Liam Cooper ⭑ From A-Z since '92
Fate might not always give our captains everything they deserve, but the good ones aren't playing for fate. They're playing for us.
This is part of my (eight year long, it'll fly by) attempt to write about every Leeds United player since 1992. For more about why I'm doing this, go back to Aapo Halme, then check out all the players featured so far on this page. Or you can keep going below, out of sequence again for our great captain Bulgaria.
It might be the fate of a Leeds United captain to never get the best that they deserve. Bobby Collins transformed the attitude of the entire football club, missed out on lifting a league title on goal average and an FA Cup in extra-time, then had his thigh snapped by a foul in Torino. Billy Bremner refined Collins' template through United's greatest era, but still spent too much of his time as captain watching other players from other teams lifting the trophies Leeds should have won; imagine his thoughts, in 1975, watching Franz Beckenbauer lifting the European Cup.
You might argue that Gordon Strachan had it easy, hoisting the Second and First Division trophies, 725 days from one to the other. But then, after sharing the Charity Shield presentation with Gary McAllister, Strachan bore the brunt of 1992/93's whiplash 17th place. Lucas Radebe guided the club through the tragic events in Istanbul; it mattered less, but losing that UEFA Cup semi-final denied Radebe the chance of lifting a European trophy. I hope, had Leeds got through the Champions League semi-final against Valencia a year later and beaten Bayern Munich, that as club captain Radebe would have become synonymous in history with United finally winning the greatest club prize; but I fear Rio Ferdinand would have used the armband to elbow injured Radebe aside.
Not many Leeds captains have deserved very much since then. Richard Naylor was worth his dream coming true when he skippered Leeds out of League One, but after him, if we should begin our gratitude to Liam Cooper anywhere, perhaps it's with him putting an end to the nonsense of El-Hadji Diouf wearing the armband against Bolton, of Andy Lonergan and Rudy Austin deciding the pressure of leading Leeds United was too much and handing the honour back.
When Cooper was made captain, in 2017, he was not the obvious choice for a club that was crying out for common sense, even if that's what he eventually brought to the role. At the time, Liam Bridcutt was captain but was injured, and new manager Thomas Christiansen was prevaricating about having "several captains in the team". That was probably a good idea, as a natural leadership group was forming now that it would not have to give in to Giuseppe Bellusci demanding to be in charge of it. "I said to the players that they had to choose the ones that they want to represent the team in front of me and in front of the board, and they have made their choice," Christiansen continued, because "I believe the captain is something or somebody who has to be picked by the players." All would be revealed in the first game of the season, at Bolton. "You will see it on Sunday," said Christiansen, "as in the eleven that will play there will be a captain."
There was a captain, and it was Liam Cooper, but it's funny looking back that still people didn't believe it. Pontus Jansson had missed the game injured, and people were assuming that he, the obvious leader signed from Torino the year before, would naturally assume the captaincy when he returned. But when Jansson returned, Cooper kept the armband. And soon Pontus was telling the YEP, "I don't need the thing on my arm to be a captain, I can be a captain without it also." And Christiansen was saying, "Liam is our captain and an important player in the defensive line."
And everybody had to get used to the fact that, given the chance to vote for a teammate to represent them, Leeds United's players had voted for Cooper. And when Marcelo Bielsa arrived, he shared Christiansen's view. "The captain represents the footballers," Bielsa said. "I don't choose the captain. From my point of view, the captain has to be chosen by the ones he is representing. My point of view, as an observer, I think he is a great captain. The most important point of view is the players and teammates." And he was still talking about Liam Cooper, because the players still chose him. And it's fair to assume that, in every season since 2017/18, nobody at Leeds United has felt like choosing anybody else.