Herbert Michael Cooke was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. He managed

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

from 1912 to 1935, the longest spell of any manager at the club. He oversaw their first

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

match in 1921.

Management career

Born in

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

in 1882, Cooke became manager of Tranmere in 1912, and stayed in charge for 23 years, the longest spell of any manager at the club. In 1919, Tranmere were promoted to the

Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...

. Within a year, Division Three North was created and, in 1921, Cooke oversaw the club's first Football League match. A string of talented local youngsters were developed by Cooke before moving to First Division clubs -

Dixie Dean William Ralph "Dixie" Dean (22 January 1907 – 1 March 1980) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward. Dean holds the record for the most goals scored in a single season in top-flight English football, with 60. He is regarded as ...

, Ellis Rimmer, Pongo Waring and Nibbler Ridding. In the 1934–35 season – Cooke's last in charge – Rovers led Division Three North for most of the campaign but, in the last few weeks, blew their promotion chance. They did however win the

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup (), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most prestigious of the cup competitions ...

that year. He left under acrimonious circumstances, amid FA enquiries into illegal payments to players to induce them to sign for Rovers and the dismissal of several directors. Cooke was replaced by former England international, Jackie Carr. Cooke died in Wirral in 1959, aged 76.

References

External links

* Tranmere Rovers F.C. managers 1882 births 1959 deaths Sportspeople from Birkenhead English Football League managers English football managers {{England-footy-manager-stub