By Alistair Aird
Davie Cooper was a winger who loved to dribble. His left foot was like a magic wand, and he would develop an almost telepathic understanding with the likes of Ian Durrant and Ally McCoist during his time at Rangers. He remains one of the greatest wingmen ever to pull on a Rangers jersey and his career is festooned with moments of magic. Some of them are detailed in this article which pays tribute to Cooper 30 years after he tragically passed away at the age of 39.
Born in Hamilton on 25 February 1956, Davie Cooper shot to prominence with Hamilton Avondale and signed for Clydebank in May 1974. He made his debut against Airdrie in a League Cup sectional tie at Broomfield three months later – he came off the bench to replace Phil McGovern in a 4-0 defeat – and played 50 matches in season 1975/76, scoring 23 goals. Clydebank won the Second Division title and were promoted again when they finished as First Division runners-up behind St Mirren in the season that followed. And it was during that season 1976/77 that Davie Cooper first came to the attention of Rangers.
Rangers, the League Cup holders, drew the Bankies in the quarter finals, and Cooper was excellent over the course of the tie, teasing and tormenting the Rangers defence. The Rangers captain, the redoubtable and resolute John Greig, had a torrid time. Cooper would score the Bankies third goal in the first leg at Ibrox – the match ended 3-3 – and the equaliser in the second leg at Kilbowie. The replay at Ibrox was drawn 0-0 before Rangers edged through in a second replay at Firhill.
Cooper had made his mark, though. After making 138 appearances for Clydebank, he joined Rangers in the summer of 1977 for a fee of £100,000.
Cooper joined a Rangers team that had surrendered all three domestic trophies in season 1976/77 after winning the Treble the previous season. After eventually seeing off Cooper’s Clydebank, Jock Wallace’s side lost 5-1 to Aberdeen in the semi-final of the League Cup, finished as runners-up in the league and lost to Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final.
Cooper brought guile and balance to the Rangers team. His arrival allowed Wallace to play with two wingers – Tommy McLean on the right, Cooper on the left – in what could be either a 4-3-3, 4-2-4 or even 4-2-3-1 formation. With Gordon Smith playing as an attacking midfielder or deep-lying centre forward and Alex MacDonald and Bobby Russell supplementing the attack from midfield, the side played expansive attacking football in a campaign that remains one of the most memorable in the club’s history.
After a ropey start that saw Rangers lose two of their first three league games, Cooper and co motored to the Treble, with Cooper’s wizardry on the wing one of the key components. He only missed one league game – he was left out of the team that drew 1-1 at Easter Road at the end of March – and he scored the opening goal in the League Cup Final too.
But a changing of the managerial guard in the close season on 1978 would eventually stymie Cooper and his influence on the Rangers team. John Greig took over from Wallace after the latter joined Leicester City, and Grieg had a more pragmatic approach than his
predecessor. This meant that Cooper would be used more sparingly, particularly in European matches.
In Greig’s first season – 1978/79 – Cooper was a regular domestically but only made two appearances as Rangers reached the last eight of the European Cup. And as Rangers dived into the doldrums, Cooper featured more infrequently, even in Scotland. For example, in season 1980/81, he only started 17 of the 36 league matches and appeared as a sub three times as Rangers reached the Scottish Cup Final. He came off the bench in the Final against Dundee United too, the match ending 0-0 after Ian Redford missed a late penalty kick.
Alongside Derek Johnstone and John MacDonald, Cooper was restored to the starting XI for the replay and he ran the show. He scored the opening goal, and his curling free kick created the second for Bobby Russell. Cooper’s through ball then released John MacDonald to make it 3-1 before half time. It would be one of many nights when Cooper was unstoppable.
Remarkably, that would be the last time that Rangers lifted the Scottish Cup for 11 years. Inconsistency dogged them in the Premier Division which ruled out any sort of sustained title challenge, and although they reached the Scottish Cup Final in 1982 and 1983, Greig’s side succumbed to Aberdeen on both occasions.
Rangers did win the League Cup in season 1981/82 – Cooper’s curling free kick opened the scoring before Ian Redford chipped Hamish McAlpine to score a later winner – and during that era, Cooper was very much a shining light amongst the gloom. After being in and out the team under John Greig, he was back to the fore when Jock Wallace returned as manager in November 1983, and Cooper’s skills and trickery would be one of the few things that would get the fans excited as the rest of the team struggled.
