Is Terry Cooper Unique?

[Gillies Downs Leeds]

Happy days, Forbes Phillipson-Masters tightening the defence, Alan Crawford, Glyn Riley, Walshy, Pritchard, Trevor Morgan Bobby Hutchison to name but a few. JohnPalmer! Some great times, TC always seemed in tune with the fans, and the football was never dull. Definitely my favourite times watching City, after '82 expectations were low, success was appreciated, and Wembley in '86 was just a fantastic day out, and a great reward for those of us who stayed loyal throughout the 'Gory Years'.

When Cooper left, his time was up. His buys were a bit erratic, and the side needed someone who could tighten the defence in order to progress. His contribution to City should never be forgotten, and I will always be grateful to him for signing Walshy, my favourite City player of all time. The Walshy shuffle, so predictable, yet defenders always fell for it. Happy days indeed.

Yeah what a signing Walshy was. Signed from Darlington after TC took them to a tribunal. Darlington wanted £125,000 but the quote at the time from TC was "I only want to sign one player not the whole team" and we got him for £18,000. Quality manager.

[bristolcitysweden]

I'm sure you all remember Beryl Fudge my first contact at the club.

RIP

[BrizzleRed]

TC has left us with some fantastic memories and he was the perfect manager for us at that time, because we had no money and he had an eye for free transfer bargains and managed to gel them together as a unit and build a great team spirit. Strange thing was, even though he was a great defender himself, we weren't the strongest in defence, but great going forward.

Something that sticks in my memory was that City could go one, or even two goals down and you'd still feel we had a good chance of getting something from the game, as we always had goals in us. At our peak under TC, we used to literally batter teams at AG and we had a goal difference we couldn't even dream of these days. Lower league I know, but I used to absolutely love going to football in those days.

[Danny P]

[quote

name='red badger' date='04 February 2010 - 09:05 PM' timestamp='1265317538' post='1192663']

I'm a huge fan. Once wrote to him after we'd played brilliantly against the odds in some match and he sent me a handwritten reply explaining that he'd put my note on the board and asked the players to read it. We were a struggling and much smaller club in those days but it was a class gesture. TC was arguably the best full back in the world in his day. And on his day he played players 20 years his junior off the park.

Absolute legend manager when my dad first took me down in the east end wembley twice stevie neville alan walsh and glyn riley never have a word said against him true city legend end of!

In my younger days I wrote a homage to him in When Saturday Comes....And the Freight Rover win against Hereford, the promotion at Chester and "one nil down, two one up, we knocked Rovers out the cup"...are three of my better City moments.

A truly great man.

[red badger]

I'm sure you all remember Beryl Fudge my first contact at the club.

RIP

A great lady who really cared about the welfare of the fans and kept the spirit of the club alive through some very hard times.

RIP indeed.

[Flaxbourton Red]

and he lived in flax bourton

[Redtilldead]

Terry Cooper was in my opinion our top manager, he was the type of manager who made me look forward to Saturdays and Tuesdays down the gate,

the football was so exciting to watch, and I will never forget he gave me my first visit to Wembley and gave us a 3-0 win to boot !!!!

A lovely man,

Thankyou Terry C !!!

[Nogbad the Bad]

Off topic but my first City game was Swindon (h) on the 5th of May 84 and we celebrated promotion on the pitch thank's to Pritchard.

People say Chester though? Mathematically??

Promotion was clinched at Chester Tommy.

There were 3,000 of us at Sealand Road in a crowd of 3,900 so the City fans outnumbered the home fans by more than 3 to 1.

Trevor Morgan scored on 32 mins, Zelem equalised for Chester in the 81st, and Morgan clinched promotion with his second in the 87th minute.

A few snippets from my copy of the EP Promotion Special of May 8th 1984:

"A deafening roar and a sea of Red and White scarves greeted City's triumphant return to the 3rd division on a day when players and supporters were a credit to the club."

"As manager Terry Cooper conducted frenzied chants of "Going up" from the front of the Sealand Road stand, jubilant fans heralded a new era at Ashton Gate."

"No other team in the 4th division could have attracted the 3,000 following who created a carnival atmosphere at Chester and made defeat in a crunch promotion game inconceivable."

"All the financial problems, internal wrangles and disappointing results of the past 5 seasons were forgotten as success-starved fans mobbed their heroes at the final whistle."

"Alan Crawford lost his shirt in the battle to reach the players' tunnel, Glyn Riley was raised shoulder high and Tom Ritchie found himself buried in a heap of bodies offering congratulations."

"The volume of noise seemed to shake the ground to it's foundations, especially when the irrepressible Cooper appeared in the stand with his victorious team to lead the singing."

"It matched the night in 1976 when City were promoted to the First Division. The achievement may not be comparable but the emotion felt by fans, who two years ago feared they may no longer have a club to support created scenes to remember."

And so it goes on.................

