The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Aberdeen FC legend Neale Cooper, aged 54
Former Aberdeen midfielder Neale Cooper has died after being found injured at his home, the club have announced.
Cooper, a member of the Dons team which won the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1983, had been taken to hospital after Police Scotland were called to a report of a man who had collapsed within a communal stairwell in the Ferguson Court area of Bucksburn, Aberdeen, at around 1.45am on Sunday.
He died yesterday aged 54. Police said the incident did not appear to be suspicious.
Aberdeen wrote on their official Twitter account: “The club is deeply shocked and saddened to hear that our legendary midfielder and Gothenburg Great Neale Cooper has tragically passed away.”
Cooper also played for Aston Villa, Rangers, Reading, Dunfermline and Ross County before managing the latter team and also Hartlepool, Gillingham and Peterhead.
Dunfermline FC tweeted: “Everyone at DAFC is extremely saddened to hear of the passing of former player Neale Cooper. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.”
Cooper was always easy to spot during his playing days with his mop of blond curls.
And you could usually bet the former Aberdeen player would be located within snarling distance of the referee.
One half of Scottish football’s terrible twosome during his initial seven-year stint with the Dons, he and midfield partner Neil Simpson were the enforcers who gave Sir Alex Ferguson’s famed Pittodrie side their bite. But the brutishness he displayed on the pitch should not be taken as an indicator of the man he was off it.
“Some people are surprised when they meet me for the first time,” he said in a 2016 interview. “They can actually be quite scared of me but then they see that I’m pretty happy-go-lucky.
“I think they expect me to be this tough nut because of how I played. That was simply me doing a job of work when I crossed the white line.”
On the role he was given by Sir Alex, he told another newspaper: “He decided to turn me into a midfield psycho – a midfield assassin.”
Cooper was born in November 1963 in Darjeeling, India, where his father Douglas was working at the time as a tea plantation manager.
His upbringing, and his father’s sudden death aged just 39 following a massive heart attack, did though imbibe a toughness into his make-up.
Without it, it was doubtful Ferguson would have handed him his first-team debut at only 16 in 1979.
His time at the club coincided with a golden era in the Granite City. He lifted two league titles, four Scottish Cups and a League Cup. The most treasured prize, however, was the European Cup Winners’ Cup of 1983, sealed after a 2-1 win over Real Madrid in Gothenburg.
In 1986 Cooper moved south to join Aston Villa. However, a legacy of the uncompromising training methods employed by Ferguson was the litany of injuries that would dog him throughout his time at Villa Park, then Rangers and even back at Aberdeen, who he rejoined in 1990.
It was not until he joined Dunfermline in 1991 that Cooper managed to rediscover any kind of lasting fitness as he helped the Fifers to the First Division crown in 1995.
A year later he was playing at Ross County, where he soon took his first steps into management as he guided the Staggies to the second tier following back-to-back promotions.
He also had two stints as Hartlepool boss, as well as spells in charge of Gillingham and Peterhead, before returning to County as number two to Derek Adams in 2011.
In recent times Cooper had taken up a corporate position with the Dons’ club sponsors Saltire Energy and in 2017 he was inducted into the Aberdeen hall of fame.
Cooper is survived by his three children.