Davie Cooper

David Cooper (25 February 1956 – 23 March 1995) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a winger.

Born in Hamilton, Cooper played as a youth for local side Hamilton Avondale, whilst also working as an apprentice printer for the club's owners.

His talents were noticed by numerous top-flight clubs both in Scotland and England.

David Cooper was born in Hamilton, Scotland, on 25 February 1956 to John (1918–1998) and Jean Cooper (née Pollock) (1926–2012).

His father was employed as a steel worker at the nearby Lanarkshire Steel Works, while his mother worked as a barmaid at the Lariat Hostelry in Hamilton.

Along with his elder brother John, Cooper was a Rangers supporter in his youth and regularly attended matches at Ibrox with his father, later travelling by himself on local supporters buses to Glasgow.

He initially attended Beckford Street Primary in Hamilton before moving on to Udston Primary.

Cooper was soon made captain of the Udston primary team and played as an inside forward (roughly equivalent to a modern-day deep-lying striker).

As an Udston Primary player, Cooper and his team won the Shinwell Cup youth tournament, beating Low Waters Primary 4–2 in the final at Douglas Park, the former home of Hamilton Academical.

Following his primary education, Cooper attended St. John's Grammar School (now Hamilton Grammar School).

Initially, Cooper was dissatisfied with his new surroundings, especially due to St John's failure to organise a school football team until his third year.

Bill and Rose MacKenzie, who were friends of Cooper's parents, decided to set up a new youth football team called Udston United.

Cooper became one of the club's first players and, when not training or playing matches, helped promote the new club in the local community.

Davie's older brother John, who was sixteen at the time, travelled to England for a trial period with Hull City.

John found his spell there particularly difficult and struggled with homesickness and the tough-tackling defenders who were prevalent at the time.

John returned to Scotland after two years and joined Larkhall Thistle.

Cooper himself later moved on to Hamilton Avondale, a local youth team founded by brothers Alan and Stuart Noble, the owners of the Avondale Works.

He began with the under–16 team, before progressing to the under–18 team.

His first International recognition came when he was selected to represent Scotland's Amateur League side and played against the youth squads of England, Northern Ireland and Wales.

During this time he was also working as an apprentice printer at the Noble's Office at Hamilton Avondale.

Rangers, Motherwell, Clyde and Clydebank, together with English sides Coventry City and Crystal Palace, all expressed an interest in signing Cooper.

Davie's apprenticeship as a printer with the Noble family at their Almada Street offices came to an end when he reached 18.

By that point, Cooper had almost no involvement in football activities outside of his work.

Stuart Noble, one of the owners of Hamilton Avondale, contacted Clydebank director Jack Steedman, who quickly appeared in his car outside the Avondale offices with the hope of convincing Cooper to join the club.

Cooper chose to sign for Scottish Second Division side Clydebank in 1974, beginning his career as a professional footballer.

Steedman (who was well aware of Cooper's capabilities) signed the youngster on 16 May 1974.

Years later, Steedman admitted: "I raided the Bankies' club safe and took the silver from the gaming machines in the social club and transferred it into pound notes. I took £300 worth of beer-stained notes, drove to the printing works in Hamilton where he worked and convinced him to sign for the club. In forty years of football, it was the best thing I ever did."

At this point, under the management of Bill Munro, Clydebank were an ambitious outfit with players such as Jimmy Lumsden, Gregor Abel, Jim Fallon and Peter Kane in their ranks, albeit with limited training facilities and an ash training pitch.

When describing Cooper's first spell with Clydebank, Fallon stated: "It definitely toughened him up, because these were the days where defenders were allowed to tackle really hard and you had to be a resilient character to keep charging down the wing in these circumstances."

Cooper continued to show potential at Clydebank, finishing as the club's top scorer in his second full season at Kilbowie Park and helping the club achieve successive league promotions in 1975–76 and 1976–77.

Cooper signed for Rangers in June 1977 for a fee of £100,000 at the age of 21.

The next 12 years would see him become a Rangers stalwart, playing 540 games and winning numerous trophies with the Ibrox club, including the Scottish Premier Division in 1977–78, 1986–87 and 1988–89.

Cooper also represented the Scotland national team from 1979 to 1990, in which he was capped 22 times and scored 6 goals.

During this time, he represented Scotland at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, making two appearances at the tournament.

In his later career, Cooper returned to Clydebank in the capacity of a player/assistant coach.

In August 1989, Tommy McLean signed Cooper for Motherwell for a fee of £50,000.

He played over 150 times for the Steelmen and was part of the team that won the 1991 Scottish Cup Final against Dundee United.

He intended to retire as a player at the end of the 1995 season, however on 22 March 1995 he suffered a subarachnoid haemorrhage at Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld whilst filming Shoot, a youth coaching television programme.

He died the following day at the age of 39.

An inductee of the Scottish Football Hall of Fame, Cooper is regarded by many as having been one of Scottish football's greatest talents.