Thetownend.com

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2739355/Leeds-United-weigh-Swindon-Town-manager-Mark-Cooper.html

A deadline day deal with a difference.

If offered, he'd be stupid not to take it.

I'm not sure he'd be that mental.

Sounds like the mail making that up out of thin air because of a tenuous family connection

Depends on the length of the contract! 3 year deal and he'll have a great Christmas 2014 presents budget!

He could go for 2 weeks, come back with his compo and pay the bill.

What length deal did Hockaday get?

10 weeks ...

Corrected.

Got a job at a level he was never gonna get anywhere else and has had it easy. At Leeds he will be gone by Christmas, as I don't think he'll receive the support Power gives him.

Having said that, I'd be sad to see him go and would wish him nothing but luck. Our fans were rotten to him and so far he's done a cracking job.

It's funny that nobody is taking this seriously.

As Leeds owner you'd have to be mad to replace hockaday with another untest....oh...

 :girlgiggle:

Please let it be true

You're kidding, right?

Why?

Was thinking the same. He'd be another massive gamble for Leeds, and you normally (whatever normal is in football) employ an experienced man or big name after a bad appointment.

If the £10,000 compo figure is correct, I take back my earlier assertion.

He will have to improve his press skills still further.

Manage Leeds? Mad not to accept if offered.

With that nutty Italian in charge I'd say he'd be mad to go there.

The LMA deny there's been an agreement.

Why go to a smaller club ?

Hockaday is holding out for the full payment of his 2 year contract reported to be around £500k.

Not sure where the rumour of £10k is from but that figure is not true, it may be how much they have given him...but not an agreed sum.

A smaller club in Lancashire.

Cooper in to 3/1 now

Behave.

Nutcase owner or not, it's Leeds United and we're Swindon Town.

I think some of you drastically overestimate our importance/stature/appeal in the football pyramid.

I think most people realise the oppertunity would be hard to turn down DMR.

No overestimation from me. Leeds are big!

If I was Cooper my main consideration would be whether or not I still wanted a job come January though.

It's a strange one, because under normal circumstances it would be a no brainer, but Cellino is clearly such a nutter, that you'd have to take that into account.

Undoubtedly. The fact that he wouldn't be in consideration (if he actually is!) had he been born a day earlier pretty says it all.

I remember hearing an interview with Coopers last season, I think on the Football League Podcast, when he talked about being out of the game for so long post Posh, and how he thought he'd never get back in.

I wonder if he'd risk, what by the standards of football management, is a seemingly supportive owner and relatively stable job to work for Cellino?

Presumably, if he did, we wouldn't look much further than Luke Williams for a replacement. Not that that would necessarily be a bad thing.

How long is Cooper under contract here does anyone know?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23755496

End of this season, unless he got an extension and I missed it.

I'd be astounded if he went. Yes he has done very well with us so far, but Leeds fans would see it as a similar appointment to Hockaday - an unfamiliar name not worthy of the title of manager of their club. Cellino would quickly lose support. I'm very surprised he seems to have the amount of support he still has.

True but his dad is worshipped like a God up in Elland Road, that may win fans over to him from the off.

Nope, never been able to take to the bloke, yes he's doing a decent enough job but there is just something about him I dont like

Leeds fans would probably be far more supportive than they were for Hockaday purely on the basis of who Cooper's dad is.

That would buy Mark Cooper at least a month!

I'm pretty sure he'll go if he's asked.

MORE MONEY.

The rest won't really enter the equation. Would think there's a fair chance we'd appoint Hockaday if he did.

Good fucking grief, I hope not

It's not a personality contest, is it? Alex Ferguson comes over as a right horrible cunt but I'm sure that never bothered Man Utd fans.

It would be good to hang on to a manager for longer than a couple of seasons.

What a ridiculous statement.

(Well I hope it is anyway).

Did you like PDC out of interest?

Is it? We know he's happy to take a first team coach role under a hands-on DoF figure. He'd get a hefty raise, and I assume he'd be confident enough in his ability to do a job. And if it didn't work out, he'd get a good payoff. When he gets sacked, he'd only have to have avoided a complete car-crash to be given the benefit of the doubt for future roles at our level or better.

Again, it's not about whether we think he'll succeed. It's about whether he thinks it would be worth a tilt. And he might well.

Or was it the Hockaday bit that was ridiculous.

Yeah, that might be.

Yeah, it was the Hockaday bit.

Oh ok. I was only half-joking though. He had a very good reputation as a coach at Watford and Southampton, lives locally (and is an ex-player, which is sometimes supposed to mean something). If Luke Williams wasn't thought to be suitable, the main question-mark is why he didn't do better with a decent budget at FGR.

We'd Probably end up with Sherwood if Cooper went.

He'd be mad to go. We'd try and keep Luke Williams and give it to him, no?

