James Coppinger

James Coppinger
Personal information
Full name James Coppinger
Date of birth (1981-01-18) 18 January 1981
Place of birth Guisborough, North Yorkshire, England[1]
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Playing position Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Doncaster Rovers
Number 26
Youth career
1997–1998 Darlington
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1998–2002 Newcastle United 1 (0)
1999–2000 → Hartlepool United (loan) 10 (3)
2001 → Queens Park Rangers (loan) 0 (0)
2001–2002 → Hartlepool United (loan) 14 (2)
2002–2004 Exeter City 82 (13)
2004– Doncaster Rovers 423 (42)
2012 → Nottingham Forest (loan) 6 (0)
National team
1997–1998 England U16 2 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:32, 18 December 2015 (UTC).

† Appearances (goals)

James Coppinger "Copps" (born 18 January 1981) is an English professional footballer who currently plays as an attacking midfielder for Doncaster Rovers in League One. He is in his 12th season at the club, and has become one of the handful to reach 400 first class appearances for Doncaster. He is a former England U16 international.

Playing career

Early career

Born in Guisborough near Middlesbrough, Coppinger started his career as a trainee for Darlington in 1998, though he was signed by fellow North-East side Newcastle United before he even made an appearance. He moved to Newcastle in a £500,000 joint deal with 17-year-old with Paul Robinson in March 1998 when Kenny Dalglish was manager.[2] Coppinger struggled to make any impact while coming through the Newcastle ranks, playing just once as a substitute against Tottenham Hotspur in August 2000.[3]

After two loan spells at Hartlepool United and Queens Park Rangers, Coppinger's contract at Newcastle was ended by mutual consent and in July 2002 he moved to Exeter City.[2]

Exeter City

He made his debut at Shrewsbury Town on 10 August, netting his first goal 2 weeks later against Torquay United.[4]

Coppinger admitted in 2015 that when Exeter were relegated, he was very close to quitting football. He said “I had a lot of negative things going on in my life. I had a fear of failing – and also a fear of success. The way I was going and the way I was thinking, before I met Terry [Gormley, a motivational speaker], it was only a matter of time before I came out of football.”[5]

Doncaster Rovers

Coppinger was bought by Doncaster manager Dave Penney for a reported £30,000[6] in May 2004[7] as he looked to strengthen the squad following promotion to League 1. He was a constant feature in the side from the start, though in that first season, he failed to score in his 38 appearances.[8] He scored an average of 5 goals in future seasons, his first goal eventually came on 26 November 2005 in a 2–0 victory over Bristol City at Belle Vue.[8]

He scored a hat-trick, described as, "Three goals of the highest quality." by the TV commentary,[9] in the 2008 Football League One semi-final against Southend United in a 5–1 victory which secured a place in the League One play-off final at Wembley against Leeds United.[10] He was in Doncaster's starting eleven for the final, which Doncaster won, gaining promotion to the Championship. On 14 September 2010, Coppinger scored a hat trick against Norwich in a 3–1 victory.

On 21 July 2011, he signed a new contract at Doncaster keeping him at the Keepmoat till 2014.[11] Doncaster were relegated at the end of the 2011–12 season and needed to off-load players to reduce the wage bill. As a result, he became a subject of interest from several Championship clubs including Barnsley, who he rejected a move to. He apparently had other bids for him, but this is unconfirmed. [12] After a few games, on 31 August, he was loaned to Nottingham Forest till January 2013 where he joined ex-Rovers Simon Gillett and Billy Sharp under his ex-manager, Sean O'Driscoll.[13] Disattisfaction with the lack of games at Forest[14] led him to return to Rovers after the loan spell.[15]

Coming on as substitute in the 2–1 win over Stevenage on 12 January 2012, Coppinger reached the milestone of 300 league appearances for Doncaster, one of only 10 players to do so at the club.[16][17]

On 27 April 2013, in an incredible final match of the season at Griffin Park, Coppinger scored the winning goal in a 0–1 victory over Brentford in the final seconds of 5 minutes of added time only seconds after Brentford's Marcello Trotta had hit a penalty against the crossbar. If Brentford had won, they would have been promoted and Doncaster would have to compete in the play-offs. As it was, his goal put Doncaster one point above Bournemouth as Champions.[18]

Coppinger became the 5th ever Rovers player to reach 350 league appearances when he turned out to play right wing back against Nottingham Forest in a 0–0 draw at the City Ground on 15 March 2014. Doncaster were relegated back to League One on the final day of the 2013–14 season following a 1–0 defeat to Leicester City.

