Andrew Roy Cooke (born 20 January 1974) is an English former
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...
, who played as a
striker
Striker or The Strikers may refer to:
People
*A participant in a strike action
*A participant in a hunger strike
*Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant
*Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America
People wi ...
for
Newtown,
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...
,
Stoke City
Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...
,
Busan I'Cons (South Korea),
Bradford City
Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes.
Th ...
,
Darlington
Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town.
In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...
and
Shrewsbury Town.
Career
Born in
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
,
Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...
, Cooke was once a trainee at local side
Telford United. He started his footballing career at Welsh semi-professional club
Newtown. He was a prolific goalscorer in the
Welsh Premier League which attracted the attention of several
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
clubs.
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...
signed Cooke in 1995, and he made 172 league appearances and scored 51 goals for them, forging a partnership with
Andy Payton
Andrew Paul Payton (born 23 October 1967) is an English former professional footballer. A striker, Payton played for seven professional clubs in England and Scotland, scoring 200 goals in over 500 appearances, and gaining the nickname the ''Pad ...
.
In December 2000 he joined the club he grew up supporting,
Stoke City
Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...
, for a fee of £300,000. He spent two and a half years at the
Britannia Stadium, making 102 appearances and scoring 23 goals. On 19 July 2003, he moved to
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
n
K-League club
Busan I'Cons, along with fellow countryman
Jamie Cureton
Jamie Cureton (born 28 August 1975) is an English former professional footballer. A striker, he is currently player-manager at Enfield.
He began his career at Norwich City in 1994, and after the club's relegation from the Premier League at the ...
.
On his return to England in January 2005, Cooke signed for
Bradford City
Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes.
Th ...
, playing 37 games and scoring five goals. He had a three-month spell on loan at
Darlington
Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town.
In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...
before signing for
Shrewsbury Town for free on 27 July 2006.
Cooke made his Shrewsbury debut on 26 August 2006 as a half-time substitute for
Kelvin Langmead in a 1–0 defeat at
Bristol Rovers. He started the next match, a 1–0 defeat to
Lincoln City, and in his third match scored a
hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three.
Origin
The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...
in a 3–0 win against
Stockport County.
On 1 January 2007, Cooke scored his 100th professional goal during a 4–2 win over Stockport County. He also scored a hat-trick in that game, giving him the distinction of having achieved this feat both home and away against Stockport County in the
2006–07 season. Having failed to score for three months, Cooke came on as a substitute in the
League Two
The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...
playoff semi-final second leg to score both goals in a 2–1 aggregate victory over
MK Dons
Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...
.
At the end of the season, Cooke was offered a new one-year contract, but warned by manager
Gary Peters that he would not be guaranteed a regular place in the first-team squad. Cooke decided to stay with Shrewsbury Town, and Peters went on to say that it would not surprise him if he ended the season as the team's top goalscorer.
Cooke scored twice in Shrewsbury Town's
2007–08 opening-day victory at
Lincoln City, but sustained a hamstring injury in a
League Cup fixture against
Colchester United three days later. He resumed full training in early December, and his comeback was complete when he returned to first-team action on 26 December 2007. Although he only played the first half against Stockport County, Cooke marked his return with a goal, his seventh in his last three games against that opposition.
On 31 January 2008, Cooke was set to sign a one-and-a-half-year contract with
Notts County, but the deal fell through because of a "late hitch".
On 15 April 2008, Cooke was released by Shrewsbury Town by mutual consent, after being informed his contract would not be renewed. He trained with
Kidderminster Harriers
Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...
, but wanted to continue playing in
the Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
; however, when no club came in for him, he announced his retirement as a player on 28 August 2008.
He came out of retirement in November 2011 to sign for his local club
Market Drayton Town as a Director of Football and also as a player.
Personal life
Cooke grew up supporting
Stoke City
Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...
.
After retiring from playing Cooke began working in the Group Insurance industry.
Career statistics
Source:
References
External links
*
Photos and statsat sporting-heroes.net
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Andy
1974 births
Living people
Footballers from Shrewsbury
Men's association football forwards
English men's footballers
Burnley F.C. players
Stoke City F.C. players
Busan IPark players
Bradford City A.F.C. players
Darlington F.C. players
Shrewsbury Town F.C. players
Cymru Premier players
English Football League players
K League 1 players
English expatriate sportspeople in South Korea
Expatriate men's footballers in South Korea
English expatriate men's footballers
Northern Premier League players
Market Drayton Town F.C. players
Newtown A.F.C. players