The Bourne Recollection

Thank you for the interview. I liked Josh Gowling and from time to time check up on the Hereford forum just to see if he gets a mention. That could have been us.
 
Love this feature, hope there are many more to come! Was thinking of penning my own thoughts on some of our 90’s,00’s players but never found the time/bottle to put them out there, an interview on top of that is a great insight, well played and Thankyou Kirsikka!

Re Gowling himself, he was a very accomplished defender and had all the attributes to play higher, can’t help but think there was something missing in terms of application which prevented that, also compared to the likes of Broady and Pearce he was a bit soft? The other memory that sticks out for me is that I also believe he was our PFA rep for at least one season, which co-incided with him seemingly talking to the press A LOT, which led to plenty of criticism of talking a good game but as a squad not following up with that on the pitch!

Interesting he gives out a shout to Cooke as most technical player, presumably he ran through Gowlings legs as well as the ball :)
 
Agreed. It sounds like Bond wasn't backing him in the press in the way he was hoping and expecting his manager would back him and so he was biting back any way he could to try and deflect away from that.

Shows how easy it is for us fans to latch onto something and give someone grief over something when we have far from the whole story. Plus, he seems to have a genuine affection for us.

I hope he gets the permanent managers job at Hereford. I've a feeling he could make a very interesting manager to watch.
 
Good stuff, @kirsikka , some interesting nuggets there, especially when he admits he was lazy and didn't work hard enough. I always find it amazing when an ex-pro admits that, basically, he tossed his potential career off.

Thanks for doing that
 
Good stuff, @kirsikka , some interesting nuggets there, especially when he admits he was lazy and didn't work hard enough. I always find it amazing when an ex-pro admits that, basically, he tossed his potential career off.

Thanks for doing that

Glad you enjoyed it.

It seems amazing to us but I think it's good that he's able to be honest with himself rather than blaming other factors around him. Recognising when he was at fault may really help his management career.

Probably also a healthy thing mentally speaking. Should take away any bitterness he may feel about it if he can point the finger at himself. He wasn't denied by someone else, he missed the opportunity when it was there.

All that is purely my reading of it though, I didn't get anything extra than that which you read.

There was one question I wanted to ask but couldn't think how to frame it correctly. Although we can say his playing career didn't reach the levels it might have done he still made a living out of football. Something many of us would love to do almost more than anything. Sure, it wasn't at the stuff dreams are made of level but it was still a life in football and he's subsequently been able to forge a post playing career in the sport. Is it enough when he looks back at it or does he sometimes wish he'd walked away as a young man?

The written word can be a bit cold though so I was worried that would come across really insulting even though it wasn't intended like that.
 
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