Leeds United and Scotland defender Liam is ffollowing in the footsteps of giants rather than working on River Humber boats
Role models come in all shapes and sizes.
Ask a Scotland supporter for their Identikit of a centre-half to lead the country, and an image of a player lying in bed drinking a bottle of beer at 5am is unlikely to come to mind – even if he does have his arm round a trophy.
However, as Steve Clarke fine-tunes his team for the bid to reach Euro 2020, Liam Cooper – the man who tweeted his early- hours celebration of Leeds United’s Championship win – looks a decent bet.
Certainly, the 29-year-old seems to possess the winning combination of humility and perseverance the Tartan Army loves to see in their heroes.
He might not be a Gordon Strachan or a Billy Bremner, two legendary Leeds United and Scotland stars of the past.
But he has definite potential to be a modern-day Gordon Mcqueen.
Cooper is happy to admit that but for football, he would be working on the boats, like his father and brother.
Now he is eager to follow a tide which has swept him from England’s fourth tier to the Premier League and, he hopes, can now help him land a regular international place.
As he looked back on his times of being called up, but not called upon, with Scotland, he admits: “It can be difficult and disheartening.
“But I come from a family who have never had anything given to us. We never give up.
“Sometimes people’s opinions are different. But I stuck to my guns, worked hard, got myself in the best shape possible, and played well for my club.
“You can only focus on your club, and then from there you get recognised.
“I’ve managed to do that and, hopefully, I can stay in the Scotland set-up now.
“That attitude comes from my family as a whole. We’re a workingclass family, who have good morals.
“I’ve had it instilled in me from an early age to never give up, and to give your all by working as hard as you can.
“My father put that in me since I can remember.
“He was always tough on me as a kid. If I had a good game, he’d always pick something up.
“I had plenty of arguments with him in the car on the way back from games when I was younger.
“That’s just how it was. He was super-critical.
“At the time, it wasn’t the best because no one likes to get told they’ve played poorly. But I thank him for it now.
“He always wanted the best for me, which I understand now because I have kids of my own.
“We grew up in Hull. My dad, Dave, works on the boats on the River Humber, taking pallets out to the big ships.
“My brother, Joe, does the same, so they have plenty of cold nights on the river.
“I’m thankful that my career went in another direction. I was one of the lucky ones.
“I’ve got a lot of friends who were unfortunate in the game. They had to go and get jobs on building sites.
“I was lucky, I threw all my eggs in one basket but it has paid dividends for me.
“I’ve had to work hard for it, as I