Kevin Cooper (footballer)

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For other persons named Kevin Cooper, see Kevin Cooper (disambiguation).
Kevin Cooper
Personal information
Date of birth February 8, 1975 (1975-02-08) (age 33)
Place of birth    Derby, England
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Playing position Midfielder / Centre forward
Club information
Current club Chesterfield
Number 23
Youth clubs
1993–1995 Derby County
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1995–1997
1997
1997–2001
2001–2002
2002–2005
2004
2004
2005–2008
2007
2007
2007
2008		 Derby County
→ Stockport County (loan)
Stockport County
Wimbledon
Wolverhampton Wanderers
→ Sunderland (loan)
→ Norwich City (loan)
Cardiff City
→ Yeovil Town (loan)
→ Walsall (loan)
→ Tranmere Rovers (loan)
Chesterfield		 002 00(0)
012 00(3)
155 0(18)
051 0(13)
062 00(9)
001 00(0)
010 00(0)
040 00(2)
004 00(0)
007 00(0)
004 00(0)
001 00(1)   

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of February 10, 2008.
* Appearances (Goals)

Kevin Cooper (born February 8, 1975 in Derby) is an English footballer who plays for Chesterfield in League Two.

[edit] Playing career

Cooper began his career as a trainee at Derby County but managed only five first team appearances for the club in total. His league debut came on May 7, 1995, as a substitute in a 2-1 defeat at Watford. In Spring 1997, he found an opportunity for first team football when he was taken on loan at First Division Stockport County.

The midfielder joined the Edgeley Park club permanently in Summer 1997 for £150,000, where he went on to make 173 appearances in total over almost four seasons. He eventually moved to Wimbledon in March 2001 for £800,000.[1] He stayed a year with the Dons, notching his best seasonal goal tally of 10 during the 2001/02 season. However, he ended the season by being signed by his former Stockport manager Dave Jones, by now at Wolverhampton Wanderers, for £1million in March 2002.[2] He won the fans' player of the year award at Wimbledon and was presented with it on the pitch at Molineux playing for his new team.

He joined Wolves primarily to replace the then-injured Mark Kennedy, and played the remainder of the 2001/02 season as Wolves dropped into the play-offs, where they lost to Norwich City, despite Cooper scoring a spectacular long range goal in the second leg. He then featured regularly throughout the following season as the team won promotion to the Premier League.

Cooper didn't get to enjoy the top flight though, save one substitute appearance against Charlton, the only Premier League appearance of his career. He spent the later half of the season on loan at second tier clubs Sunderland[3] and, later, Norwich City,[4] where he won a championship medal as the Canaries won the division.

He returned to Wolves, post-relegation, and found himself back in the side during the 2004/05 season. However, he requested a transfer for more playing time,[5] and was signed again by Dave Jones in July 2005, newly-appointed at fellow Championship club Cardiff City.[6]

He was a regular player in his first season at Ninian Park but fell out of favour in the following years and was loaned out to Yeovil Town and Walsall during the 2006-07 season and was subsequently placed on the transfer list at the end of the season.

He stayed at Cardiff through the summer but again found himself only in the reserve squad at the start of the year, so he joined League One side Tranmere Rovers on a one-month loan in October 2007.[7] After returning to his parent club, he was given a send-off game against Welshpool Town in the FAW Premier Cup, his first game for over a year for the Bluebirds.

On February 1, 2008, his contract at Cardiff was terminated by mutual consent so that Cooper would have a better chance of finding a new side. He joined Chesterfield until the end of the season on February 8, 2008,[8] and made a goalscoring debut the following day.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Cooper in shock Wimbledon switch", BBC Sport, 15 March 2001. 
  2. ^ "Cooper signs for Wolves", BBC Sport, 27 March 2002. 
  3. ^ "Black Cats sign Cooper", BBC Sport, 4 January 2004. 
  4. ^ "Norwich seal Cooper deal", BBC Sport, 19 March 2004. 
  5. ^ "Wolves grant Cooper move request", BBC Sport, 25 May 2005. 
  6. ^ "Purse heads triple Cardiff swoop", BBC Sport, 26 July 2005. 
  7. ^ "Tranmere recruit Cardiff winger", BBC Sport, 25 October 2007. 
  8. ^ "Spireites swoop for winger Cooper", BBC Sport, 8 February 2008. 

[edit] External links


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