Personal life

Doncaster Rovers have worked with the NSPCC since the beginning of 2009. In June 2011 Coppinger, along with Mark Wilson, James O'Connor other Rovers staff and local Doncaster businessmen David Plant and Brian Butcher walked the 62-mile Inca Trek raising almost £50,000 for the charity.[19]

In January 2013, along with several other people, including fellow footballers, Coppinger faced a race-fixing inquiry with allegations of corruption in gambling on horses to lose on Betting exchanges in nine races between 1 November 2010 and 31 March 2011. He strongly denied the charges,[20][21] though was found guilty of corrupt and fraudulent practices by the British Horseracing Authority and given a three-year ban from any dealings with registered racing individuals.[22][23]

Honours

As a player

Newcastle United

Doncaster Rovers


Career statistics

Club

Season Club Division League FA Cup League Cup Football League Trophy FA Trophy Play-offs Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
1997–98DarlingtonDivision 3-------
1998–99Newcastle UnitedPremier League-------
1999–00Hartlepool United (Loan)Division 3103----10113
2000–01Newcastle UnitedPremier League10-----10
2001–02Hartlepool United (Loan)Division 3142-----142
2002–03Exeter CityDivision 3435301020--495
2003–04Football Conference398---11-409
Exeter City Total 821330102011008914
2004–05Doncaster RoversLeague One310203020--380
2005–063652050---435
2006–07394302140--485
2007–08393201010-33466
2008–09Championship3254010---375
2009–103942011---425
2010–1140720----427
2011–123821010---402
2012–13League One252-20---272
2012–13Nottingham Forest (Loan)Championship60-----60
2013–14Doncaster RoversChampionship4140020--00434
2014–15League One344413120-00436
2015–16212202010-00262
Doncaster Rovers Total 41542241233100003347449
Career total 52860261243120114359568

Stats accurate as of 18:28, 18 December 2015 (UTC)[24]

References

  1. ↑ Hugman, Barry J. (ed) (2008). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2008–09. Mainstream. ISBN 978-1-84596-324-8.
  2. 1 2 "Exeter's Coppinger swoop". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  3. ↑ "Newcastle 2 Tottenham Hotspur 0". nufc.com. 26 August 2000. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  4. ↑ "James Coppinger season details 2002/2003". Footy Mad. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  5. ↑ "James Coppinger: ‘I almost quit football’". Doncaster Free Press. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  6. ↑ "Coca Cola League 1". The Telegraph. 5 August 2004. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  7. ↑ "Transfers – May 2004". BBC sport. 5 August 2004. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  8. 1 2 "James Coppinger appearances". Footy Mad. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  9. ↑ Sky TV. "James Coppinger – Best Hat-trick Ever!". YouTube. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  10. ↑ Edwards, Ian (16 May 2008). "Coppinger's hat-trick keeps Doncaster dreaming". London: TimesOnline. Retrieved 17 May 2008.
  11. ↑ "Doncaster 3 – 1 Norwich". BBC Sport. 21 July 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  12. ↑ "Doncaster Rovers' James Coppinger rejects Barnsley". BBC Sport. 23 August 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  13. ↑ "Nottingham Forest sign Billy Sharp and James Coppinger on loan". BBC sport. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  14. ↑ "James Coppinger reveals Nottingham Forest frustration". BBC sport. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  15. ↑ "James Coppinger returns to Doncaster Rovers from Forest". BBC sport. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  16. ↑ "Report: Stevenage 1–2 Rovers". Doncaster Rovers official site. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  17. ↑ "Coppinger Closing in on 300!". Doncaster Rovers official site. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  18. ↑ "Brentford 0–1 Doncaster". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
  19. ↑ the NSPCC. "Doncaster Rovers is fundraising for the NSPCC". Justgiving.com. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  20. ↑ "Footballers Chopra, Coppinger & Wilson face race-fixing inquiry". BBC sport. 14 January 2013. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  21. ↑ "James Coppinger denies horse racing betting charge by BHA". BBC sport. 5 October 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  22. ↑ "Michael Chopra given ten-year ban following corruption case". The Guardian. 25 January 2013. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  23. ↑ "Michael Chopra and James Coppinger found guilty following investigation into alleged corruption". The Telegraph. 25 January 2013. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  24. ↑ "James Coppinger Career Stats". Soccerbase. 5 April 2014.

External links

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