Cooper would add two further League Cup medals to his collection – wins over Celtic in March 1984 and Dundee United seven months later – but when the winds of change surged through the corridors of Ibrox in April 1986, the impact didn’t just resuscitate Rangers, it elevated Davie Cooper to an even higher plateau too.
The arrival of Graeme Souness transformed him. No longer was he in the minority, Cooper was now playing alongside players in the same world class bracket as him and he thrived. Cooper was absent for the first two league games – he was serving a suspension carried over from the previous season – but featured in each of the 42 that followed as Rangers were crowned champions of Scotland for the first time in nine years. Only Ally McCoist (44), Terry Butcher (43), and Stuart Munro (43) played more often than Cooper in the race for the title.
Cooper was also to the fore earlier in the season when Rangers claimed the first domestic silverware. They faced Celtic in the final of the League Cup, and masterminded by a superb display by Derek Ferguson, the Light Blues won by two goals to one. And it would be Cooper who produced the match-winning moment when he scored the winning goal from the penalty spot.
The match was tied at 1-1 with five minutes to play when Roy Aitken hauled Terry Butcher to the ground as both tried to get on the end of a free-kick from Ferguson. Referee David Syme pointed to the spot and when Cooper stepped up, there was only going to be one outcome. He calmy strode forward and stroked the ball into the net. Pat Bonner, the Celtic goalkeeper, dived in the opposite direction, but even if he had gone the right way, he wouldn’t have saved it such was the unerring accuracy of Cooper’s effort.
But that wasn’t the only touch of Cooper class in season 1986/87.
In August 1986, Rangers faced Celtic at Ibrox. It was Graeme Souness’s first Old Firm league match and it was televised live on TV. With 16 minutes to go, the match was finely balanced at 0-0. Chris Woods launched the ball forward and the ball broke to Cooper. He evaded a challenge and sensing that Ian Durrant was bursting forward from midfield, slipped the most delicious reverse pass into his path with the outside of his left foot. Durrant advanced in on goal, scored and Rangers won 1-0. The vision from Cooper was supreme as was the execution of the pass. Few players at that time could have done what Cooper did.
A few weeks later, Rangers played Ilves Tampere at Ibrox in the UEFA Cup. Six minutes into the second half, Rangers were 2-0 up, Robert Fleck having scored both goals. Cooper picked up the ball just inside the Tampere half and came infield from the left touchline. He proceeded to waltz his way effortlessly through the Finnish defence before laying the ball inside to Fleck to tap in and complete his hat trick. ‘Davie Cooper, brilliant. What a goal!’ were the immortal words uttered by the great Arthur Montford who was commentating on the match for STV.
And then came the piece de resistance on 2 May 1987.
Rangers hadn’t won the league title for nine years but when they went up to Pittodrie for the penultimate match of season 1986/87, a 1-1 draw coupled with a defeat for Celtic at home to Falkirk meant that Graeme Souness had secured the title in his first season. Cooper, who was the only player in the team who had won a league medal with Rangers, played a key role in the goal scored that afternoon. Rangers won a free kick on the left and Cooper’s delivery was pinpoint. Terry Butcher rose to meet it and bulleted a header into the net. Cooper probably took just as much if not more satisfaction out of creating that vital goal than he would have done had he scored it himself.
Those moments were memorable as indeed were the litany of others that were scattered throughout Cooper’s time as a Rangers player. But among them, there are two that stand out and always come to the fore when anyone reflects on Cooper.
The first came in the final of the Drybrough Cup in August 1979. The competition had started in 1971 and brought together the four highest scoring teams from Division One and the four top scoring sides from Division Two. After a brief, five-year hiatus, the tournament returned in 1979 and Rangers reached the final where they faced Celtic at Hampden Park.
Rangers scored three terrific goals that day. John Macdonald scored the first one, while Sandy Jardine ran almost the full length of the pitch to score the second. But Davie Cooper’s goal is the most iconic of them all. Alex MacDonald received the ball on the right wing and
chipped it in to Cooper who was inside the box with his back to goal. He took the ball on his chest, then as it dropped his flicked it into the air with his left foot. That took him away from one challenge, and another flick of the left foot helped him evade a further two challenges and his third took him clear. At that point, Cooper coolly slotted the ball beyond Peter Latchford and into the net. It was later voted the greatest goal in Rangers’ history.
