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This is a summary of an interview that appeared in The Daily Record. The reporter is John Reilly.
John Reilly (JR): Which clubs have you played for?
Neale Cooper (NC): I started off at Aberdeen in 1979 before being transferred to Aston Villa. I came back to Scotland to play for Rangers then headed back south to reading. Afterwards, it was Dunfermline and Ross County.
JR: Which clubs have you coached or managed?
NC: None. Ross County is my first managerial post.
JR: Do you have a SFA qualification?
NC: Yes, I passed my full A Badge under Alex Smith around six or seven years ago.
JR: Did you always want to become a manager?
NC: Once I got my coaching certificates I did. I always wanted to put something back into the game.
JR: Alex Ferguson has no doubt been a major influence on your career. What did you learn from him?
NC: Alex was brilliant. Organisation, training ideas and styles of play. Oh, and I also know how to throw cups about. But I can see why he got so angry.
JR: How would you describe yourself as a manager?
NC: I would like to think that I am fair, honest and open-minded. Hopefully, I’m easy to get on with, but I definitely will not be messed about.
JR: Looking back, did you ever imagine as a youngster that you would win so many honours?
NC: No, never. To win so many honours as a youngster was a bonus. It’s only as you get older and look back that you see just what Aberdeen achieved.
JR: Who is the best player you have worked with?
NC: I’d better make that players. Alex McLeish and Willie Miller at Aberdeen. I learned so much from them. I gained a tremendous amount of knowledge from them as a youngster and they were a big help to me.
JR: What’s been your best decision as a manager so far?
NC: That was the Scottish Cup win over Airdrie the other week. We stifled out their main threat and it worked convincingly for us, which enabled us to go on and win.
JR: Are you superstitious?
NC: I can be sometimes. It depends on routines before certain games.
JR: You like to have a laugh and a joke, but who is the funniest player you’ve met?
NC: Again it’s down to two people - Alex McLeish and Ally McCoist for their non-stop original banter.
JR: How disappointing was it not to win promotion last season?
NC: It was very disappointing for myself and the team and also the surrounding area. To lose the first seven games and then come back magnificently only to lose out on goal difference was hard to take. But maybe we weren’t quite ready to take the step up.
JR: How do you relax after you’ve won or lost?
NC: If I can get a baby-sitter then I’ll go out with my wife for a meal. Speaking to other managers, you know that life goes on but if we lose I’m not in the mood to go out.
JR: If you could manage a dream team for one game what would it be?
NC: For me it would be the current Manchester United. They play with lots of style and passion and have a great blend of youth and experience. And of course they are managed by my old gaffer Alex Ferguson.
HMM 21 February 1998
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Neale Cooper was interviewed for CROSSTALK by Alasdair Fraser.
It’s Saturday afternoon, early season. The match has barely kicked off, but things are not going altogether well for Ross County. Two thousand fans are growing restless and a short distance away from Victoria Park’s main stand, an animated figure is barking out orders and gesticulating violently from the dug-out’s technical area.
Back in the stand, a wee lassie with blond, curly locks - curiously reminiscent of some 1980s Dons’ hero - turns to a woman beside her, and says: " Mummy, it’s Daddy. He’s shouting again!"
Neale Cooper knows only too well the toll football management can take on family life, not to mention his own health and sanity.
The men in white coats are not yet waiting to whisk the County manager away, but not so long ago, after just one such over-exertion of the vocal chords, Neale ended up in Raigmore Hospital with a serious throat infection.
And who among the Jail End regulars can forget the rage and exasperation which led to the famous "Bonnet Throwing Incident" (leaving a chastised Neale to plead with a linesman for its retrieval)?
Still for all his touchline antics, Cooper is a quiet soft-spoken and articulate figure off the field.
"Management does take a lot out of you, both mentally and emotionally," he reflects. "There are major responsibilities, pressures and demands on your time.
"Football managers, in general, don’t hear a lot of praise - but we certainly know when things have gone wrong."
He quickly adds, "Football’s always been like that and always will be. But our fans have always treated me brilliantly and I’m not complaining."
While Cooper was forewarned about the personal stresses and strains, he does admit to misgivings about the encroachment football has made into his family life.
