Len Goulden
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (November 2020) |
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Leonard Arthur Goulden | ||
Date of birth | 16 July 1912 | ||
Place of birth | Hackney, England | ||
Date of death | 14 February 1995 | (aged 82)||
Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[1] | ||
Position(s) |
Inside-left | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
Chelmsford City | |||
1931–1932 | Leyton | ||
1932–1940 | West Ham United | 242 | (54) |
1945–1950 | Chelsea | 99 | (17) |
International career | |||
1937–1939 | England | 14 | (4) |
Managerial career | |||
1952–1955 | Watford | ||
1965–1967 | Banbury United | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Leonard Arthur Goulden (16 July 1912 – 14 February 1995) was an English
Club career
Goulden was born at Homerton, in Hackney, London, and raised in nearby Plaistow. He signed for West Ham United as an amateur in 1931, but was sent out to Chelmsford City and Leyton to gain experience. During this time he supported himself by working at the Tate & Lyle sugar refinery in Silvertown. He signed professional forms with West Ham in 1933[2] and remained with the Hammers for six years, making over 250 appearances and scoring 55 goals from the inside-left position. He was an ever-present, along with Joe Cockroft, during the 1936–37 season.
His West Ham career was interrupted when World War II started and he never played another competitive match for the club, though he did win the Football League War Cup with them in 1940.
Following the conflict, he signed with west
International career
Appearances and goals
Goulden won 14
He also appeared in several wartime internationals, but these are not considered official full international matches.
Berlin 1938
The match against Germany in Berlin in 1938 is notorious because the England team were pressured by the Foreign Office into giving the Nazi salute while the German national anthem was played. The team were furious:
The dressing room erupted. There was bedlam. All the England players were livid and totally opposed to this, myself included. Everyone was shouting at once. Eddie Hapgood, normally a respectful and devoted captain, wagged his finger at the official and told him what he could do with the Nazi salute, which involved putting it where the sun doesn't shine.
— Stanley Matthews, The Way It Was, 2000., [4]
However, the British ambassador, Nevile Henderson, insisted, believing that doing so would help defuse dangerously high international tensions.
There were 110,000 Germans watching the game, including
Goulden, who was Jewish, and normally known for his creativity rather than his shooting ability; scored the final goal in England's 6–3 victory, a goal has been described as the East End's Jesse Owens moment[5] and which teammate Stanley Matthews described as probably the greatest goal I ever saw.
I glanced across and saw Len Goulden steaming in just left of the centre of midfield, some 35 yards from goal. I arced around the ball in order to get some power behind the cross and picked my spot just ahead of Len. He met the ball at around knee height. My initial thought was that he'd control it and take it on to get nearer the German goal, but he didn't. Len met the ball on the run; without surrendering any pace, his left leg cocked back like the trigger of a gun, snapped forward and he met the ball full face on the volley. From 25 yards the ball screamed into the roof of the net with such power that the netting was ripped from two of the pegs by which it was tied to the crossbar. The terraces of the packed Olympic Stadium were as lifeless as a string of dead fish. "Let them salute that one," Len yelled as he carried on running, arms aloft.
— Stanley Matthews, The Way It Was, 2000., [4]
Other notable matches
A week after the Berlin game, England played
On 26 October 1938, England played a Rest of Europe side managed by Vittorio Pozzo at Highbury in London, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Football Association. The match was the second ever to be shown on live on TV,[7] though only the first half was shown. Goulden scored the final goal in a 3–0 victory. Sixty three years later, in 2001, FIFA retrospectively downgraded the match to unofficial, though the FA disputes this decision and continues to treat the match as official.[8]
Coaching and managerial career
Goulden remained at Chelsea until 1952, before moving to
After three years coaching overseas, Goulden returned to Watford in 1959, as part of new manager
Goulden died on 14 February 1995, in Plaistow, London.[10]
References
- ^ "West Ham. 'We can't go on being pipped'". Sunday Dispatch Football Guide. London. 23 August 1936. p. vi – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Golden Len Goulden, Brian Belton, p34
- ^ "Norway 0 England 6 [0-4]". England Football Online. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- ^ a b Excerpts of Matthews book available on Spartacus Education Len Goulden : West Ham (spartacus-educational.com)
- ^ All from 'Golden Len Goulden' by Brian Belton, passim, except where stated.
- ^ Golden Len Goulden, Brian Belton, p81
- ^ Golden Len Goulden, Brian Belton, p88
- ^ Website giving team line-ups and details of the FiFa decision https://www.englandstats.com/matches.php?mid=220
- ISBN 0-9527458-1-X.
- ^ ISBN 0-9527458-0-1.
- Banbury United. Retrieved 13 July 2010.
- ^ "Maurice Cook". Neil Brown. Retrieved 13 July 2010.
External links
- Len Goulden at Englandstats.com
- Len Goulden Photographs