Robert Leslie Cooke (16 February 1957 – 7 August 2021) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

, most notably for

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standin ...

and

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings w ...

. He represented

England C The England national football C team (previously known as the England National Game XI and the England Semi-Pro national team) is the football team that represents England at non-league level. Formed in 1979 as the England Non-League team, it f ...

at international level while playing

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is s ...

. After retiring from football, Cooke managed Warboys Town and later became a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement * Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

Club career

Mansfield Town

Cooke began his career in the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and y ...

and made 9 appearances and scoring one goal in his debut season, in which the Stags won the 1976–77 Third Division championship. He made only six appearances in

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

during the 1977–78 season and departed the club at the end of the campaign, having made just 15 first team appearances for the club.

Grantham

Cooke joined Southern League First Division North club

Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln a ...

during the 1978 off-season and scored 43 goals to propel the club to the 1978–79 division championship. Cooke's performances saw him awarded the Supporters' Player of the Year award. Grantham moved to the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division ...

for the 1979–80 season and Cooke was on fire again, scoring 39 goals. He departed the Gingerbreads at the end of the campaign.

Peterborough United

Cooke's goalscoring exploits for Grantham caught the eye of Fourth Division club

, which culminated in him moving to the club for a £12,000 fee in May 1980. He was an immediate hit at Posh, scoring 29 goals in 56 games during the 1980–81 season and being named in the Fourth Division

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premi ...

. Cooke bettered his goalscoring tally in the 1981–82 season, with 31 goals in 55 games. Cooke's prolific form tailed off during the 1982–83 season and following a loan spell at First Division club

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1 ...

, he managed only 11 goals in 33 appearances before departing in February 1983. Cooke scored 71 goals in 144 appearances for the Posh.

Cambridge United

Cooke signed for Second Division club

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

in February 1983 for a £12,000 fee. He failed to find his prolific goalscoring form for the struggling club, which suffered relegation to the Third Division at the end of the 1983–84 season. Cooke managed 14 goals in 65 league appearances and with relegation to the Fourth Division looming, he departed the club midway through the 1984–85 season.

Brentford

Cooke joined Third Division club

on a two-month loan in December 1984 and he later signed permanently for fee ranging between £20,000 and £25,000. He quickly found form, scoring 16 goals in 31 games and scoring what proved to be a consolation in the 3–1

1985 Football League Trophy Final The 1985 Associate Members' Cup Final, known as the Freight Rover Trophy for sponsorship reasons, was the 2nd final of the domestic football cup competition for teams from the Third and Fourth Divisions. The final was played at Wembley Stadiu ...

defeat to

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 193 ...

. Cooke finished the 1984–85 season as both Brentford and Cambridge United's top scorer, which was only the third time in history the feat had been managed. Three years of mid-table mediocrity followed and Cooke departed Brentford in December 1987, having scored 64 goals in 150 games for the Bees.

Millwall

Cooke joined Second Division high-flyers

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, ea ...

on 11 December 1987 for a £30,000 fee and scored one goal in five appearances during the remainder of the 1987–88 season. He was unable to break up the forward pairing of

Tony Cascarino Anthony Guy Cascarino (born 1 September 1962) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker for various British and French clubs and internationally for the Republic of Ireland national team, with whom he competed in UEFA Euro 19 ...

and

Teddy Sheringham Edward Paul "Teddy" Sheringham, MBE (born 2 April 1966) is an English football manager and former player. He played as a forward, mostly as a second striker, in a 24-year professional career. Sheringham began his career at Millwall, where ...

and departed the Lions in September 1988.

Kettering Town

Cooke dropped back into

to join

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main ...

club

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts ...

in September 1988. He had a prolific spell with the Poppies, scoring 49 goals in 95 appearances across three seasons in which the club consistently challenged for promotion to the

Non-League nomad

Cooke ended his career with spells at Northampton Spencer, Bourne Town and a second stint at Grantham Town.

