ENGLAND COCA-COLA KIDS EMPTY BAR
THE England Under 17 team’s hotel bar ran out of Coca-Cola after the team’s World Cup final triumph over Spain — in what players’ parents see as an example of the way manager Steve Cooper instilled discipline while allowing freedom. Cooper led singing at the party which followed Saturday’s 5-2 victory and has impressed parents by giving the Under 17 team enough leeway to enjoy themselves while in India for the tournament. The party after the final went on well beyond daybreak, with the hotel supplying Sprite when the cola ran out. There were no problems. The bond between Cooper’s players is described by some parents as equal to — if not better than — that at their clubs and a sense is emerging of the part played by 37-yearold Cooper. The FA must take credit for his appointment. The coach was devastated to be released by Liverpool six years ago when Brendan Rodgers installed
Alex Inglethorpe, a close friend he brought in from Tottenham. Cooper’s re-emergence as a coach of high standing at the FA also underlines the folly of the British game throwing proven coaches on to the scrapheap to make way for a new manager’s favourites. Rafa Benitez, manager at Liverpool when Cooper was brought in there, accepts he would not have made it if he had been judged on his early career.