"We’re all very much settled here now. But to start with it was a big upheaval. My oldest girl is only eight, and as she has already started school, it was hard for her to adapt. My wife, too, had to leave friends in the south to be with me in a job where I’m hardly home.
"It has been a whole new experience for me, and mostly a very good one, but unfortunately it does affect my family.
My wife has been a great support, though, and Roy McGregor has been terrific. He is always stressing the importance of finding time to be with my family."
Cooper is rarely happier than when working with players, and in particular with youngsters. But with time at a premium, this role has been limited of late.
He admits, "People are always asking for a visit and I would love to be able to do more with the local kids. But Danny McDonald has taken on that role to ease the pressure a bit - and he’s doing a tremendous job."
Few County followers will forget the emotional scenes at Victoria Park at the end of last season. Missing out on promotion on goal difference hurt all the more given the dreadful early season sequence of results.
Perhaps the whole frustrating scenario offers clues as to why Neale is so often vocal on the sidelines?
"I think it does," he agrees. "Last season showed how costly every point dropped can be, so I demand the utmost from the players at all times and their effort in our final handful of games couldn’t be faulted. But management does take a lot out of you though, as my hospital experience showed!
"I believe that we are capable of winning promotion this season and, hopefully, the league.
"With the facilities that we have here - not to mention the ambition of the directors, staff and supporters - County deserve to play at a much higher level.
HMM 21 February 1998
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The following questions were asked by Alasdair Fraser and appeared in the February issue of CROSSTALK.
Alasdair Fraser (AR): Neale, you were born in Darjeeling. Explanation please? (the geography not the biology!)
Neale Cooper (NC): My father - an Aberdonian - emigrated to become a tea planter in India. I never liked admitting to my birthplace at school. I used to say that Darjeeling was a little fishing village just outside Peterhead!
AF: When did you get your first break in football?
NC: I was playing for Aberdeen while still at school. My reserve team debut came at 14 against Dundee. My first team debut came at 16 against Kilmarnock at Pittodrie and the following week I was picked against Celtic at Parkhead.
AF: Your natural, favoured position was centre-half. Given the incredible Miller-McLeish partnership, Alex Ferguson decided to make a midfielder of you. Is it also fair to say he taught you to impose yourself on the opposition?
NC: My father died when I was very young, so Fergie and the football became a surrogate for me. I looked up to Alex and respected him immensely. He certainly made me a more physical player, but Fergie never told any of us to kick the opposition. He just told us to go out to make sure they didn’t play!
AF: What do you think about the alleged over-use and burn-out of young players?
NC: by the age of 20-odd I’d played about 200 games and collected nine winners’ medals. I was incredibly fortunate to be part of such a good team, but we played with injuries we never should have. Fergie has since admitted that. You notice nowadays how he gives his young players at Manchester United every chance to rest. But I know I wouldn’t have missed these games for the world.
AF: Does Fergie ever get in touch?
NC: I was quoted in one paper, not long after I arrived here, as saying he hadn’t answered any of my calls. I didn’t mean it to come across like that. In fact, he did call me back, only the message was not passed on. Since then he’s called back a couple of times out of the blue just for a chat although he’s a very busy man.
AF: How keen are you to complete your come-back for County?
NC: As long as I feel I can make a useful input. I want to stay involved in the playing side.
AF: Finally, when you eventually leave County - hopefully after a long and successful spell - what achievements would you like to be remembered for?
NC: Hopefully, for bringing more local boys into the set-up through our youth policy. For me, success will be getting the first young boy through the new youth team system into the first team. The perfect scenario will be not to have to buy players from down south. And, hopefully, I’ll leave County knowing that we’ve always tried to go out and entertain the fans.
HMM 21 February 1998
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Born: Inverness - 16/8/65
County Debut: Unused sub against Motherwell in 1980 pre-season and then played versus Elgin City.
Other Teams: Bonar Bridge Under 18s, Scotland Under 18s and Elgin City
Career Highlights: Beating Huntly to win the Highland League for the first time in 25 years; Scottish Cup upsets against Alloa and Queen of the South whilst still in the Highland League.
Career Lows: Missing out on promotion on goal difference last season. Injury this season.
Ambitions: To keep playing while I can and be successful with my business.
