Cooper finds true vocation

SIMON COOPER

FORMER drug addict Simon Cooper used to be banned from football grounds. Now, he is responsible for shaping the lives of Athletic’s brightest young stars.

The story of the new head of coaching reads like a film script.

From the early days as a leading member of the notorious ‘Young Guvnors’ gang following Manchester City, through two decades of cocaine abuse, mental illness and even a heart attack at the age of 32, the father-of-two jettisoned his past to become a football strategist of repute.

Leaving behind a lucrative job as a project manager in the construction industry four years ago, Cooper (41) took the leap into a far less lucrative world of grass-roots coaching.

Having moved up the ranks from the Ashton Sunday League through to roles in development at Stockport, Accrington and Manchester City, Cooper was headhunted by Athletic academy manager Tony Philliskirk last season and two weeks ago became his right-hand man following the departure of Mick Priest.

“The call from Tony came out of the blue,” said Cooper, speaking to the Chronicle before heading out on to the training field this week.

“The emphasis here was to build and design the EPPP (Elite Player Performance Plan). It is basically a business plan for the football academy.

“I sat down for seven months and wrote that with my predecessor Mick Priest, Tony and the first-team manager (Lee Johnson).

“We built a structure around the club’s philosophy. It is a big step up in performance for the academy.

“At the moment, we are in the top 10 clubs in the country for producing home-grown players and we have eight in the first-team squad. On our budget, that is absolutely phenomenal.”
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