Ray Gooding is back! (1 Viewer)

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Moff

Moff

Well-Known Member
What a great appointment.

A man who has the club in his heart, knows the local football scene inside out and will already know plenty of players who could become part of the City youth set up, and who has an excllent previous track record with us.

Welcome back Ray!
 
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percy

percy

Member
mark venus is doing a great job, all he needs to do now is recruit a nice new chairman and owner with oodles of cash to splash
 
C

ccfclinney

Well-Known Member
The man responsible for bringing Daniel Sturridge, Callum Wilson and Gael Bigirimana to Coventry City has returned to the club with the remit of unearthing more gems for the Sky Blues.

Ray Gooding, who helped recruit hundreds of local lads to City’s youth system over a 20-year period, has been drafted back in by Tony Mowbray to be City’s senior scout for the Midlands as well as helping spot local youngsters for the club’s prolific Academy.

It couldn’t be a more perfect fit for the former City midfielder who came down from his native North East as a 15-year-old boy – signed by Gordon Milne as understudy to Terry Yorath and Barry Powell – and went on to play almost 50 times and score five goals as he shared a dressing room with the likes of Tommy Hutchison, Mick Ferguson, Ian Wallace and Gary Gillespie, to name just four legendary figures.

After being forced to hang up his boots due to injury, Gooding returned to the club as football development officer in 1988, then jointly run by the city council, before the Academy system was set up in 1992 when he worked closely with Richard Money and discovered the likes of Gary McSheffrey, Callum Davenport and Chris Kirkland, all of whom went on to play for the first team and earn millions of pounds for the club in transfer fees.

On taking redundancy in 2008, he re-joined Money at Newcastle United but later moved back to the Midlands where he has been scouting for Birmingham City’s Academy for the last four years. But the 56-year-old said: “I’m delighted to be back because this is my club.

“I enjoyed my time at Birmingham, which is a good club, but I always found it strange, for me, to take kids from Coventry over to another club when I have been doing it here all my life really.”

Gooding was approached by City’s Technical Director, Mark Venus, who is restructuring the club’s scouting network.

“I had a phone call out of the blue and was asked to look after the Midlands at the top end with the first team and help out at the Academy,” he said, “so I’ll be looking at players around the leagues on a Saturday and on a Sunday morning I’ll be at grassroots level.

“So Mark or the manager might ask me to go to a certain game and have a look at a certain player and see what I think of them and then I’ll be scouting for the Academy on a Sunday and maybe Under-21 games during the week.”

Although Gooding didn’t previously know Venus, or Mowbray for that matter, it’s clear they have an affinity.

“Mark was born in the same town as me, Hartlepool, and when I met him I told him I used to watch his dad play on the local recreation ground,” he said, before joking, “he asked me what I thought and I said he was useless.”

“I don’t know Tony but I’m looking forward to working with him and trying to help bring some decent players in.”

The last high-profile player he had a hand in bringing to the club as an unknown kid was Bigirimana who is currently surplus to requirement at Newcastle.

“We all know the story about Gael who came banging on the Academy door and I looked after him; he was like a second son to me and I was like a dad to him,” he said.

“He still rings me up now and says, ‘all right dad, how are you doing?’”
 
Hobo

Hobo

Well-Known Member
Another positive and someone who considers City to be their club.
 
Joy Division

Joy Division

Well-Known Member
Met Ray Gooding years ago when my bro was playing for the academy. Really is one of the good guys.
 
W

Will Silver CCFC57

Member
Good news that he is back, but looking quickly at the photo in the Telegraph and online I thought Roy Cropper had joined us.

2Q==
 
R

rupert_bear

Well-Known Member
Another appointment where it looks ceo Waggott had little influence, have to ask is his time here nearly spent.
 
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Warwickhunt

Warwickhunt

Well-Known Member
This guy is a legend! His knowledge of the game at all levels is second to none. I speak to him whenever i am in his local and is always up for a discussion on CCFC. We have done well by this appointment and i can only see the youth players he brings improving our skills base to even better heights. The Guy knows a good player. Well done to Ray
 
letsallsingtogether

letsallsingtogether

Well-Known Member
skybluepm2 said:
Definitely! Especially after we had zero under Pressley! :facepalm: TM really is starting to re-structure the club from top to bottom.
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You say that like he got rid of them?
He had no scouts in place when he took over previously we had one he got made up to manager and not replaced.
Remember pressley saying at the trust meetong he wanted to get some on board.
Believe he never had the money to do so.
 
skybluepm2

skybluepm2

Well-Known Member
letsallsingtogether said:
You say that like he got rid of them?
He had no scouts in place when he took over previously we had one he got made up to manager and not replaced.
Remember pressley saying at the trust meetong he wanted to get some on board.
Believe he never had the money to do so.
Click to expand...

Dude, it was 2 years ago. This is when I thought Mowbray was some sort of hero. Things change, yet my opinion of Pressley remains as it was; he had lost the plot by the end.

In hindsight though, you're probably right. He wasn't given a sniff by Fisher and co in terms of being able to bring in any players or half decent members of staff. That was made visible when Andy Webster signed.
 
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