Liam Cooper


Liam David Ian Cooper is a professional footballer who plays for Premier League side Leeds United and the Scotland national team.
He is the current captain of Leeds. He is the first Leeds captain to win promotion from the second tier of English football since Gordon Strachan in 1990.
Although normally playing as a centre-back, he can also function as a left-back.
He has represented Scotland at senior, Under 19 and Under 17 level. He received his first call-up to the senior Scotland squad on 10 March 2016 for a friendly against Denmark in which he failed to play. He made his debut for Scotland during the defeat to Russia on 6 September 2019.

Club career

Hull City

Born in Kingston upon Hull, Humberside, Cooper attended Malet Lambert school and joined Hull City at Under-12 level. He was in the youth team that won the Football League Youth Alliance Cup Final against Colchester 3–0, scoring the opening goal but later being sent off for a deliberate handball.
On 26 August 2008 he made his first team debut for Hull against Swansea City in the League Cup. On 30 August 2008, on his 17th birthday, he signed professional terms with the club, and featured on the bench as an unused substitute for the Premier League game against Wigan Athletic. He made his first Premier League start on 26 September 2009 at Anfield in the 6–1 defeat by Liverpool. Cooper signed a new three-year contract at the KC Stadium in March 2010.
On 1 December 2011, after being left out of the squad to play Charlton Athletic, Cooper asked for his loan to be terminated, so he could try and gain a place in new manager Nick Barmby's setup. Huddersfield agreed, and he returned to the KC Stadium.
At the end of March, Hull City captain, Jack Hobbs suffered a cruciate ligament rupture and ruled him out until Christmas 2012. Cooper filled the void, building a solid partnership with James Chester in the remaining few games of the campaign.

Loan spells

Having made three first team appearances for the 2010–11 season with little opportunity, Cooper was sent on loan to League One club Carlisle United on 10 January 2011 for a monthlong loan, as part of the deal which saw James Chester end his loan spell with Carlisle and join Hull City from Manchester United. The loan spell came to an early end when he sustained a hand injury in February in the match against Huddersfield Town. Following a return from injury, on 4 March 2011, Carlisle signed him on a further month loan with the option to extend it for the remainder of the season. Cooper decided to return to Hull at the end of the month loan rather than staying for the remainder of the season.
On 8 July 2011, he joined League One club Huddersfield Town on a season-long loan. After making his full debut in the League Cup match against Port Vale in August, he made his league debut as a substitute in the 2–2 draw against Leyton Orient at the Galpharm Stadium on 24 September 2011. His first league start came a week later on 1 October 2011 in the 4–0 away win over Brentford followed by second start three days later on 4 October 2011 in the Football League Trophy second round exit to local rivals Bradford City when Cooper was taken off at half time due to injury. Cooper loan spell with Huddersfield Town came to an end on 2 December 2011.

Chesterfield

Cooper joined Chesterfield on 1 November 2012, on a months loan deal. Manager, Paul Cook said: "We are delighted with the signing of Liam Cooper. He is a player that attracts a lot of interest from clubs, and not just in this division."
Cooper scored on his debut in a 2–1 win over Oxford United on 16 November 2012. Cooper scored again a few weeks later on 28 November 2012, in a 2–1 loss against Tranmere Rovers in the second round of the FA Cup. The following month, Cooper loan spell at Chesterfield was extended until 5 January 2013.
On 5 January 2013, Cooper signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with the Spireites for an undisclosed fee and played less than an hour later in a 2–1 loss to Wycombe Wanderers. He scored his first goal for the club as a full Chesterfield player in a 2–1 loss against Torquay United on 19 March 2013. Cooper made 31 appearances and scored three times in all competitions since becoming a permanent signing in the 2012–13 season.
Despite picking up a pre-season injury and missing the first three games, he formed a solid defensive partnership with Sam Hird early on in the 2013–14 season. Cooper then scored his first goal of the season on 12 October 2013, as they drew 1–1 with Fleetwood Town. He later scored his second, in a 4–1 win over Cheltenham Town on 25 February 2014. Chesterfield made it to the Football League Trophy Final, where he started and played the whole match where Chesterfield lost 3–1 to Peterborough United. Cooper would overcome the final loss to score in a 2–1 win over Hartlepool United on 12 April 2014; keeping the club in the League Two title race. Cooper helped earn promotion to League One, with Cooper forming a formidable centre defence partnership with Ian Evatt to help Chesterfield become the League Two Champions. At the end of the season, Cooper was named in the PFA Team of the Year along with two other Chesterfield players.
On 30 July 2014, after speculation linking him to Leeds United, Leeds confirmed that they had had two separate bids rejected by Chesterfield to sign Cooper. On 12 August 2014, both Chesterfield and Leeds United announced that a transfer fee had been agreed, subject to passing a medical and personal terms being agreed

Leeds United

2014–15

On 13 August 2014, Cooper was sold for an undisclosed fee reported to be between £500,000 and £750,000, and signed a three-year contract at Leeds United. Cooper made his debut on 16 August, helping Leeds keep a clean sheet in Leeds' 1–0 victory against Middlesbrough after a late goal by Billy Sharp.
On 8 November, Cooper scored his first goal for Leeds with a long range volley against Blackpool in a 3–1 win. After an injury to then captain Stephen Warnock, Cooper was named as the captain in Leeds' FA Cup 1–0 defeat against Sunderland on 4 January 2015, with Redfearn describing him as a 'natural leader'.
After the subsequent sale of Stephen Warnock to Derby County, head coach Neil Redfearn confirmed that Cooper would be the new permanent captain.

