Neale Cooper ......

[Davey B]

Don't know whether he was a hero to you guys or not, but your ex-player Neale Cooper has just taken over up here at Hartlepool!  I like Hartlepool, hope he does a good job!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16347508.stm

[john e]

yeah,
 big hero of mine, remember him playing many many times

[Astral Weeks]

I actually did see him play, once. I guess that puts me in a small, select group.

[bertlambshank]

He was warming up in front of the Trinity and he was grunting.
A big old unit.

[berneboy]

It's his second time there as manager.

[nigel]

Wasn't he bought by Graham Turner but spent ages injured?
I never saw him play, I know he was supposed to be good but, apparently, never fulfilled his potential due to injuries.

[Damo70]

If I remember right he did a decent job there last time around and it was a bit of a mystery why he left/lost his job. Don't know if you can confirm or contradict that Davey? I did see Neale Cooper play for the Villa towards the end of the relegation season and a bit at the start of the promotion season but all I can think of when I hear is name is a story my former boss told me about twenty years ago. She was a bit of a Liberty's nightclub groupie back in the eighties. She 'knew' Tony Godden and Alan McInally particularly well. She went out with Neale Cooper for a short while but the relationship ended due to him liking a drink a bit too much and his problem with wetting the bed afterwards. (Allegedly).

[dave.woodhall]

When he was fit he was mental. He went into a 50/50 with Stuart Pearce in front of the old Witton Lane stand and wasn't the second of them to get up, not by a long way.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Big larger than life character.

I did work at his house off Penns Lane a couple of times. I remember every other sentence would be interspersed with the phrase `TOP MAN !`bellowed loudly and enthusiastically in a broad Scottish accent.

I just checked to see what part of Scotland he was born and brought up in, his birthplace was actually Darjeeling in India.

[Davey B]

If I remember right he did a decent job there last time around and it was a bit of a mystery why he left/lost his job. Don't know if you can confirm or contradict that Davey? I did see Neale Cooper play for the Villa towards the end of the relegation season and a bit at the start of the promotion season but all I can think of when I hear is name is a story my former boss told me about twenty years ago. She was a bit of a Liberty's nightclub groupie back in the eighties. She 'knew' Tony Godden and Alan McInally particularly well. She went out with Neale Cooper for a short while but the relationship ended due to him liking a drink a bit too much and his problem with wetting the bed afterwards. (Allegedly).

Aye Damo, he done really well, particularly with the financial constraints there. He got them to the play offs, which was a big thing at the time, and was going well the season after if i remember rightly. I think he left of his own accord, don't know if it was for another job or not! But, he definately done well the last time he was there. Would love to see them get up to the Championship! 

[jimmygreen]

When he was fit he was mental. He went into a 50/50 with Stuart Pearce in front of the old Witton Lane stand and wasn't the second of them to get up, not by a long way.

I remember that - you could hear the whack at the bottom of the Holte. He signed an autograph for us once through the fence outside the Trinity / North. He liked a bit of aftershave did Neale. He also scored on the ice rink against Chelsea in the FA Cup 3rd round that year. I think Steve Hunt got the other in a 2 - 2 draw. I could be wrong but those two events represent his major contributions in a Villa shirt.

I thought he was ace.

[Oscar Arce]

I remember him well, signed from Aberdeen wasn't he ? With a big blond curly perm believe it or not, his tackling was indeed robust to say the least but my abiding memory of him is that actually he was crap.

[Dave Clark Five]

I remember going to a friendly at Celtic. Their fans were giving Cooper loads of stick. I asked one of them what their issue was with him. He told me that Neale Cooper was the dirtiest player in Scotland.
Just the man we wanted, I thought. The trouble was that he was dogged with injuries and we didn't see the best (or should it be worst?) of him.

[barrysleftfoot]

  Don't recall seeing him play tbh, how many games did he play for us.


  Was'nt the reason for the hatred between Aberdeen and Rangers started because of him "doing" Durrant?

[Gareth]

Sure that was the right back Neil Simpson but I might be wrong

Spent the summer we signed Cooper being him in kicks outs...never to be heard of again :-)