I think the smart money is on the fella who resigned from Twatford

I'd say so too

Funnily enough, yes I quite liked his enigmatic ways and his direct manerisms

Luke Williams was appointed by Power though so he wasn't known to Cooper before his appointment, I'd presume he'd get caretaker ala Copper and see how he did - unless Sherwood was interested in dropping to this level

Don't get the attraction of Sherwood. Seems a bit of a prick, achieved nothing as a manager and presumably had a large budget with spurs yoof.

Would rather take a chance with Williams.

I'm not trying to belittle Cooper in the slightest but for all we know, Williams could be the one behind things going well.

Do you find poor judgment affects other areas of your life too?

Agreed.

You could be right, Wise without Poyet was rubbish, in 81 with Bobby Smith when Wilf Tranter his assistant left Swindon we were flying and within 8 months were relegated.

Theres a lot to be said for a good assistant a role often ignored.

Thats why The Doctor was never as good after Joe Sugden left

We have quite a good record with young managers who played at a high level in recent seasons. Wise and PDC both got the job done.

I like the idea of the gaffer having played a higher standard than his team - it should command respect from the players.

Yes but wise and pdc were good players ;)

Yeah, but Sherwood has more international caps than Di Canio...

Yeah but they were for England..

PdC is certainly one of our least capped managers. The list is headed by Maurice Malpas with  55  :)

Malpas 55
Hoddle 53
Ardiles 52
Quinn 46
T*dd 27
Macari 24
Wilson 24
Mackay 22
Vizard 22
Wise 21
Sturrock 20
McMahon 17

Ardiles had 63 caps

Argentina national team
Year   Apps   Goals
1975   8   4
1976   10   1
1977   11   0
1978   11   2
1979   2   0
1980   0   0
1981   2   0
1982   8   1
Total   52   8

Oh well...I'll take your word for it

Osvaldo César Ardiles was born near Córdoba in 1952 and played a pivotal role in Argentina's World Cup victory in 1978, part of 63 caps he won for his country. That famous ticker-tape win in Buenos Aires attracted the attention of Tottenham Hotspur manager Keith Burkinshaw, who brought Ossie and Ricardo Villa over to England in a £750,000 transfer that made headlines around the world.

Ossie became an instant hit in English football, helping Spurs lift the FA Cup in 1981 and 1982 and the UEFA Cup in 1984 and going on to score 25 goals in 311 appearances in ten years at the club. After short spells with Blackburn and QPR, Ossie moved into management with Swindon Town and tasted success once more, taking the Wiltshire side via the playoffs into the top flight of English football for the first time, only to have promotion snatched away from them owing to irregular payments made to players before Ardiles' arrival at the club. Further managerial spells followed at Newcastle, West Brom (with whom he also won promotion) and then back to Tottenham where, despite an exhilarating attacking line-up, results did not go Ossie's way.

Ossie has since managed clubs in Mexico, Japan, Croatia, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Israel and Paraguay. When not managing, he divides his time between Hertfordshire and the south of Spain.


This was taken from the blurg for Ossie's Dream...Ossie's autobiography. States there 63 caps for country.

Not forgetting a Premier League winners medal, as captain, no less.

As for Sherwood, yes he's technically achieved nothing in management but his managerial career totals 28 games only and he won 50% of those....
...and that doesn't take into account he took over a decent but not yet gelled Spurs team that had just sold the worlds most on form and thus expensive player.

Spurs still did well and hd a solid finish, harsh to write off his whole future managerial career.

Brighton have been in contact over Cooper then...

Why not Cotterill?

He has previous proving he's shite.

Cooper is, so far, untainted

Well, Peterborough.

Cotterill is a loon though.

An agent claimed to be working for Brighton tried stirring the shite, local paper says Chris Hughton will be installed before the weekend!

I stand corrected!

Posh were in a mess already. Very harsh to judge anybody on that, as proven by the fact their fans all labelled him a useless hoofball merchant. Reassuring to hear Power say Cooper is going nowhere, even if he isn't necessarily first in line for the Brighton job.

Noooooooo, it's the equivalent of the dreaded vote of confidence. Doooooomed, we're all doomed.

I can't see a tempting club coming in for Cooper really. Not yet at least.
We should go up this year and momentum with a promoted club would be better than taking over a struggling team at the same level.

Rumour has it that Cooper was seen going into the British Legion Club for a pint last night.

(http://www.myfacewhen.net/uploads/3749-i-see-what-you-did-there-no-text.png)

Hughton named as BHA manager, so that puts that rumour to bed.

Saw Mark Cooper at the gym this morning. Had an a-z of Gillingham on his front seat of his merc.

Oh shit, not sure I like the sound of that.

I thought we'd sent the Mercedes back.

Pretty sure I saw him riding a horse earlier.

I saw him looking at caravans.

I saw him buy a 12 pack of Newcastle Brown Ale.

I saw him coming out of a hairdressers earlier sporting a rather fetching mullet.

He knocked on my door with his missus. He offered to tarmac my drive and his other half tried to sell me some clothes pegs and read my tea leaves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljPFZrRD3J8

That's nothing. He offered to wash my car and buy my trainers.

I haven't seen him.

So has Cooper gone to Gillingham then?

I knew it was all too good to last...