Stoke-supporting former defender Steve Bould is set for Championship job
14:22, 25 Jun 2025Updated 14:36, 25 Jun 2025
New Queens Park Rangers manager Julien Stéphan.
New Queens Park Rangers manager Julien Stéphan.(Image: Marcio Machado/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)
Steve Bould is expected to join a new-look coaching staff at Queens Park Rangers in his first job in England since leaving Arsenal four years ago.
Bould, a Stoke City fan who made his breakthrough at the club, has been lined up to join Julien Stephan as defensive coach at a club which suddenly appears to have expanded its budget.
It is a surprise move considering Bould, aged 62, has just spent nearly three years as a manager. He was in charge at Lommel, in Belgium, until he resigned to return to the UK earlier this year.
The Athletic claims Bould "is a club appointment rather than part of Stephans’ backroom team, but will support first-team staff as part of his remit". He will apparently have a role focused on developing young defenders.
QPR have plenty of experience in their defence at the moment, with captain Steve Cook, aged 34; former Stoke left-back Morgan Fox, aged 31; and Jimmy Dunne, aged 27, who has just signed a lucrative new contract. They have just signed 17-year-old centre-back Timothy Akindileni from Aberdeen.
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Bould had emerged as an outstanding defender at Stoke City by 1988 when he was snatched away by Arsenal. Stoke expected £600,000, but Arsenal only offered £225,000 and a tribunal settled at £390,000.
He went on to help the club win the title three times, the FA Cup twice, the League Cup and European Cup Winners Cup before a short stint at Sunderland was followed by a return to Arsenal as a coach. He worked in the youth set-up and next to Arsene Wenger with the first team, and was with the under-23s from 2019 until he left in 2021.
He guided to Lommel to the play-off final as they tried to find a way into the top flight for the first time in more than 20 years but left for personal reasons in January.
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