Keeper coach Jonathan Gould will be a good addition at Preston North End says former team-mate

Lonergan and Gould were team-mates at PNE between 2003 and 2005.

Then last season they were reunited at Middlesbrough where Gould was previously employed.

Gould was appointed to the North End coaching staff last month.

Lonergan, who made 232 appearances for Preston and is now with Liverpool, speaks highly of the 51-year-old.

“Gouldy is just a massive character, a proper football man with lots of experience,” Lonergan told the Lancashire Post.

“The first time I met him was when he joined Preston in 2003.

“I was a young lad then, 18 or 19, and I remember Craig Brown telling me that Gouldy was coming in.

“I was gutted at the time as I was in the first-team squad and wanted to play.

“As it turned out, he was brilliant for me and he helped my career develop.

“We had a good little group there – Gouldy, myself, Gavin Ward and Pete Williams the goalkeeper coach.

“Since then he has become a coach and he was one of the main reasons I went to Boro last year.

“It was a different type of relationship than we’d had at Preston – he was now a coach and me still a player.

“But he was great to work with, passing on a lot of good advice.

“He works the goalkeepers very hard, he has got an eye for detail and he’ll be a great asset to Preston.

“Connor Ripley worked with him at Boro so he will be a familiar face.”

It was Lonergan who was to dislodge Gould as Preston’s keeper late in 2004. Gould 
later left Deepdale to join 
Hereford on loan before moving into coaching.

Said Lonergan: “A big thing I learned from him was how to bounce back from making a mistake.

“All keepers make mistakes at some stage and those tend to get highlighted – that’s the nature of the position.

“I remember a time when I was out injured and in one of the games Gouldy made a mistake.

“Afterwards I wasn’t sure how to react to it when I saw him but he was fine.

“He accepted it, made a bit of a joke about himself and moved on to focus on the next game instead of dwelling on it.

“As a young keeper, that was a big thing for me to learn.

“We keep in touch, I saw him the other week – he’s moved back to Lytham where he was based last time.

“I had a good crack with him and I know he’s pleased to be at Preston again.

“It’s a good club to be at and I’m sure he will do well.”