Summary
IN TELLING the story of his slapstick years as an Aston Villa man, Neale Cooper shows a sharpness of memory that augurs well for the real business of this Thursday afternoon chat. With due respect to the progress Hartlepool have made since he became their manager two seasons ago, the reason we are talking is to relive in glorious detail the magnificence of his beloved Dons 20 years on, almost to the day, from their last title and all the better if he can also recount some of the badness that has helped make the meeting of Aberdeen and Rangers, today's opponents at Pittodrie, such a fruity affair over the years. Cooper, of course, won trophies and created headlines with both clubs but in between there were those two seasons in England. Two seasons of quite amusing ill fortune as it turns out.
Something in the morning paper has reminded him of his brush with the Brummies from 1986-1988, a throwaway mention of Graham Turner, then manager of Villa, who persuaded him to leave Aberdeen and try his luck in England. "First game I played? A pre-season friendly against Celtic at Parkhead. I'm going 'ah no, I've just got away from Roy Aitken' but up we went and I got hammered, absolutely slaughtered. The Villa boys were saying afterwards: 'what the hell did you do to deserve that?' 'Long story', I said."See the full content of this document
Extract
Built From Granite
Cooper's tale of woe began within weeks when he tore his groin. By the time he was fit, Turner had been sacked. By the end of his first season Turner's replacement, Billy McNeill, had also been fired and the club had been relegated by which time he was starting to wonder if he had made a horrible mist...
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