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SO
LONG GOUGHY ... Part ONE
two three
After 15 years on the Tour Alex Gough surprised everyone when he
announced his retirement last week. The fact of it wasn't the
surprise - at 37 years young it had to come - rather the timing, as
everyone thought he had a few more tournaments in him. Happily it
coincided with his appointment as the PSA's new
Chief Operating Officer so Alex won't be lost to the game, far
from it. Nevertheless, we thought a few reactions were called for ...
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NO, NO WAY…
I
just won’t have it, sorry. How am I going to go on without Alex’s
quotes, funny one-liners, rumblings, bad temper, astonishing
victories and punishing defeats, meetings that keep him up way into
the night, and second to none top-spin????
The cleverest brain on the circuit – sorry for the others, but he is
– he stunned me so many times by his knowledge, understanding of
facts and speed of reasoning, although I sometimes had trouble
understanding what the heck he was saying, as he is speaking so
fast. So most of the time, I pretended I got what he said, only to
scratch my head in front of my computer thinking I had absolutely no
idea what to write…
He made me smile, he made me laugh, and God knows he annoyed me, but
he was a true example of what a squash player is all about, not to
mention a permanent source of
inspiration for my en brefs. So, I won’t have him retiring. Hors
de question.
And if anything, I’m already grateful to PSA new management to keep
him on board, because I can’t see my life on the Tour without him.
As simple as that.
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Derek Ryan, many-time Irish Champion
Some
memories of Alex…?
 Well, a good
one would be a few years ago when we played on the same team in a
tournament in Dubai, the Dubai Threes. We had a great tournament but
it all started to go wrong when we were on the way to the airport.
We had just finished a meal with the organisers and were really
relaxed. The tournament was sponsored by an airline and one of the
other teams (Paul Johnson, Chris Walker and John Russell) left the
restaurant early. They got to the airport first and checked in with
what appeared to be upgraded tickets. Alex took this really badly
and felt that the lads had been a bit sneaky by not involving us in
the upgrade.
We checked in and asked for an upgrade and we were given the usual
polite 'no chance' line. We took our tickets and off we went to
board the plane. We passed the guys and steam was starting to come
out of Gough's nostrils. I can't say I was too pleased with the
situation, nor was John Dale for that matter, who was also on our
team.
 Goughy was fuming by the time we were on the bus taking us to the
plane, so much so that he told PJ and more so Chris Walker to not
speak to him or else! Some choice words were spoken and Goughy, to
say the least, was not a happy man. We boarded the plane to see the
three lads walk left towards business class and we took the right
turn towards a very crowded economy section.
We sat down and a few minutes later the other lads walked towards
us. The Welsh lad, all 5 foot 2 inches of him was close to tipping
over into a rage when they sat down near us with their 'economy'
tickets! It was all a prank that worked beautifully, we were all had
by Johnson, Walker and Russell. Still to this day, Goughy is known
to react or 'bite' early when he is wound up!
A “bad” memory of him would be when he went for a haircut one
afternoon in Nottingham.
We played a training match later that day and when he was drying off
after the match there was loads of hair stuck to his face, so much
so that his eyes and teeth were just about visible. Whatever way
they cut his hair and the hair product they put in his hair, he was
left with the loose hair stuck to his face.
I was howling laughing at him as he was desperately trying to scrape
the hair off his face. It took him a good hour to sort himself out
and at one stage he genuinely thought he was going to have to walk
out of the club looking like something out of planet of the apes!
It is about time you hung up your racket bigman! Incredible to be
still playing to such a high standard, not many have had the
longevity and successful career as yours. Maybe now you can relax a
bit more rather than reacting and chewing the head off the referee
when that 50/50 decision does not go your way!
Good luck with the new job.
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Tim Garner, Eventis etc ...
 Goughy,
retire? Now that is a day I thought would never happen!
There is no doubt it will be greeted by immense relief by many of
the young pros, who have been out played, and often out talked by
the wee man in recent years.
His silky skills have graced the professional courts for nearly two
decades, and he still posses the best ‘double-handed forehand
top-spin drop’ in the game!
I am sure he will leave a big whole on the circuit, but will jump
straight back into it with his new role with the PSA.
I am already looking forward to harnessing the super computer that
resides in his head to help drive the sport forward and wish him all
the best with whatever else he turns his hand to!
Tim Garner
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 One
of the pictures I will remember from Goughy is when he made the
semis of the World Open in 1997 in Malaysia. I was only just
starting on the tour and was really impressed by his talent and how
smooth he was. He was not seeded to make semis at all but played so
well throughout the tournament.
Since that day, I always loved watching him. And obviously, what
made Goughy such a character, was his continuous chat he was always
having on court! With himself, with his opponent, with the ref, with
the crowd,...Every time I played him, I was playing as if I had ear
plugs in my ears, making sure I was not paying attention to the
little story he was trying to tell me!!!
I am sure he will be a very good asset for the PSA in his new role,
the PSA is definitely moving in the right direction from what I have
seen and been reading recently. It is great to see someone like
Goughy staying involved with our Association, he is very
enthusiastic, he loves and knows everything when the word squash is
involved. Every time there was an issue with the PSA, he used to say
: "Oh yeah, I am loving it mate"!
Best of luck Goughy!
world #27 |
 When
I was Chief Executive of the WSF Alex was a permanent, and
memorable, fixture of the Welsh team at World and European
Championships. His robust style and quick wit always added colour to
the event. Since I have been at PSA I have seen the other side of
him. A tremendous intellect, a well developed sense of what is good
for Squash and above all a fanatical lover of our sport.
Alex the player may be retired, but Alex the PSA Chief Operations
Officer may achieve even more for the sport.
Good luck Alex.
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Part TWO: Framboise
interviews Goughy, notes from
Peter Marshall,
Nick Matthew, Gregory Gaultier, John
White ... |
Part THREE:
Questionnaire, Simon Parke,
Peter Nicol, Sue&Hedley,
Thierry Lincou, Roy Gingell, Robert Edwards, Lee Beachill, Mike
Puertas ... |
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"A
lifetime playing squash and Fram asks me to supply a few 'nice'
stories... Are there any 'nice' Alex Gough stories? Most would need
the editor of The Sun to tone them down a bit.
I am not one for going on about myself so I will leave this article
pleasantly short. As I think of people I have shared many good and
funny times with and events that have happened along the way I would
end up missing too much out... 