Billy Ferries - or "Keith" as Radio Scotland still insist on calling him - was overwhelmed by the supporters’ response to his joint testimonial with fellow club favourite Chris Somerville.
But the Ross County winger is determined the match which marked his 15th year at the club will not bring down the curtain on his memorable playing career.
Instead, the County winger will recall the time when he really plummeted the depths .... of a swimming pool.
It was the summer of 1991 and the newly-crowned Highland League Champions were being treated to a holiday in Tenerife.
A joker in the County party decided it would be a real wheeze to chain Billy’s arms and legs and lob him into the resort pool - the bonds were supposed to be loose enough to allow him to wriggle free. But after 20 seconds or so, with no sign of Ferries, emergency action was necessary.
Ferries remembers, "It might sound a bit hilarious, but it wasn’t funny at the time I can tell you! A few of the boys had to dive in and rescue me and, as you might imagine, I wasn’t particularly pleased with the individuals responsible!"
Fortunately for Ferries - not to mention Ross County - he lived to fight for other soccer days. But, on County’s Scottish League election, some critics began to write him off.
"But the one thing I have always thrived on is proving people wrong. At the time, I’d suffered from a serious groin strain and was told that I would never perform at the same level again. I’m hearing the same thing just now with my hamstring trouble - but I’m determined to bounce back again.
"I would like to think that I’ve another three years in the game, although I realise that County may outgrow me with full-time football."
On a serious note, Billy describes the injury trouble as a major career low. Injury also prevented an appearance in the testimonial match against Rangers and though it brought a Paul Gascoigne wage for a day, Billy stresses: "The money wasn’t the important thing. What mattered was the chance for fans to thank me and me to thank them. I play for them more than anyone else.
"It took the shine off the night a little that neither myself or Chris could play because of injury. To me, Chris is one of the finest full-backs ever to play in north football. We always had a great understanding."
He adds, "Because of time off football, my business is the busiest it’s been. But I would happily sacrifice that for Ross County. Neale Cooper has been a great support and has made it clear that he wants me back. I’m determined to repay him for that loyalty."
This article appeared in CROSSTALK.
HMM 21 February 1998
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This article appeared in February’s edition of CROSSTALK.
Five years ago, Frank Escalon was playing football with Hearts’ Stephane Adam and Kilmarnock’s Jerome Veraille at second division French club. At that time the 24-year-old former Brest, Amiens and FC Paris midfielder was aware of the impact that his fellow-countrymen Stephane Mahe and Giles Rousset had made before he joined Ross County,
The single-minded Parisian knows exactly what Scottish football can offer his game - and he stresses he is here, first and foremost, to learn. Escalon is also aware of Scottish football’s shortfalls when it comes to comparison with the highly-technical version espoused in France. Yet he shows a healthy respect, even admiration, for football in this country.
The Frenchman says, "I have been struck by what a good club this is. There is a good gaffer here and a good chairman with ambitions for his team. There is obvious potential at the club and, as I have seen already, the quality of instruction and coaching is excellent.
"I know about Neale Cooper’s own playing career and I hope to pick up a lot of knowledge from him."
Escalon’s route to Dingwall has been a winding one. Already, it has taken him to many French and Scottish clubs with an untimely spell of national service in between.
Duty to his country cost Escalon an offer to top French side Nantes. By the time he completed his stint, the coach who had wanted him had departed. It was then that he decided to pack his bags. In Scotland, he signed a deal with Morton before he and his agent got cold feet over the change in management at Cappielow.
Instead, he spent a month and a half at Berwick Rangers, before jumping at the change of the transfer to Dingwall. The player is honest enough to indicate that his ambitions lie beyond Victoria Park.
Escalon adds, "For me, playing in Scotland is all about experiencing a different kind of football. I want to learn the Scottish language (sic) - which tends to be a little different from the English version(!) - and I believe that I will benefit from playing here.
"Football in Scotland is more physical, more direct and less technical than in France. But I want to develop that part of my game. I can make progress here. One day I will return to play in France, but right now I want to play for County and, maybe, secure a move to the highest level possible in Scotland. I hope, my time here - I have a one-and-a-half year contract - will see Ross County win promotion, before I can play for a big Scottish club."
HMM 28 February 1998
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