Steve Cooper (football manager)


Steve Cooper is a Welsh professional football manager and former player. He is the head coach of club Swansea City.
Cooper began his coaching career at Wrexham's academy while playing as a defender in the Welsh football leagues. He moved to Liverpool in 2008, and was appointed manager of their academy in 2011. Cooper joined the England youth set-up in 2014, initially coaching the U16s, before winning the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup with the U17s. He became head coach of Swansea City in 2019.

Early life

Cooper was born on 10 December 1979 in Pontypridd, Wales. He is the son of Welsh former football referee Keith Cooper. As a youngster, Cooper played football in the Rhondda leagues and was a Liverpool supporter.

Career

Early career

In the late 1990s, Cooper joined Wrexham but did not make an appearance for the club. He later played for Rhyl, Bangor City, The New Saints and Porthmadog. He featured for Bangor City in the UEFA Cup against FK Sartid Smederevo in 2002. While a player, Cooper studied for his coaching badges and began coaching at Wrexham's academy. At the age of 27, Cooper obtained his UEFA Pro Licence, becoming one of the youngest coaches to achieve the qualification.
After several years coaching at Wrexham's academy, Cooper became the club's head of youth development. On 3 September 2008, Cooper was appointed as a youth coach at Liverpool, initially taking charge of the under-12s. On 18 July 2011, he was named manager of Liverpool's academy. Cooper coached the under-18s for the 2012–13 season, leading them to the semi-finals of the FA Youth Cup, where they lost to Chelsea. While at Liverpool, Cooper oversaw the development of such players as Raheem Sterling, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Ben Woodburn. In 2013, Cooper joined the FA as a youth coach educator and also taught on the FA Wales A Licence course.

England youth

On 13 October 2014, Cooper was appointed as manager of the England national under-16 team. The following year, he took charge of the under-17s, coaching players such as Jadon Sancho, Phil Foden, and Callum Hudson-Odoi. Cooper led his side to the final of the 2017 UEFA European U17 Championship, where they lost to Spain 4–1 on penalties following a 2–2 draw. Cooper's U17s then won the 2017 FIFA U17 World Cup in October 2017, beating Brazil 3–1 in the semi-final and Spain 5–2 in the final.
The following year, Cooper's side reached the semi-finals of the 2018 UEFA European U17 Championship, where they lost to Netherlands on penalties. They did not qualify for the quarter-finals of the 2019 UEFA European U17 Championship, despite beating Sweden 3–1 in their final group game.

Swansea City

Cooper was appointed head coach of Championship club Swansea City on 13 June 2019 on a three-year contract. His first match in charge was a 2–1 win against Hull City at the Liberty Stadium, with goals from Borja Bastón and Mike van der Hoorn. Cooper was named the EFL's Championship Manager of the Month for August after Swansea's unbeaten start to the season saw them move top of the league, with 16 points from 18. This was Swansea's best start to a season in 41 years.
During the January transfer window, Cooper signed Rhian Brewster, Marc Guehi, and Conor Gallagher on loan from Liverpool and Chelsea respectively. Following the outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent pandemic, the Championship season was suspended indefinitely, with Swansea in 11th place and three points from the play-offs. The season restarted on 20 June. On the final day of the season, Swansea beat Reading 4–1 to finish sixth, moving into the play-offs ahead of Nottingham Forest on goal difference. They were later defeated by Brentford 3–2 on aggregate in the semi-final.

Coaching style

Cooper likes his teams to play with "good organisation and structure". He prefers his teams to control the game by being brave on the ball and confident when passing. Cooper coaches his teams to have tactical discipline; defensively, he prefers his players to regain possession through composure and aggression.
Cooper cites former Barcelona B coach José Segura as his main influence; the pair worked together at Liverpool's academy. Tactically, Cooper likes to deploy a 4–2–3–1 with two holding midfielders and attacking wing-backs.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager

England U17
Individual