The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Tribute to Cooper as a player and a man
Memories: Former Staggie recalls a ‘proper footballer’ and fun person
manager and was shocked to hear of the Gothenburg Great’s untimely passing at the age of just 54 on Monday.
The fond memories trip off the tongue for former goalkeeper Fraser, who looks back with a smile on his time living nearby to a Scottish football favourite.
He said: “He had me down to Tesco, running errands for him all the time. I did it as well.
“That was when I’d just met my Mrs and she was wondering what was going on.
“I said ‘that’s my assistant manager!’
“We lived in flats on the same street and he’d always have me picking stuff up for him or giving him lifts to training.
“He would pop around all the time. You’d hear the door and there he was – probably bored and just wanted a cup of tea and a chat,” he said.
“He had so many good stories about all the mad stuff he got up to and about Sir Alex Ferguson. He played for Fergie and it doesn’t get much better than that.”
As assistant to Derek Adams, Cooper played a crucial role linking the manager to the dressingroom, frequently taking the “bomb squad” – those players not involved in the starting line-up – for extra training. Most coaches would dread such a task but Cooper knew how to make it fun.
“It wasn’t the best job to be given as the guys probably aren’t in the best frame of mind because they’re not playing. I was in that position a few times. But he was always enthusiastic and you hardly ever saw him in a bad mood,” Fraser said.
“You’re thinking things aren’t going to go well because there’s seven or eight of us that are raging but within a couple of minute, Coops had everyone laughing.
“Not a lot of guys could do that.
“He was a proper footballer in a brilliant team.
“He couldn’t walk through Aberdeen without people recognising him but to speak to him, you wouldn’t know that.
“Sometimes you meet guys who have been successful players and you’re disappointed with the way they behave as a person.
“You could never say that about Neale.”
The County players who worked with Cooper were united in grief on Monday after the news emerged, and Fraser has added sympathy for one in particular. Alex Cooper, Neale’s only son, was a team-mate in that dressing-room and someone Fraser rooted for.
He said: “He’s such a quiet, hard-working guy, You always wanted to see him do well because he deserved it. He’s got his mum and his sisters but I’m hoping he will be OK.”