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Post by ace5150 on May 29, 2018 4:28:58 GMT
Aberdeen midfield player ONLY 54, part of the great team who won the European Cup Winners Cup in Gothenburg in 1983 against Real Madrid. Something Liverpool couldn't do at the weekend.
RIP Neale
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Post by daz on May 29, 2018 6:01:34 GMT
I posted about him in the Football thread as didn't want to post about someone few of us on here would have heard of. A superb player and an all round good guy who was as hard as nails on the pitch, but a gentleman off it. None of us Dandies of a certain vintage will never ever forget his 1982 goal in the Scottish Cup final against Rangers, boys own stuff and his celebration afterwards. A certain Alex Ferguson will feel this one as he rated him as a player and gave him his debut at 16 and the stories about keeping him in check are legendary and very funny, but sadly the best person at telling them, complete with superb Fergie impression, is no longer with us. RIP Tattie.  archive.is/vMyyE |
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Post by ace5150 on May 29, 2018 6:18:55 GMT
Very interesting fact is young Neale was fluent in Hindi. Born in India and lived there his infant years.
By all accounts, as Daz testifies, granite on the pitch, a gentleman off it. Replaced current Scotland manager Alex McLeish in that 1983 team, who'd injured his leg, and was told by Fergie the day before after he'd finished cleaning the club toilets, he was playing in the game!
A bygone age when squad players, apprentices and youth would clean toilets and the changing rooms. You don't get that now!
I remember the very first job Trevor Francis did after signing for £1m to Forest was to clean the toilets. He did it without complaint. Some players had left a few "gifts" as well. He got on with it and was instantly one of the lads! You imagine that now? The player would be straight to their agent demanding a move.
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Post by flyingsquad on May 29, 2018 11:18:08 GMT
RIP Neale
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Deleted
Deus est regit qui omnia.
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2018 19:14:30 GMT
No age. Younger than me.
RIP
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Post by daz on May 29, 2018 19:25:49 GMT
A couple of quotes from Neale which have appeared on various AFC sites today.
From “Fergie Rises”.....
“He (Frank Beckenbauer) said I was as close to him as a player as he’d seen.
It was a huge compliment.
But as I always say, it just goes to show, even Franz Beckenbauer can talk some amount of sh1te”.
"I mind Cooper telling a story about him and Ian Angus playing pool. The pool table was in the fitness room at Pittodrie. Cooper could hear SAF's nervous cough and knew that he was coming. just before SAF came into the fitness room, he quickly put down his cue and jumped on to one of the exercise machines. SAF chewed Angus out saying something along the lines of "Angus, no wonder you're in the reserves when you're mucking around like this. Look at that boy over there working hard. That's why he's in the first team. Cooper, well done, son. "Eh, cheers boss". "
I've had tears of sadness and joy reading about him today. They just don't make players like this anymore, our local paper, which I wouldn't ordinarily touch with a barge pole, had a terrific front page of him today scoring his famous goal against Rangers back in 82, the picture was in B&W but they had put Cooper in colour, very haunting, with Neale Cooper 1963-2018 the only writing on the page bar the header, credit where credit is due, it was a nice touch.
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Post by Zimbo on May 29, 2018 22:06:15 GMT
I knew his name and face from Panini albums. Sounds like he was a good bloke.
RIP
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Post by daz on May 31, 2018 5:44:06 GMT
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Post by Arch Stanton on May 31, 2018 6:00:05 GMT
They should send em one back and suggest a shortlist of a few Real players, that if sent on a season long loan to Aberdeen, would really help them get over the loss. Dedicate the 'guarenteed' next league title to Cooper.  |
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Post by chopper on May 31, 2018 15:03:10 GMT
Sad news, I was only randomly reading about & remembering certain Aberdeen players of that era & he was one.☹️
As is well known - they were a truly great and inspiring team of the era. Shutting up the Old Firm, Aberdeen & Dundee Utd were a breath of fresh air in the early/mid 80’s.
I remember Neal Cooper being a great & tough player, alongside a very solid defence
RIP Neale
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Post by westldner on Jun 1, 2018 7:11:07 GMT
RIP Neele Cooper, he must have been a star if he won in Gothenburg, Sweden
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