Terence Cooper (12 July 1944 – 31 July 2021) was an English football player and manager. He was a left back in the

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

team of the 1960s and 1970s, and featured for England at the 1970 Mexico World Cup. He later went on to manage both of Bristol's football teams,

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, 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. Sin ...

and was twice manager of

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

Early career

Cooper was born in Brotherton,

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

. He was not discovered as a young player in the conventional manner – he simply turned up at

one day with his

football boots Football boots, called cleats or soccer shoes in North America, are an item of footwear worn when playing association football. Those designed for grass pitches have studs on the outsole to aid grip. From simple and humble beginnings football ...

in a paper bag, asking for a trial. He was granted his wish and impressed enough to be offered an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

contract. Initially a left winger, Cooper was converted to a defensive role by Leeds boss

Don Revie Donald George Revie OBE (10 July 1927 – 26 May 1989) was an England international footballer and manager, best known for his successful spell with Leeds United from 1961 until 1974, which immediately preceded his appointment as England manage ...

on signing at the age of 17. He made gradual progress in the first team over the next six years until Revie decided to make him the permanent No. 3 in 1966. Cooper settled in thereafter earning a reputation as a full back of innovation, showing that the right levels of fitness, skill and an ability to cross the ball meant he could perform a devastating overlap down the left flank to support much feared winger Eddie Gray, this was so successful it became a trademark of Leeds play. He could also 'go inside', joining attacks centrally and scoring some important goals.

1960s

In 1968, Leeds won the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

against Arsenal at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. A poor and occasionally high-tempered match was settled by Cooper's volley after a corner had been half-cleared, although Arsenal claimed their

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

had been fouled by central defender

Jack Charlton John Charlton (8 May 193510 July 2020) was an English footballer and manager who played as a defender. He was part of the England national team that won the 1966 World Cup and managed the Republic of Ireland national team from 1986 to 199 ...

. Cooper subsequently featured in the team which won the

Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecessor to the UEFA Cup (no ...

in the same season. In 1969, Leeds won the League championship with Cooper making his contribution. Revie did not buy a reserve left back but instead used the utility player

Paul Madeley Paul Edward Madeley (20 September 1944 – 23 July 2018) was an English footballer, who played for Leeds United and the England national team. During his career with Leeds, Madeley played in a variety of different playing positions which led to ...

to replace Cooper in the event of injury or suspension. He was given his debut for

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 ...

by Alf Ramsey against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

the same year, and England won 5–0 with Cooper putting on a classy individual showing.

1970s

In the summer of 1970, Cooper gave an excellent series of performances as England's first choice left back at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, which ended with defeat in the quarter-finals to

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. Leeds won the Fairs Cup again in 1971 but missed out on the League on the last day. He seemed set to follow suit the next season as Leeds again chased League and FA Cup honours, but then suffered a broken leg in April 1972 during a League game at Stoke City. Aside from missing that season's FA Cup final victory over Arsenal, Cooper missed a whole 20 months of football due to the complications of the injury. When he did come back, it was with just two appearances in the 1974 season, thereby missing out on a League championship medal – Leeds won it with a 29-match unbeaten start – due to a lack of games. Cooper's Leeds career was effectively over by the time he regained his fitness. The departure of Revie for the England job in 1974 and the emergence over the next season of

Frank Gray Francis Tierney Gray (born 27 October 1954) is a Scottish football manager and former player. He played for Leeds United, Nottingham Forest, Sunderland and Darlington, while he also represented Scotland 32 times. Gray has managed Darlington, ...

, younger brother of Eddie, as well as the continued presence of

Trevor Cherry Trevor John Cherry (23 February 1948 – 29 April 2020) was an English footballer who notably captained both England and Leeds United. A defender, Cherry also played for Huddersfield Town and Bradford City, and managed the latter club. B ...

(who Revie had bought as a central defender in 1972 but had ended up filling in at left back), rendered Cooper surplus to requirements. He left the club in 1975 to join

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

who were managed by former Leeds teammate Charlton.

Later career

After three years with Middlesbrough, playing more than 100 games, he moved on to

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

for two years, before being appointed as player-manager of rivals

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

. After an unsuccessful period there, he subsequently assisted and played for his former Leeds skipper Billy Bremner at

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

. He was then approached to become player-manager at Bristol City following their consecutive relegations from the 1st to 4th divisions. Within two seasons, promotion to the Third Division was achieved with a fourth-place finish in 1983–84. Two years later he led the club to their first Wembley visit, winning the Associate Members' Cup Final against Bolton Wanderers in 1986. His management career also took in a period at the helm of

sandwiched between two spells at

Personal life

Cooper and his wife Rosemary had three children. His son,

Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * F ...

, and grandson, Charlie, also became footballers. Cooper died on 31 July 2021, aged 77.

Honours

As a player

Leeds United * Football League First Division: 1968–69; runners-up 1965–66, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

: runners-up:

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

* Football League Cup:

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Janu ...

* FA Charity Shield:

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

* Inter-Cities Fairs Cup:

, 1971; runners-up

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

As a manager

Bristol City * Football League Fourth Division promotion: 1983–84 * Associate Members' Cup: 1985–86 Exeter City * Football League Fourth Division: 1989–90

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Terry 1944 births 2021 deaths 1970 FIFA World Cup players Birmingham City F.C. managers Bristol City F.C. managers Bristol City F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. managers Bristol Rovers F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players English football managers English footballers England international footballers Exeter City F.C. managers Association football fullbacks Leeds United F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Sportspeople from Knottingley FA Cup Final players Association football scouts Association football coaches