Remembering Coop – 15 Years On

On the 23rd March 1995, a year which saw Rangers chasing 7 league championships in a row, Scottish Football was rocked by the death of Davie Cooper. Cooper was stolen at the age of 39 and to many football supporters in Scotland he will be fondly remembered.

Cooper began his professional career with Clydebank, where he spent 3 years, making 90 appearances before Rangers came calling in 1977. Jock Wallace brought Cooper to Ibrox for £100,000 and in his first season the Hamilton-born midfielder won the domestic treble. In 1979, Cooper scored a phenomenal goal against Celtic, I emphasize the word phenomenal as it was simply world-class. If Lionel Messi did that today, it would be splattered over every newspaper in the world. This was simply what Davie Cooper was all about.

Enjoy.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmECazR7jyA]

Sadly, there wasn’t better footage of such an awesome goal. Cooper’s 12 year spell at Ibrox would see the midfielder notch up 377 appearances in a blue jersey, including 49 goals. It is very difficult to describe to people who haven’t heard of Davie Cooper how good this guy really was. When asked at the end of his Rangers career what his highlight was, he responded “I played for the team I loved.”

Here is an another example of what that amazing left-foot could do.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaNQILY6j-8]

After his Rangers career, Cooper headed to Fir Park to join up with Tommy McLean’s Motherwell and was an integral figure in Motherwell’s first cup win in 39 years when they won the Scottish Cup in 1991, a day still remembered like yesterday by many Motherwell supporters. For his final season in football in 1994, Cooper went back to his roots and re-joined Clydebank where he made another 21 appearances. On that fateful day, Cooper passed away through a brain haemorrhage whilst filming a video for youngsters.

A true great, sadly missed.