2015–16

On 31 July 2015, Cooper was given the number 6 shirt for the upcoming 2015–16 season. On 4 July 2015, Cooper was appointed vice-captain whilst Sol Bamba was appointed captain of Leeds United by new Head Coach Uwe Rosler, with Bamba taking over from Cooper as the club captain.
On 17 October 2015, Cooper scored his second goal for Leeds United in the 1–2 loss to Brighton & Hove Albion. Cooper captained the side during November and December with regular captain Sol Bamba out with a fractured toe.

2016–17

Cooper missed all of the 2016–17 pre season friendlies due to a muscle injury, however returned to fitness for the opening game of the season. He made his return from injury on 10 August in a League Cup fixture against Fleetwood Town. His first league start came on 16 August in a 1–1 draw, Captaining Leeds against Fulham, which saw Cooper pick up the man of the match award.
On 29 January 2017, Cooper was sent off against Sutton United in the FA Cup in a shock 1–0 defeat. In April 2017, Cooper was given a six match ban after pleading guilty to stamping on Reading defender Reece Oxford.

2017–18

On 6 August 2017, the opening day of the 2017–18 Championship season, Cooper was renamed Leeds captain, when he captained the side as Leeds beat Bolton Wanderers 3–2. On 10 August, Cooper signed a new four-year deal at the club, keeping at the club until the end of the 2020–21 season.
On 20 January 2018, Cooper received a 4 match ban, after he was sent off for the second time in the season after being sent off in the first half of Leeds' dramatic 3–4 loss against Millwall. On 24 February 2018, Cooper scored his first goal of the season for Leeds, in their 1–0 win against Brentford.

2018–19

Cooper retained the captain's armband for the 2018–19 season under new head coach Marcelo Bielsa. He scored in the opening game of the season on 5 August 2018 against Stoke City at Elland Road in a 3–1 win. He scored his second goal of the season on 18 September in a 3-0 victory against Preston North End.
After an impressive start to the 2018–19 season, on 1 December 2018, Cooper had to be substituted after picking up a serious knee injury in a 1–0 win against Sheffield United. The injury required surgery and would rule Cooper out for a sustained period.
He returned from injury starting in Leeds' 2–0 win against Derby County on 11 January 2019.
On 9 March 2019, Cooper, on what was also his 150th appearance for the club, became the 12th Leeds United player to captain the club in 100 matches by captaining the side in the 1-0 win against promotion rivals Bristol City.
On 26 March 2019, Cooper was named in the EFL Championship Team of the Season and also the EFL Team of the Season. Also in March 2019 he was selected, together with teammates Pontus Jansson and Pablo Hernández, on the Professional Footballers' Association's 2018–19 Championship Team of the Season.
During the 2018–19 Leeds United F.C. season, Cooper played 39 games in all competitions, scoring 3 goals, after Leeds finished the regular season in third place after dropping out of the automatic promotion places with 3 games left after a defeat to 10 man Wigan Athletic on 19 April, Leeds qualified for the playoffs versus sixth-placed Derby County, including starting in 1st leg of the playoffs in a 1–0 win at Pride Park, to bring into a 1-0 aggregate lead into the home leg at Elland Road, however after a defensive mix up between Goalkeeper Kiko Casilla and Cooper allowed Jack Marriott to score, then Cooper giving away a 2nd half penalty which was converted by Harry Wilson, Leeds lost the second leg 2–4 with Leeds also down to 10 men after the red card of Gaetano Berardi, the loss saw Derby progress 4-3 on aggregate to the final against Aston Villa.

2019–20

In September 2019 he signed a new 5-year contract with Leeds United. On 23 September 2019, Cooper was present at The Best FIFA Football Awards 2019 and accepted the award on behalf of Head Coach Marcelo Bielsa and the entire Leeds United squad, as they won the FIFA Fair Play Award: 2019 for Bielsa's sportsmanship in May 2019 to allow Aston Villa to score a goal unopposed in a game in which the ultimate result ended Leeds' 'mathematical' chances of automatic promotion the prior season.
Liam Cooper captained Leeds United to promotion and Champions of EFL Championship 2019-2020

International career

Cooper was eligible to represent England, having been born in Hull, and Scotland as his father’s family hails from Bo'ness in the Central Lowlands. In March 2008, he was called up to the Scotland under-17 squad for the second phase of their European qualifying campaign. He was also capped by Scotland under-19 in 2009.
In December 2015, Leeds head coach Steve Evans said that Scotland manager Gordon Strachan had been in touch regarding the possibility of calling up Cooper for the full national side.
Cooper received his first call-up to the senior Scotland squad on 10 March 2016 for a friendly against Denmark, and was called up again in March 2017 for a friendly against Canada and a World Cup Qualifier against Slovenia.
On 27 August 2019, Cooper was called up to the Scotland squad for the first time under manager Steve Clarke for matches against Russia and Belgium in September 2019. He made his debut in the 1–2 loss to Russia on 6 September 2019, and also starting in the following game on 9 September, a 4–0 defeat against Belgium. In November 2019 he withdrew from the squad due to injury.

Trivia

In August 2019, Cooper was one of the main stars of Leeds United documentary 'Take Us Home' documenting the 2018–19 season on Amazon Prime, featuring in several episodes, the documentary was narrated by Academy Award winning actor and Leeds United fan Russell Crowe.

Career statistics

Honours

Chesterfield
Leeds United
Individual