International career

Cooke's form while at Kettering Town won him

recognition.

Managerial and coaching career

Cooke had a spell as

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

at Southern League Midland Division club Grantham Town during the 1991–92 season. After his retirement from football, Cooke became manager at

Eastern Counties League The Eastern Counties Football League, currently known as the Thurlow Nunn League for sponsorship purposes, is an English football league at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system. It currently contains clubs from Norfolk, Suffol ...

First Division club Warboys Town. In December 1998, Cooke returned to Kettering Town to become

assistant manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

and first team coach.

Scouting career

Cooke was invited to become a part-time

for

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syst ...

by former Cambridge United teammate and then-Preston manager

David Moyes David William Moyes ( ; born 25 April 1963) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. He is currently the manager of Premier League club West Ham United. He was previously the manager of Preston North End, Everton, Manches ...

. Cooke subsequently followed Moyes to

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club Everton in 2002 and

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in 2013, serving as chief scout at both clubs. After Moyes was sacked by Manchester United in April 2014, Cooke was not retained by incoming manager

Louis van Gaal Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal (; born 8 August 1951) is a Dutch former football player and manager. At club level, he served as manager of Ajax, Barcelona, AZ Alkmaar, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, as well as having three spel ...

. In November 2014, Cooke was appointed to the role of UK and International Scout at

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River ...

. By June 2017, he had left the club. Cooke reunited with David Moyes at Premier League club

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium ...

in 2020 and held the role of chief scout until his death in August 2021.

Personal life

Cooke's nephew Russell was also a footballer and played for

Hucknall Town Hucknall Town Football Club are a football club based in the town of Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, England. The club are members of the and play at Watnall Road. History Hucknall Town were renamed from Hucknall Colliery Welfare in 1987 and for ...

Eastwood Town Eastwood Town Football Club was an English football club based in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire. The club last participated in the Northern Premier League Division One South, the eighth tier of English football. A new club, Eastwood C.F.C., was f ...

and

Ilkeston Town Ilkeston Town Football Club is a football club based in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England. They currently play in the . History On 30 June 2017, a company, Ilkeston Town F.C. Ltd was registered at Companies House. On 20 July 2017, it was conf ...

. Cooke worked for

Thomas Cook Thomas Cook (22 November 1808 – 18 July 1892) was an English businessman. He is best known for founding the travel agency Thomas Cook & Son. He was also one of the initial developers of the " package tour" including travel, accommodati ...

and later for

Travelex Travelex is a foreign exchange company founded by Lloyd Dorfman and headquartered in Peterborough. Its main businesses are foreign currency exchange, issuing prepaid credit cards for use by travellers, supplying central banks with foreign curren ...

in the 1990s and at the time of his death from cancer at Thorpe Hall in August 2021, he was living in

Sawtry Sawtry () is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Sawtry lies approximately north of Huntingdon. Sawtry is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as well as being a histori ...

Career statistics

Honours

Grantham * Southern League First Division North: 1978–79 Northampton Spencer *

United Counties League The United Counties League (also known after its sponsor as the ''Uhlsport United Counties League'') is an English football league covering Northamptonshire, Rutland and Bedfordshire and most of Leicestershire as well as parts of Buckingham ...

Premier Division: 1991–92 Individual *

Supporters' Player of the Year: 1978–79 * Football League Fourth Division PFA Team of the Year: 1980–81

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Robbie 1957 births 2021 deaths English footballers Footballers from Rotherham Association football forwards Mansfield Town F.C. players Grantham Town F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players Bourne Town F.C. players English Football League players Luton Town F.C. players England semi-pro international footballers Southern Football League players National League (English football) players Preston North End F.C. non-playing staff Everton F.C. non-playing staff Manchester United F.C. non-playing staff Burnley F.C. non-playing staff Northampton Spencer F.C. players Warboys Town F.C. managers English football managers Deaths from cancer in the United Kingdom West Ham United F.C. non-playing staff