Cooper was my idol and I still chat to him
Statue in the town comforts Derek Ferguson 25 years on
Former Rangers star Derek Ferguson has revealed he still talks to his idol Davie Cooper more than two decades on from the winger’s shock death.
Monday marks the 25th anniversary of the tragic day one of Scotland’s greatest-ever players passed away, following a brain haemorrhage at the age of just 39.
Cooper enjoyed two spells at Clydebank, 12 years with his boyhood heroes Rangers and a successful fouryear spell at Motherwell, as well as being capped 22 times for Scotland.
Ferguson played alongside him for six years at Ibrox and, with both of them growing up and living in Hamilton, they became good friends.
Four years after Cooper’s death in 1995, a statue was erected in his honour at Hamilton Palace Sports Grounds and it’s become somewhat of a shrine for Ferguson to catch-up with his former team-mate.
Appearing on the Lanarkshire Live
Sport documentary ‘Davie Cooper: Remembering a Legend’, Ferguson said: “I come down and go a run now and again, but once I’m finished I always walk past Coop’s statue.
“I have a wee stretch and a wee chat to him.
“I know it sounds a bit weird and a bit daft, but because he was a Hamilton boy like myself, I spent a bit of time with Coop, especially coming back from training at Rangers.
“I think sometimes I might get a few strange looks when people see an old 50-year-old guy talking to a statue, but I just have some fantastic memories of Coop.
“He was an idol of mine and it was amazing the time I got to spend with him, so to lose him at 39...he would have gone on to do a lot of coaching and he would have been a brilliant coach.
“It’s scary to think it’s been 25 years now.”
• Watch the Davie Cooper: Remembering a Legend documentary on our Facebook and Twitter pages via @Lanlivesport.