Mike Hooper

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personal information
Mike Hooper
Full name	Michael Dudley Hooper
Date of birth	February 10, 1964 (1964-02-10) (age 44)
Place of birth	Bristol, England
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Youth clubs
	Mangotsfield United
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1983-1985 1985 1985-1993 1990 1993-1995 1995	Bristol City Wrexham Liverpool Leicester City (Loan) Newcastle United Sunderland (Loan)	01 (0) 34 (0) 51 (0) 14 (0) 25 (0) 0 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Mike Hooper (born February 10, 1964), was a goalkeeper for Liverpool, mainly operating as an understudy to Bruce Grobbelaar. He also played for Newcastle, his last professional club.

Born in Bristol, England, Hooper attended Glenfrome Junior School. As goalkeeper for the school team, his towering height proved an imposing sight to the opposition.

Hooper attended Lockleaze Comprehensive School and played as goalkeeper in the same school team as Gary Smart, Gary Penrice and Ian Holloway, who were all roughly the same age.

Hooper received a degree in English Literature at Swansea University before he was signed by Kenny Dalglish in 1985. He was at Anfield for eight years, during which time the club won six major trophies, but his first team opportunities were limited by the presence of Bruce Grobelaar and later David James.

In 1993, Hooper signed for Newcastle United, who had just been promoted to the Premier League. Again, his first team opportunities were restricted, this time by Pavel Srnicek, and he was loaned out to neighbours Sunderland in 1994-95 to gain more first team opportunities. The signing of Shaka Hislop left Hooper with little hope of even a place on the bench during the 1995-96 season, but he remained at the club until the end of his contract in the summer of 1996 and finally left on a free transfer. He never played senior football again.

He is now a doorman at a bar in the City of Durham.