Charlie Terrence Cooper (born 1 May 1997) is an English professional

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 plays as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, for club

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

. Cooper began his career with

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

, but never played for their first team. He spent time on loan at

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

clubs York City and Forest Green Rovers before joining the latter on a permanent basis in 2017 after their promotion to 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 ...

. In 2018–19, he spent time on loan at League Two club Newport County and Boreham Wood of the National League. Cooper subsequently spent seasons with National League clubs FC Halifax Town, scoring once from 31 appearances,

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

and Wealdstone, before joining Oldham Athletic in 2022.

Life and career

Early life and career

Cooper is the son of former footballer Mark Cooper and grandson of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

international Terry Cooper. He was born in

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...

, County Durham, while his father was a

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

player. The family later moved to the Midlands, where Cooper attended Alderbrook School in

Solihull Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe i ...

. He was noticed by representatives of

when playing in a cup final, and joined their Academy in 2007. He took up a scholarship with the club in July 2013. Interviewed in early 2014, he assessed his strength as passing, and felt he needed to improve his heading. Cooper signed his first professional contract, of two years, in May 2015. According to coach

Steve Spooner Stephen Alan Spooner (born 25 January 1961) is an English footballer who played as a central midfielder. Spooner began his professional career with Derby County but got his breakthrough with Halifax Town, where in the 1982–83 season he was a ...

, "Charlie is like the conductor of the orchestra; he sets the tone. He's learnt how to slow games down and speed games up. His range of passing has improved, as well as his goal scoring. And I think there is more to come from him in that area."

National League football

Cooper joined

club Forest Green Rovers on a month's youth

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

on 23 January 2016. He was an unused substitute for four matches before Birmingham recalled him. He was a member of the Birmingham reserve team that lost the 2016 Birmingham Senior Cup final to

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

champions

Solihull Moors Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the National Leag ...

. On 26 October of the following season, he was loaned to another National League club, this time York City. He went straight into the starting eleven for the next match, at home to Sutton United. According to Dave Flett of the York ''

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'', Cooper "introduced some much-needed forward thrust" to the midfield as the match ended 2–2. He started four more matches, all in the league, before returning to Birmingham after one month. On 9 December, Cooper rejoined Forest Green Roverswho were by that time under his father's managementfor another month. After he made five appearances during the month, Birmingham allowed the loan to be extended to the end of the season. He was a regular starter throughout his loan spell, and helped the club gain promotion to the

for the first time in the club's history.

League football with Forest Green Rovers

Birmingham had confirmed in March that Cooper would be released when his contract expired at the end of the season, and he signed a two-year contract with Forest Green on 15 June 2017. He made his Football League debut on the opening day of the 2017–18 season, in the starting eleven for 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 ...

visit of

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

The New Lawn The New Lawn, also known as The Bolt New Lawn for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire. It has been the home stadium of League One club Forest Green Rovers since 2006. During the 2007–08 season the stadium ...

. He took the corner kick from which

Christian Doidge Christian Rhys Doidge (born 25 August 1992) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays for club Hibernian as a striker. Doidge played in the youth systems of Southampton and Bristol Rovers, but temporarily gave up football and played baske ...

headed Forest Green's first Football League goal, and played the whole of the match, which finished 2–2. Cooper scored his first senior goal on 19 August, contributing Forest Green's third goal with a "speculative strike" as his team came back from 2–0 and 3–1 down to beat

4–3 and record their first win in the Football League. He established himself as a regular in the midfield, until knee damage, diagnosed as hyperextension of his left knee and bruising to the bone, sustained following a tackle in a match against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

in mid-October, kept him out for six weeks. He returned to the side as a second-half substitute in an EFL Trophy match on 5 December, and then resumed his place in the starting eleven. Cooper joined Forest Green's League Two rivals Newport County on 22 June 2018 on loan for the 2018–19 season. He made his Newport debut on the opening day of the season, as a second-half substitute in a 3–0 defeat at

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

. He made 15 appearances in all competitions without scoring before his loan was ended early on 13 December. In mid-March 2019, he went out on loan to National League club Boreham Wood, finishing the season with five appearances.

Return to the National League

Forest Green took up their option to retain Cooper's services for the 2019–20 season, but cancelled his contract by mutual consent in August. He had trained with

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

, but a potential contract fell through after the club was expelled from the EFL. On 12 September 2019, Cooper signed for National League club FC Halifax Town. On 5 September 2020, Cooper agreed to make the switch to fellow National League side,

, on a one-year deal. Cooper made a total of 46 appearances, netting 4 times for the Cards before departing the club at the end of the season. On 11 August 2021, it was announced that Cooper had signed a one-year contract with another National League club, Wealdstone. His debut came a week later, in a 2–1 defeat to his former club, Woking. His first goal for Wealdstone, scored from the edge of the penalty area, proved to be the decider away to King's Lynn Town on 25 September. Cooper scored once more for the club, as a substitute in a 4–2 defeat away to

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

, and made 38 appearances in all competitions before leaving at the end of thee season after talks to extend his contract came to nothing. After a trial, Cooper signed for Oldham Athletic ahead of the 2022–23 season. He left the club in December 2022 when his six-month contract expired. On 14 January 2023, Cooper signed by his father Mark for fellow National League side

on an 18-month contract.

Career statistics

Honours

Forest Green Rovers *

play-offs:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

References

External links

Profile
at the FC Halifax Town website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Charlie 1997 births Living people Footballers from Stockton-on-Tees English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Birmingham City F.C. players Forest Green Rovers F.C. players York City F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Boreham Wood F.C. players FC Halifax Town players Woking F.C. players Wealdstone F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players