league for Miramar Rangers as a teenager in 1982, including playing in the Chatham Cup Final.
- Fullback Terry Phelan: Republic of Ireland international and later "most expensive defender in the world" when he signed for Manchester City went on to become Otago United player-coach and coach 2005 - 2009 in our national league.
- On the losing Liverpool side, both John Barnes and Peter Beardsley had played friendlies for their clubs in NZ (John Barnes, three games for Watford vs. All Whites May 1982; Peter Beardsley, Newcastle Utd. vs. All Whites: Oct. 1984, St James Park, started four friendlies vs. All Whites May 1985 in NZ - scored three goals)
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And to top it all off, the winning goal for Wycombe on the weekend was scored by former AFC Wimbledon striker Adebayo Akinfenwa, known as "The Beast" (he's 16 stone and over 6 foot):
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/world-game/8...
Sounds like Gould Jr. had a good game.
Big Pete 65, Christchurch
I can't say how I know, but can confirm he has a NZ passport.
Just because he has a NZ passport doesn't mean he's eligible for NZ. He needs to also fulfill the FIFA Statutes (which he doesn't). But you'd expect that FIFA would grant an exemption since he's got strong ties to NZ.
Even if he was eligible, we aren't exactly short of goalkeepers and he is only playing at the 7th tier of english football
https://thejourneyfan.blogspot.co.nz/
New Zealand Football Media Association Website of the year 2015 & 2016
Soccerway his him with a NZ flag - appreciate doesn't mean much. But probably indicates he wants to play for AWs if ever eligible/good enough.
http://au.soccerway.com/players/matt-gould/217228/
Anyone know where matt is off to? Has put on Twitter that it will be his final game for Stourbridge
Is this the "National League North" aka 6th tier?
Spennymoor in with a great chance to be in the Playoffs , They also beat conference side Sutton 3 nil in FA Trophy.
Matt has Played 28 games and even got player of month for November.
Team of the week on Saturday after 2 nil win against chester the. Followed up with Man of the match in 1 nil win against Boston.
https://mobile.twitter.com/SpennymoorTown/status/1...
https://mobile.twitter.com/SpennymoorTown/status/1090375164573958144
In National League North playoff semi final tomorrow against Brackley. Played 48 out of 48 games this season so far
Will play for a spot In National league on Sunday against Chorley
Missed out on promotion unfortunately as Spennymoor Town lost to Chorley on penalties.
Was 1-1 after ET.
Gould was in goal for all 45 of Spennymoor Town's league games during the season.
National League North (English 6th tier).
will be interesting to see what he does next in terms of his old man being at Middlesborough or has he left with Pulis. In the past he has stayed close to his dad so that he could train fulltime wherever his dad was, as current level would largely only be semi pro. From what I have read he has had a pretty good session so maybe a move up a division not out of the question.
The stuff article i read yesterday linked him with the Phoenix
As much as I loved Gouldie Sr, based on young Matthew's career so far I'm not convinced he'd be any better than Sail and really hope we're targeting a no. 1 with experience and pedigree a la Marinovic, Gleeson or even Kurto.. Someone who's played at decent club level and ideally has had some international exposure too
Mid season Spennymoor Town, lie 7th on GD in the last promotion playoff position.
This is National League North (English 6th tier).
Gould has been in goal for all 22 games.
Saw that he was voted into the Stourbridge team of the decade. Bloody awesome considering he was only there between 2016-2018.
Reid also voted into the West Ham team of the decade
This is the last post of self promotion
— Matthew Gould (@mattgkgould) July 7, 2020
General shot stopping and reaction saves
Currently a free agent looking for the next big challenge! pic.twitter.com/BQJ2fE4P8L
From this week's Flying Kiwis. Can Mods please update his club. Altrincham in National League (English 5th tier)
Love that. Gould spent the last two years with Spennymoor Town (English lower league club names are undefeated) where he played 78 league games in National League North division, where he’d have played a few times against Altrincham... in fact they were the last team he played against prior to lockdown. A 4-1 Altrincham win – although he saved a penalty against them the previous time. Spennymoor finished eighth and Altrincham fifth in the NL North after the league table was determined on a points per game basis, with Alty going on to win the playoffs and earn promotion. At Altrincham he’ll have his work cut out to play with Tony Thompson still at the club having started 30 games last season though they’ve not got much on the books below him so Gouldy at the very least should be challenging Thommo off the bench. The National League isn’t gonna start until supporters are cleared to attend games (gotta get those gate returns at this level to be sustainable) so no idea on when that’ll be.