To start of our profile of all of the Rangers Hall Of Fame members, we take a look at the late great Davie Cooper.
To start of our profile of all of the Rangers Hall Of Fame members, we take a look at the late great Davie Cooper.
Super Cooper was possibly one of the greatest players to ever play for Rangers. I have so many great memories of going to Ibrox and seeing him play.
I remember Rangers were going through a bit of a baron spell. They hadn’t won the premier league or Scottish Cup for years. Attendances were down as low as 10,000 at Ibrox.
Quite often, the only thing that kept our spirts up was the performance of Super Cooper. Rangers might not have been having much success, but in Cooper we had one of the best entertainers in World football.
The fact that he didn’t win more caps for Scotland than he did is a crime really. Cooper only won 22 caps for Scotland, the first of which came in 1980 in a 1-1 draw with Peru, the last in a 3-1 defeat by Egypt in 1990.
Scotland fans will always remember him for his penalty against Wales in 1985, and goal against Australia in the same year which helped Scotland qualify for 1986 Mexico World Cup.
Rangers fans meanwhile will have many memories of Super Cooper, but one of the best ones would have to be the goal scored against Celtic in the Drybrough Cup Final.
Cooper took the ball on his chest with his back to the goal, then proceeded to beat four defenders while playing keepie uppie, before slipping the ball into the back of the net, a goal which was voted the greatest ever by Rangers fans.
It’s not just Rangers and Scotland who will remember Cooper with fondness though, both Clydebank and Motherwell also had the pleasure of having Coop in their side.
Cooper started off his career with Clydebank (now a Junior side). Cooper starred for the Bankies as they won their way from the Scottish Second Division (the bottom league at the time), to the Premier League in successive seasons.
It was his performances during these seasons (1975/76 – 1976/77) that won him a move to Rangers. Jock Wallace signed him for £100,000, and helped Rangers to a domestic treble that season.
At Motherwell, he starred in the team that lifted the cup in 1991 in a 4-3 thriller against Dundee United. Motherwell’s first major trophy for 39 years.
After four and a half seasons with Motherwell, he wound his career up with his first club Clydebank. His move to Clydebank would also involve a coaching role. Something that he loved doing.
It was during his time at Rangers he will be most remembered for though, well certainly in my eyes. Nicknamed ‘The Moody Blue’, Cooper signed for Rangers in 1977. He won the treble in his first season, the title that year being one of the three he won for Rangers, the others coming in 1986/87 and 1988/89.
Everyone will have their own favourite memories of Super Cooper. For me, well I was too young to remember the Drybrough Cup goal, although I have seen it on video. So for me it has to be the free-kick he scored in the 3-3 League Cup Final against Aberdeen in 1987, a game which Rangers eventually won 5-3 on penalties.
Before Cooper left for Motherwell, he was granted a testimonial against French club Bordeaux. 43000 fans turned up to see it, which was almost a capacity crowd on those days.
He was once asked to describe the highlight of his time at Rangers, he simply responded ‘I played for the team I loved.’
Cooper was taken from us on 22 March 1995, fifteen years ago now. He took ill while recording a coaching film with Charlie Nicholas and a group of kids at Broadwood Stadium. He had suffered a brain haemorrhage, he never recovered.
Thousands upon thousands lined the steets of his hometown in Hillhouse, Hamilton on the day of his funeral. Many fans of Rangers and Celtic layed flowers, scarfs and strips on the gates at Ibrox as the two teams united in grief at the loss of such a great talent.
He was only 39 years old.
Davie Cooper Stats
1974-77 Clydebank (90 apps, 28 goals)
1977-89 Rangers (377 apps, 49 goals)
1989-94 Motherwell (157 apps, 17 goals)
1994-95 Clydebank (21 apps, 1 goal)
*Please note, above stats only includes league appearances and goals.
*Cooper played a total of 561 games for Rangers, scoring 86 goals.
INTERNATIONAL
1980-90 Scotland (22 apps, 6 goals)
Major Honours
Scottish Premier League Champion (3) – 1977/78, 1986/87, 1988/89.
Scottish Second Division (1) – 1975/76.
Scottish Cup (3) – 1978, 1979, 1981, 1991.
League Cup (8) – 1977/78, 1978/79, 1980/81, 1981/82, 1983/84, 1984/85, 1986/87, 1987/88.
Davie Cooper, Drybrough Cup Final 1979
Davie Cooper, League Cup Final 1987