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THE MANAGER'S PAGE |
This is an interview with Nelae Cooper which appeared in The Ross-shire Journal supplement entitled Ross County - It's That Time Again and was conducted by Alasdair Fraser.
Grinning wildly one moment, deadly serious the next, Neale Cooper sits in his office amid the debris of mass ground redevelopment reflecting on how much and how little has changed in his management career.
A double promotion to previously unexplored league heights might have nurtured change beyond recognition at one of Scotland's most northerly senior clubs, but in other respects, nothing has altered since Cooper first set eyes on picturesque Victoria Park.
For one thing, thie manager still gets savagely heckled by the fans behind his dug-out. And on top of that, he still picks up the morning paper to read that his job is "on the line".
Welcome to the wacky world of Scottish football.
Shortly before we meet, one newspaper makes big play on a bookmakers' assessment that Cooper is the second most likely manager to suffer the axe this season.
In truth, people have been predicting Cooper's demise virtually from the moment he arrived in Dingwall four years ago and told the assembled directors he could deliver their dream.
A run of six straight defeats had doom-merchants - and gleeful mischiefmakers - raising their eyebrows knowingly and pointing to the exit door. Two agonising third place finishes in the third Division did little to help.
But it seems that Cooper's achievement since, in hoisting County up two leagues in as many years, has done little to alter the now somewhat bizarre persepthion that he is living on borrowed time.
Cooper himself can shrug it all off, but he betrays a degree of bewilderment and maybe even a little hurt, as he ponders the bookies' prediction: "I was told about that article and I can't relly believe it.
"Sure, I understand perfectly well there were huge pressures on my position last season, given the club's determination to go up.
"But now we've just leapt two leagues and the season has not even started, and people are already saying my days are numbered. I just laugh it off, but I do find it a bit strange that people say and write these things.
"The crazy thing is that I'm sure, in reality, the managers who have spent big money in Division One, the Livingstons and the Ayr Uniteds, they are the ones whose necks are on the line."
This will be Cooper's fifth season in charge and the first where promotion is not demanded by the directors. He will have to adapt from the role of championship chasing coach to that of consolidator, but then too so will the Ross County supporters.
Less, in terms of victories, may mean more in terms of achievement for County this season.
It should be the most challenging, but perhaps least fraught, campaign - one in which a modest finish clear from relegation must be seen as a resounding success considering how far County have risen in a short space of time.
"Last season was a funny season," Cooper reflects, his expression making it clear he does not mean funny, ha-ha!
"People dwelt on the fact we had such a high turnover of players, but that was because a good number of our signings promised much, but were disappointing. People forget that having a large number of players to manage is more difficult than working with a small squad.
"But I knew we needed to improve in certain areas if we were going to get promoted, so I kept looking for the right additions.
"One week we would think that things were turning round for us, then the next we would be kicked in the teeth. But the strange thing was, you would look at the table after a disappointing result and see we were still right there.
"In a way, Ross County were there to be shot down by the other clubs because we came out and declared we wanted promotion straight away in Division Two.
"I never opened my mouth on the subject, but I backed the club in their ambition although, in the end, I think directors admit they put a lot of pressure on me."
It was the way the pressure filtered through to individual players and hampered their performances which led Cooper to holding a rallying cry on the bus to Stranraer.
The stress had been evident ever since the abortive signing of former England, Rangers and AC Milan striker Mark Hateley who proved far from ready for a veteran's return to first team football.
After a difficult winter period, Cooper spoke to the players on the bus travelling south and then in an hotel en-route to Stranraer.
He told them they were playing like they were under pressure when, really, it was he who faced the axe if things went wrong.
Cooper recalls: "I told the boys they only had to go out and show people what they were capable of. I told them they wern't under pressure, just relax and play.
"The next day against Stranraer they went out and won the game superbly."
From there, County went into the final spell of the season and won nine, drew one and lost one, a searing finish which scooped their promotion prize.
Former Stirling Albion team-mates Craig Taggart and Alex Bone arrived and proved the kind of characters capable of further boosting performances and spirits.
It was a great finish to the season and although the effort from the players had always been there, from day one, the new spirit and determination about the team was one of the most pleasing aspects.
This season, Cooper is blissfully free of set targets other than the obvious one of avoiding relegation.
But he insists: "We're not going in there saying hopefully we can stay up. It will be a fantastic new experience, but although we havn't been able to spend a lot of money we are not there to make up the numbers.
"Whoever we are playing are going to know that they have been in a game. For once, the pressure is on the other side, and we won't be sitting back and defending in games."
Cooper is known for his animated touch line behaviour, but that will be curtailed for the first three months of the season after he received a three-month dug-out ban.
"I think they'll have to chain me to the seat in the stand," laughs Cooper. "I was surprised by the length of the ban which came after an altercation with some of the Clyde staff."
The manager betrays as much excitement as anyone else about the looming revival of derby fixtures against Inverness Caledonian Thistle, a club against which he has never had a victory.
"Now I think I have a squad capable of troubling them, but they are a very good, experienced side," he says.
Cooper, these days, strikes you as a more mature but still extremely funny and mischievous character than the fresh-faced footballer's footballer who walked through the gates at Victoria Park four years ago.
He regularly attends board meetings and has impressed directors by gaining a knowledge of all aspects of the club's operations.
In that sense, he is every bit the old-style football manager ar Ross County, and you get the feeling he will be picking a Premier League eleven in the not-too-distant future - and maybe even one from Dingwall.
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