Neale Cooper
Popular Aberdeen midfielder who helped his team to victory in the 1983 European Cup Winners’ Cup
NEALE COOPER, the footballer who has died aged 54, was the combative chief stoker in the engine room of the trophy-laden side forged by Sir Alex Ferguson at unfancied Aberdeen; at just 19, he was the youngest member of the team that in 1983 won the European Cup Winners’ Cup, beating Real Madrid.
Known as “Tattie”, Cooper was loved at Pittodrie not just for his commitment but also for his rascally demeanour; his love of fun was, in his younger days, fully reciprocated by the local womenfolk. Yet, as he himself recalled, what let him make the grade was his mental toughness.
He had lost his father when young and at six was spotted by the club’s janitor kicking balls around on his own. Ferguson gave him his debut at 16, and no less an authority than Franz Beckenbauer said he was the player who most reminded him of his younger self. Cooper observed that the compliment only went to show that “even Franz Beckenbauer talks some amount of shite”.
Nonetheless, with Neil Simpson Cooper formed a “terrible twosome” that in its heyday terrified with ferocious tackling. The tall, peroxideblond Cooper would sit deep, in front of Willie Miller and Alex Mcleish, allowing Simpson or Gordon Strachan to get forward to help Mark Mcghee and Eric Black.
Motivation was supplied in abundance by Ferguson (then in his mid-thirties) and Archie Knox. When Ferguson spotted Cooper coming out of a flat into which he had just moved, he made him go back and live with his mother. Sir Alex’s clinching argument was: “Tell us how you make soup?” To this, Cooper had no answer.
As Aberdeen and Ferguson made their reputations, Cooper won his first trophy at 18, scoring the fourth goal as Rangers were beaten in the 1982 Scottish Cup Final. He would claim three more victors’ medals, as well as a League Cup and, in 1984 and 1985, Premier League titles.
The Dons’ finest hour came in 1983 when, after defeating Bayern Munich in the quarter-final, Aberdeen reached the Cup Winners’ Cup final in Gothenburg. Thousands of fans who travelled to Sweden by ferry and even by fishing boats saw them beat Real 2-1, with John Hewitt’s headed winner coming in extra time. Subsequently, they defeated European Cup winners Hamburg to claim the Super Cup.
The price, Cooper reflected, was paid by his body. Some 220 matches for Aberdeen left him with permanent knee damage, while he also broke his nose, sternum and ankle, and required a back operation. It was typical of him to have no resentment of this, noting only that he had played when hurt so as not to appear “a jessie”.
Neale James Cooper was born on November 24 1963 in Darjeeling, India. His father Douglas was the manager of a tea plantation, but soon afterwards political unrest forced the family to return to Scotland. Neale arrived at primary school speaking only Hindi. (He told classmates that Darjeeling was a village near Fraserburgh.)
After his father died from a heart attack aged 39, the family were forced to sell the post office-cum-delicatessen they had bought. His mother Shirley went out to work as a teacher, while Neale attended Hazlehead Academy.
Injury blighted his playing days after Aberdeen, which he left in 1986 to join Aston Villa. Two years later, he moved to Rangers as a squad player. (“Wow! You’ve done well out of us,” observed their manager Graeme Souness on seeing Cooper’s elderly Montero.)
He later spent five years with Dunfermline, helping them to promotion in 1996 before joining Ross County as manager. Cooper helped to spark their rise by winning consecutive promotions, then moved to Hartlepool in 2003. He later managed Gillingham and Peterhead before having further stints at Hartlepool and as assistant manager at Ross County. Latterly, he had been a match day host at Pittodrie.
Cooper had suffered a heart attack last year and is believed to have died following a fall.
His marriage ended in divorce and he is survived by a son and two daughters.