But if that goal was all about graceful movement and silky skill, the other goal that stands out in the Cooper collection was all about raw power. It came in the Final of the League Cup against Aberdeen in October 1987.
Rangers were 1-0 down when they were awarded a free kick on the edge of the penalty area after Willie Miller fouled Ally McCoist. Graham Roberts, captain for the day in the absence of the suspended Terry Butcher, Cooper and Jimmy Nicholl gathered around the ball. Jimmy actually joked that he should be credited with an assist as he told Cooper to ‘hit it’! And boy did he it! He smashed the ball into the top corner with his left foot. It was a proverbial howitzer that the beaten Aberdeen goalkeeper, Jim Leighton, would later claim he almost got his hand to. ‘Aye, on the way back out,’ was the humorous retort from Cooper.
Cooper scored a similar goal a couple of year earlier when Rangers faced Hibernian at the semi-final stage of the League Cup. But perhaps because this came in the second leg of a tie that Rangers lost by two goals to one on aggregate, it isn’t recalled or referenced as often as the Aberdeen one.
After Rangers signed Mark Walters in January 1988, Cooper featured less frequently for Rangers, and in the summer of 1989, aged 33, he was transferred to Motherwell who were managed by his former team-mate, Tommy McLean. The transfer fee was a mere £50,000.
During his time at Fir Park, Cooper enjoyed something of an Indian summer. He would make 176 appearances and score 18 goals clad in claret and amber, winning the Scottish Cup in 1991 and getting back into the Scotland team too.
When you consider the number of caps players with a fraction of the talent Cooper have, it is quite remarkable that Davie only won 22 caps for Scotland. Capped for the first time against Peru at Hampden in September 1979, Cooper spent over four years in the international wilderness before he became a regular in dark blue. He played at the World Cup in Mexico in 1986, famously scoring the penalty kick in Cardiff that took Scotland through to a play-off against Australia. Cooper scored in the first leg of that play-off too, one of the six goals he would net for Scotland. In addition to that goal against Wales in Cardiff, Cooper also scored against Luxembourg (2), Yugoslavia and Wales again, the latter coming at Hampden in February 1984 on what was his first appearance for Scotland since October 1979.
Cooper had a second stint at Clydebank after he left Motherwell, making the last of the 50 appearances of that spell on 7 February 1995 against Hearts in a Scottish Cup Third Round replay at Tynecastle. Tragically, just over a month later, Davie Cooper was dead.
On 22 March, Cooper was coaching kids as part of an STV series called ‘Shoot’ when he collapsed. He was rushed to hospital where it was discovered he had suffered a brain
haemorrhage. His family were told his chances of survival were slim. His life support system was turned off at 10am the following morning.
The show had seen Cooper cast in a new light. He was thoroughly enjoying coaching the kids and there was no doubt he would have given something back to the game in a coaching capacity whether that would have been at youth or senior level. And who better to learn from than someone with the ability that Davie Cooper had.
The gates at Ibrox were adorned with tributes, not just from Rangers supporters but supporters of other clubs too. It was the same at Fir Park where tributes were laid on the pitch. Davie Cooper transcended the divisions and rivalries that exist in Scottish Football because he was such a humble, down to earth guy that simply loved to play football.
Was Cooper in that world-class bracket? The answer to that must be ‘yes’. If you speak to any of his team mates, almost all of them single out Cooper as the best they have played with. When you consider that among them are the likes of Graeme Souness, Terry Butcher, Richard Gough and Ally McCoist and the calibre of player they played both with and against, that sums up the esteem in which Cooper was held.
On his day, Cooper would have graced any of the leading teams in England, Spain and Italy. Indeed, Ruud Gullit, who had played in a challenge match for Feyenoord against Rangers in January 1984, regarded Cooper as one of the greatest players he had ever seen.
Davie Cooper made 649 appearances for Rangers. He won 13 major honours, three league titles, three Scottish Cups and seven Scottish League Cups. A wizard on the wing, he is simply one of the finest players ever to pull on a Rangers jersey.
