around it1s pain for his family but only good memories for the fans who saw
him play.
I never met Davy Cooper, was never even in the same room as him. He never
threw himself at the TV cameras for pre or post match interviews. Yet, as
the tributes he received showed, he was more than just a face in the crowd
of all the players we1ve seen at Ibrox over the years. His talent shone out
and drew an affection all of it1s own - stronger because he never courted
fame. He was something special.
We1ve all got our own favourite memories of Davie Cooper - when I close my
eyes and think of him I see him hunched over a ball looking a defender in
the face, weight shifted over his left foot enticing the defender to commit
himself to the tackle, the shimmy that would take him past about to be
performed, for all the times he did it, for all the times they studied him,
he still suckered them.
Other memories are of him blasting that League Cup final free kick into the
Aberdeen net, of him striding up the pitch after scoring with his little
finger wagging in victory. Although I wasn1t present at the Drybourgh Cup
Final where he scored that wonderful keepy-up goal taking the ball over the
heads of three Celtic defenders that is another treasured memory of the
Coop1s genius. That old grainy amateur film of him doing that one seems to
have come from a different age - happy days.
We should have had another afternoon or two of Coop1s magic to enjoy. When
he announced that he was retiring from football at the end of his last
season plenty of Rangers fans made an effort to get along to Clydebank
games which didn1t clash with Rangers ones to have a last look at Davie in
action.
There are yet more memories of Coop which no video and no camera can
capture - that buzz of expectation which rang around the stadium when he got
the ball and everyone knew he was going to do something special. Of those
days when the catch-phrase amongst the crowd was 3skin him Davie2 as he
inevitably nutmegged or swam past opponents. Of the way he moved the ball
along by running his studs over the top of it. Of the force of tens of
thousands singing 3Davie, Davie, Davie Cooper on the wing2 as he raced
forward.
My own personal favourite memory was of the League Cup semi final 2nd leg
against Dundee United at Ibrox back in 1984 - in the first 20 minutes of the
second half I saw the best individual performance I1ve seen of any player
where I have personally been present. He ripped them apart. At one point
there were three United players on their bums as he jinked and swerved, one
mistimed a tackle and his two pals simply lost their balance trying to work
out what the Coop was up to as he dragged them one way then another. Magic.
There were journalists who wrote 3I cried2 articles about Davie. Some of
them seemed sincere - some were just jumping on a bandwagon. A funeral is a
place for women and children to cry and men to act as men. At the fans
memorial to Davie at the stadium gates and on the route of his funeral
cortege I must admit I felt a lump in my throat. The silence of thousands
standing in tribute mattered more than any words.
Why did Davie Cooper matter so much? It was his talent. He had that
something special - I1m not going to say he was better than Pele, Best or
Law or any of that over-the-top nonsense. Position for position he was in
their league. But more than that.
Davie Cooper chose to stay and fight to help the team he loved when he could
have made more money elsewhere. There was a period of about five seasons
when the Coop1s talents were wasted in a Rangers team which rarely showed
much ambition, yet he stayed - and we never forgot his loyalty. That was
one of the tragedies of Davie Cooper - he played his prime years in a team
where there were few, if any, of the same calibre.
The other tragedy was of course his death at such an early age. In that
death however there was something poignant - he died with his boots on -
filming a training session to pass on his skills to others. There1s never a
good time to die - there1s always things you wish you1d said or done - but
if Davie could have chosen how to go I1m sure he1d have preferred the way he
did.
The Davie Cooper story was filled with great achievements and outrageous
talent - the sadness should not obscure the fact that he achieved what most
can only ever dream of. In his last interview he wrote his own epitaph:-
3I think the Continent may have suited me with the amount of time you get on
the ball.
But I don1t look back - I was a Rangers supporter and I spent the bulk
of my career at the team I loved.
You take your chances - I had a great career - I1ve enjoyed every minute
of it.2
GRANDMASTER SUCK