Former Ross County manager Neale Cooper backs Staggies to return home with League Cup trophy
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NEALE Cooper still remembers the words Ross County chairman Roy MacGregor told him nearly 20 years ago.
County had slipped to four straight defeats at the beginning of the 1996-97 season and Cooper, just two months in the job, feared his managerial career could be over before it had really begun.
Defeats to Arbroath, Queen’s Park, Montrose and Alloa threatened to kill off any pre-season optimism held by the newly-appointed Cooper as he bid to lift County out of the old Third Division for the first time.
However, a word in the ear from die-hard County fan MacGregor, who continues to back his hometown club with a League Cup Final on the horizon, reassured Cooper that he was heading in the right direction.
“I’ll never forget what he said to me, at a time when I thought my managerial career was finished,” said Cooper, who was in charge for six seasons in Dingwall. “He told me ‘you don’t learn by winning, you learn by losing’. We picked up and ended up near the top of the league.
“As well as being a good businessman, he’s a good friend and a wonderful chairman. He was a massive help to me.”
Cooper was set a target of reaching the First Division within five seasons by MacGregor – he did it in four. He left for Hartlepool United in 2002 and remains a hugely popular figure at the other Victoria Park.
After a second spell with Hartlepool ended in 2012, Cooper returned to Dingwall as assistant manager under then-boss Derek Adams and saw County achieve fifth place in their first season as a top-flight club.
He left at the end of the 2013-14 campaign but has kept a close eye on the club’s fortunes, holding great admiration for the job Jim McIntyre and Billy Dodds have done.
“They are one of the most difficult teams to beat in the league. They play good football, work extremely hard and thoroughly deserve to be where they are,” said Cooper. “What they have achieved this season is phenomenal.
“It will be a hard task to keep doing that but with the backing of the chairman and supporters, why can’t they? They’re now a force in Scottish football.
“It would only have been a dream when I started to get to a cup final – now you could be talking about Ross County playing in Europe.”
There is only one member of the playing staff who remains from Cooper’s time at the Global Energy Stadium and he is someone that the former Aberdeen midfielder has a tremendous amount of time for.
“Boydy is one of the best professionals I’ve come across,” said Cooper. “He’s a wonderful man who’s given so much to County. If he features on Sunday it will be fantastic for him – you won’t meet a nicer guy in football and he’s been a great servant to the club.”
Come Sunday evening, both domestic cups could be held in the Highlands and Aberdeen, where Cooper works for club sponsor Saltire Energy, remain in the thick of the Premiership title race.
A renaissance for north football is something the 52-year-old has seen before.
“It happened in the 80s where the papers were always full of Celtic and Rangers. Along came Aberdeen and Dundee United and took that away,” he said. “You can see similarities to that today. With Aberdeen, Ross County and Caley Thistle major forces in the north, that can only be good for Scottish football.”
Few would expect otherwise but Cooper is whole-heartedly backing the Staggies to end their wait for a major trophy at Hampden Park. He cites Hibernian’s recent form as cause for optimism for County and expects them to get the job done.
“Hibs have had a fairly hard run of late. They were flying before that,” he added. “That comes at a really good time for Ross County and I seriously fancy them to do it. I’ll go 3-1.”