Trevor Morgan said, "The feeling when the ball hit the net was unbelievable. I won promotion with Bournemouth but it was nothing like this. We never attracted that number of fans for home games."

Tom Ritchie:"The supporters were unbelievable. It was a terrific atmosphere and I never thought we were in danger of losing."

Forbes Phillipson-Masters: " It was the best moment of my life."

Kenny Stroud:"I have waited a long time to play in a promotion side and it feels fantastic. The manager has been brilliant in keeping the pressure off us and he deserves alot of credit."

Chairman Des Williams:"I got a bit tense when Chester scored but the feeling at the end was ecstasy. The only achievement left for us is to gain 4 stars in the EP Match Facts."

Last word to Terry Cooper:"It's a marvellous day for Bristol City. The team played superbly and the fans were immaculate."

City's promotion-clinching team at Chester: Shaw, Stevens,Phillipson-Masters,Halliday,Newman, Pritchard,Stroud, Ritchie,Crawford, Riley,Morgan. Sub. Cooper

[bristolcitysweden]

Why the **** did I go home after Swindon then??

School probably

[Red]

Terry Cooper was in my opinion our top manager, he was the type of manager who made me look forward to Saturdays and Tuesdays down the gate,

the football was so exciting to watch, and I will never forget he gave me my first visit to Wembley and gave us a 3-0 win to boot !!!!

A lovely man,

Thankyou Terry C !!!

I saw both sides of Mr Cooper and both were unique, as a manager the best, as a man the best.

I was there with the fall & rise with City.

My memory of the man, was after i was given a letter of a life ban from Ashton Gate, after getting nicked at the riot at Readings old ground.

I had a meeting with Mr Cooper & Mr Kew (chairman) at the Gate on the next match day. I explained why i got nicked.

Mr Cooper gave me a lecture, smiled, then offered to let me in the ground to watch the game for nothing, but i walked back out and paid.

"Yes" a truly great manager & lovely man.

[bristolcitysweden]

Anyway; not just any get home with one red and one white eye

Celebrated on the boat and it was rough sea for a day + 8 hour bus trip..

Bed time in Sweden

Cheers

Tommy

[Mr Mosquito]

Last word to Terry Cooper:"It's a marvellous day for Bristol City. The team played superbly and the fans were immaculate."

City's promotion-clinching team at Chester: Shaw, Stevens,Phillipson-Masters,Halliday,Newman, Pritchard,Stroud, Ritchie,Crawford, Riley,Morgan. Sub. Cooper

In that promotion winning team and on the subs bench there were 4 ex top flight BCFC footballers: John Shaw, Tom Ritchie, Howard Pritchard and Super Cooper himself.

[leadman]

the come back, didnt we beat the top 4 home and away in our first year in div 4, i remember trouncing bpool at bloomfield 4-1.

i also remember him coming on the terrace at reading, couldnt ear him though, coop coop cooperman ringing out.

[ralphindevon]

Promotion was clinched at Chester Tommy.

There were 3,000 of us at Sealand Road in a crowd of 3,900 so the City fans outnumbered the home fans by more than 3 to 1.

Trevor Morgan scored on 32 mins, Zelem equalised for Chester in the 81st, and Morgan clinched promotion with his second in the 87th minute.

A few snippets from my copy of the EP Promotion Special of May 8th 1984:

"A deafening roar and a sea of Red and White scarves greeted City's triumphant return to the 3rd division on a day when players and supporters were a credit to the club."

"As manager Terry Cooper conducted frenzied chants of "Going up" from the front of the Sealand Road stand, jubilant fans heralded a new era at Ashton Gate."

"No other team in the 4th division could have attracted the 3,000 following who created a carnival atmosphere at Chester and made defeat in a crunch promotion game inconceivable."

"All the financial problems, internal wrangles and disappointing results of the past 5 seasons were forgotten as success-starved fans mobbed their heroes at the final whistle."

"Alan Crawford lost his shirt in the battle to reach the players' tunnel, Glyn Riley was raised shoulder high and Tom Ritchie found himself buried in a heap of bodies offering congratulations."

"The volume of noise seemed to shake the ground to it's foundations, especially when the irrepressible Cooper appeared in the stand with his victorious team to lead the singing."

"It matched the night in 1976 when City were promoted to the First Division. The achievement may not be comparable but the emotion felt by fans, who two years ago feared they may no longer have a club to support created scenes to remember."

And so it goes on.................

Trevor Morgan said, "The feeling when the ball hit the net was unbelievable. I won promotion with Bournemouth but it was nothing like this. We never attracted that number of fans for home games."

Tom Ritchie:"The supporters were unbelievable. It was a terrific atmosphere and I never thought we were in danger of losing."

Forbes Phillipson-Masters: " It was the best moment of my life."

Kenny Stroud:"I have waited a long time to play in a promotion side and it feels fantastic. The manager has been brilliant in keeping the pressure off us and he deserves alot of credit."

