Terence John Cooke (born 5 August 1976) is an English former 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 ...

and youth team coach of the

Denver Kickers Denver Kickers are an American soccer club, founded in 1956. The club fields a number of teams at the adult and youth levels. The Kickers premier team plays in the United States Adult Soccer Association sanctioned Colorado Adult Soccer Associati ...

. As a player he was a

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 ...

from 1994 to 2011. Born in

Marston Green Marston Green is a large suburban village of around 5,000 residents in the civil parish of Bickenhill and Marston Green, in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands. It lies within the historic counties o ...

, he began his career with Manchester United, but struggled to break into the first team and had loan spells with Sunderland,

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

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

before moving to United's local rivals Manchester City in 1999. He also failed to make an impact at City and again went on loan to

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

and

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

. The loan to Grimsby became permanent in 2002, but he only remained there for a year before rejoining Sheffield Wednesday for a season. In 2005, Cooke's career took him out of England for the first time as he joined Major League Soccer's

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, lat ...

. In four years with the team, he made more than 100 appearances, but he was deemed to be surplus to requirements at the end of the 2009 MLS season and released from his contract. As a free agent, he was picked up by Australian side

North Queensland Fury Northern Fury Football Club was an Australian professional soccer club based in Townsville, Queensland. The club was founded in 2008 and competed in the A-League under the name North Queensland Fury. On 1 March 2011, the club was removed from ...

, and 2010–2011 he played for Gabala of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

. Cooke also made four appearances for the England under-21 side.

Club career

Manchester United

Cooke grew up as a Birmingham City supporter, and came up through the youth system of Manchester United and scored the penalty that clinched the FA Youth Cup in 1995, but only appeared in eight first team matches with the club. He made his debut in a

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

match against Bolton Wanderers in September 1995, and provided the cross for a Ryan Giggs goal, and found himself being tipped for a bright future. He then scored in the second leg of United's

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 ...

aggregate defeat to

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

Bootham Crescent Bootham Crescent in York, England, was the home of York City football club and York City Knights rugby league club. With a capacity of 8,256, it is near the city centre, just over a mile from York railway station. York City leased land at B ...

in early October. However, he only made six more games for the club, his first team opportunities severely limited by the excellence of fellow youngster David Beckham in Cooke's favoured position on the right-hand side of midfield. During his time with Manchester United, he was loaned out to Sunderland,

and Manchester City.

Manchester City

Following his loan spell at

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City F.C. from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest a ...

, Manchester City subsequently bought him for £600,000, potentially rising to £1 million in April 1999. Cooke was part of the City side that earned promotion from Division Two in the 1998–99 season, but lost his place in the team the following season, when City won a second successive promotion to reach the Premier League. While at City, he was loaned out to

(where he scored once against

QPR Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football, football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home ...

) and

Grimsby Town

Grimsby manager Paul Groves managed to make Cooke's switch to Blundell Park a permanent one, following his release from Manchester City at the end of the 2001–2002 season. While on loan, Cooke scored once, against Norwich in three appearances and did enough to earn himself a full-time position at the club. Cooke was a reasonable success with The Mariners, though his time with the club was overshadowed by an eventual off-field feud with his manager. Also the signing of former Grimsby hero

John Oster John Morgan Oster (born 8 December 1978) is a football coach and former professional player who played as a midfielder. Oster was a product of the youth team at Grimsby Town where he was added to the first team squad in 1994, however he didn't ...

from Sunderland on loan had caused Cooke to lose his place in the team, as Oster successfully made the spot on the right wing his, despite the fact Cooke's overall performances beforehand made him one of the more impressive players in a struggling team. After making his move permanent he scored once, his strike coming against Burnley in the FA Cup. Cooke often found himself left out on the substitutes' bench, or not included in the 16-man selection at all, this despite vocal protests from supporters during the games. Grimsby were eventually relegated from the First Division, and at the end of the 2002–03 season, Cooke was amongst the number of players who left the club.

Sheffield Wednesday

It was Grimsby's relegation rivals

who would benefit from Cooke's departure from Blundell Park. He signed a one-year deal with the club. After playing out the 2003–04 campaign, at the end of which the Owls avoided relegation, Cooke departed the club and emigrated to the United States.

Colorado Rapids

In 2005, Cooke signed with

, and scored two goals and had two assists during his first MLS season. On 1 April 2008, the Rapids beat David Beckham's

Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pla ...

4–0. Cooke captained the team in what was their first game of the season, scored a goal and provided two assists, and was voted MLS Player of the Week. Cooke was waived by Colorado at the end of July 2009 to make room for the signing of Jamie Smith from

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. Remaining in the US, he was invited to trial with Seattle Sounders FC that August. Cooke trained with

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

to regain his fitness, and played in a reserve match against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

, but manager Billy Davies did not offer him a contract.

North Queensland Fury

Cooke arrived in

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

to trial with A-League franchise

as a possible replacement for injured fellow Englishman James Robinson. He was signed by Ian Ferguson on 25 November and made his debut against

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to fil ...

on 28 November. He scored his first goal for the Fury on 13 February against

Gold Coast United Gold Coast United Football Club is an Australian soccer club based in Gold Coast, Queensland. The earliest incarnation of the club formed in 1966 and its home ground was at Nikiforides Family Park in Broadbeach. The first era of Gold Coast Unit ...

, scoring the game-winner in the 83rd minute of a 2–1 victory. After his short-term deal expired Cooke left the Fury as the club fell into administration.

Gabala

Cooke then joined Gabala of

, managed by

Tony Adams Tony Alexander Adams (born 10 October 1966) is an English former football manager and player. Adams played for Arsenal and England, captaining both teams. He spent his entire playing career of 19 years as a centre back at Arsenal, making 672 t ...

. After making 12 appearances in which he scored one goal, Cooke then suffered a serious knee injury which kept him out for the remainder of the season, at the end of which he was released by the club.

International career

Cooke represented England at U16, U18 and U21 levels, but was never capped by the full senior side.

Coaching career

Cooke is now employed as a youth team coach for the

Honours

Manchester United * FA Youth Cup: 1994–95 Manchester City * Football League Second Division play-offs: 1998–99 Individual *

Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year Manchester United Football Club Under-21s is the most senior of Manchester United F.C., Manchester United's youth teams and the club's former reserve team. They play in the Premier League 2, the highest tier of the Professional Development Leag ...

: 1994–95

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Terry 1976 births Living people People from Marston Green English footballers Manchester United F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Colorado Rapids players Northern Fury FC players Gabala FC players England under-21 international footballers English expatriate footballers Premier League players A-League Men players English Football League players Major League Soccer players Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate soccer players in Australia Expatriate footballers in Azerbaijan Association football midfielders English expatriate sportspeople in the United States English expatriate sportspeople in Australia English expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan