Steve Bould

Stephen Andrew Bould (born 16 November 1962) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is currently first team coach of EFL Championship club Queens Park Rangers.

As a player, he was a defender from 1980 until 2000. Bould began his football career with his hometown club Stoke City where he gained a reputation as an impressive young defender. After spending seven seasons with the Potters, and becoming one of English football's most coveted centre backs, he moved to Arsenal in 1988. At Highbury, he formed a formidable back line with Tony Adams, Nigel Winterburn and his former Stoke teammate Lee Dixon. He left the Gunners in 1999 and ended his playing career with Sunderland.

Since his playing career ended, Bould has worked at the successful Arsenal Academy as Head Youth Team Coach at Arsenal. He was promoted to assistant manager at the start of the 2012–13 season, replacing the long serving Pat Rice. He later had a spells as head coach of U23s side.

Club career Stoke City Born in Stoke-on-Trent, Bould signed for his hometown club Stoke City as a schoolboy in 1978, turning professional in November 1980. He was voted player of the year by the club's fans for the 1991–92 season, though it was a less successful season for the club as defending champions, managing only a fourth-place finish in the league and suffering an early exit from the European Cup, as well as a shock first hurdle exit from the FA Cup at the hands of minnows Wrexham.

On 15 August 1992, he had the distinction of being the scorer of Arsenal's first Premier League goal on the opening day of the season at Highbury, breaking the deadlock in the 28th minute although Arsenal went on lose the match 4–2 to Norwich City.

However, injury ruled him out of the FA Cup and League Cup finals that Arsenal won in 1992–93, and his place in the team was taken by Andy Linighan who scored Arsenal's winning goal in the FA Cup final replay against Sheffield Wednesday.

After winning the Cup Winners' Cup final in 1993–94, further success eluded Arsenal and Bould for several years, and the arrival of French manager Arsène Wenger in October 1996 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 became an important member of the squad that won the double in 1997–98. He 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 Premier League title. Two weeks later, they won the FA Cup to complete the double.

His final season at Highbury was a disappointing one. Arsenal reached the FA Cup semi-finals, where they drew with Manchester United to force a replay. With the score at 1–1 in the final minute of the game, Arsenal were awarded a penalty. Peter Schmeichel saved from Dennis Bergkamp and a winner from Ryan Giggs in extra time ended Arsenal's defence of the trophy. A month later, they were beaten to the Premier League by Manchester United.

Sunderland By now, age was against Bould and he moved to newly promoted Sunderland in July 1999 for a fee of £500,000. Following the departure of skipper Kevin Ball in December 1999, manager Peter Reid made him club captain and he helped them finish seventh – just missing out on a UEFA Cup place. He stayed at the Stadium of Light until arthritis contributed to his retirement in September 2000, having played only 21 Premier League games for Sunderland.

International career 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, and didn't make his first full international appearance until the age of 31. Both caps came under Terry Venables in Wembley friendlies against Greece (5–0) and Norway (0–0) at the end of the 1993–94 season.

Coaching career

After retiring, he began working towards his UEFA coaching badges and in June 2001 moved back to Arsenal and became a coach for the youth teams. He was the head coach of Arsenal's U18 Academy side, whom he led to the Premier Academy League title in 2008–2009, 2009–2010 and FA Youth Cup in 2008–2009. On 10 May 2012, it was announced that Steve Bould would become Arsenal's new assistant manager following the retirement of Pat Rice at the end of the season. On 5 June 2019, Steve Bould swapped jobs with Freddie Ljungberg to become the U23s coach in a major restructuring of Arsenal's coaching staff. In May 2021, he was sacked from his role as a coach of the U23 team. In June 2022, he was appointed as the head coach of Lommel. He resigned from Lommel on 14 January 2025, after the club gained only one point in previous five games. On 25 June 2025, Bould joined Championship side Queens Park Rangers as head of defensive coaching and first team coach.

Career statistics Club Source:

International Source:

Managerial

+ Managerial record by team and tenure TeamNatFromToRecordLommel 1 July 202214 January 2025Total

Honours Arsenal Football League First Division: 1988–89, 1990–91 Premier League: 1997–98 FA Cup: 1997–98 FA Charity Shield: 1998 European Cup Winners Cup: 1993–94

Individual Arsenal Player of the Season: 1990−91