Chairman Des Williams:"I got a bit tense when Chester scored but the feeling at the end was ecstasy. The only achievement left for us is to gain 4 stars in the EP Match Facts."

Last word to Terry Cooper:"It's a marvellous day for Bristol City. The team played superbly and the fans were immaculate."

City's promotion-clinching team at Chester: Shaw, Stevens,Phillipson-Masters,Halliday,Newman, Pritchard,Stroud, Ritchie,Crawford, Riley,Morgan. Sub. Cooper

That was some day, I remember TC being held aloft in the stand with a 10 meter drop below him, he looked down with utter fear on his face and demanded to be put down before disaster struck.

It was a regular occurence for City to have a major slice of the attendance at away games, taking over town centres like Torquay and even pinching a boat from the harbour on one occasion.

[Hanhamreds]

TC has left us with some fantastic memories and he was the perfect manager for us at that time, because we had no money and he had an eye for free transfer bargains and managed to gel them together as a unit and build a great team spirit. Strange thing was, even though he was a great defender himself, we weren't the strongest in defence, but great going forward.

Something that sticks in my memory was that City could go one, or even two goals down and you'd still feel we had a good chance of getting something from the game, as we always had goals in us. At our peak under TC, we used to literally batter teams at AG and we had a goal difference we couldn't even dream of these days. Lower league I know, but I used to absolutely love going to football in those days.

you mentioned battering teams at AG, I think in the end it was our away form which cost him his job, if i remember correctly.

They were great times though and the next season or so under Joe with Super Bob.

as has already been mentioned I cannot believe full backs would fall every time for the Walshy shuffle.

[Mr Mosquito]

you mentioned battering teams at AG, I think in the end it was our away form which cost him his job, if i remember correctly.

They were great times though and the next season or so under Joe with Super Bob.

as has already been mentioned I cannot believe full backs would fall every time for the Walshy shuffle.

Well, Terry Cooper was a full back and he fell for the 'Walshy shuffle' and promptly signed Walshy up to the Bristol City FC cause.

[SuperDziek]

What a great thread.

Having been born in 79, I was too young to witness the Division 1 promotion and subsequent fall from grace. Started going reasonably regularly in about 86. And earliest memory (my memory is shocking!) is an Alan Walsh hat-trick in a home game against, I think, Darlington.

Great times though. Still have a birthday card from super Stevie Neville at home somewhere. One of the perks of being in the Junior Reds!

Did TC sign Gordon Owen though? Although I wont allow that to tarnish my memory of him!

[Red_Alligator]

Very rarely I contribute to the forum, but just HAD to on this one.

TC what a man!

I'll never forget that day at Sealand Road in Chester - we took the place over and so many wounds were healed on that afternoon.

The Freight Rover semi when "time stood still" for Stevie Neville's winner and then on to the (glorious!) final - priceless.

I too stood at the Muller Road end for the famous 2-1 cup victory - and will never forget going into school (on Muller Road!!) the following Monday - sweet, sweet, sweet!!! Thank you TC - it's been a long, long time but we will never forget what you did for our football club!

[City Rocker]

Wow, reading that EP report on the Chester game just gave me goosebumps!

That moment when Terry Cooper and the lads emerged up in the stand to salute us all down on Chester's pitch is one I'll never forget. After what we had been through over the previous few seasons, all the emotions became a little crazed at the time and it remains the one and only occasion I've ever cried at a football match (although I'm not gay or owt ).

Good times. Good thread.

[Fodbarmyarmy]

Wow, reading that EP report on the Chester game just gave me goosebumps!

That moment when Terry Cooper and the lads emerged up in the stand to salute us all down on Chester's pitch is one I'll never forget. After what we had been through over the previous few seasons, all the emotions became a little crazed at the time and it remains the one and only occasion I've ever cried at a football match (although I'm not gay or owt ).

Good times. Good thread.

Believe me you were not the only blubber that afternoon my friend!

I recall walking through the town centre trying to find a pub that was open (they knew we were 3k+) and suddenly we could hear the singing from the one place that was open......and of course rammed

I actually took a gash friend of mine to that match - he had just split with his missus so was a tad upset to say the least - At the end of the game we all stormed the pitch (gert big fences to get over in those days) and partied on! - boy did he let it all out........he went mental in celebration and could not thank me enough on the journey back..........next season he gave up watchin the gash...just could not get that Chester feeling again he told me!

Good times indeed

[Fodbarmyarmy]

Wow, reading that EP report on the Chester game just gave me goosebumps!

That moment when Terry Cooper and the lads emerged up in the stand to salute us all down on Chester's pitch is one I'll never forget. After what we had been through over the previous few seasons, all the emotions became a little crazed at the time and it remains the one and only occasion I've ever cried at a football match (although I'm not gay or owt ).

Good times. Good thread.