Charlie Cooke

For the player born 1898, see Charles Cook (footballer, born 1898). For the player born 1972, see Charles Cook (footballer, born 1972).

Charles Cooke (born 14 October 1942) is a Scottish former footballer. He played as a winger for Aberdeen, Dundee, Chelsea and Crystal Palace, before ending his career in the United States.

Charlie Cooke

Cooke circa 1980
Personal information
Full name	Charles Cooke[1]
Date of birth	(1942-10-14) 14 October 1942 (age 82)
Place of birth	St Monans, Fife, Scotland[2]
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8+1⁄2 in)[2]
Position(s)	Winger
Youth career
	Port Glasgow
	Renfrew Juniors
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1960–1964	Aberdeen	125	(27)
1964–1966	Dundee	44	(11)
1966–1972	Chelsea	212	(15)
1972–1974	Crystal Palace	44	(0)
1974–1978	Chelsea	87	(7)
1976–1978	Los Angeles Aztecs	48	(6)
1978–1980	Memphis Rogues	54	(3)
1979–1980	Memphis Rogues (indoor)	11	(3)
1980–1981	Calgary Boomers (indoor)	18	(4)
1981	California Surf	29	(3)
1981–1982	Cleveland Force (indoor)	19	(4)
1985	Dallas Sidekicks (indoor)	2	(0)
Total		693	(83)
International career
1962–1965	Scottish League XI	4	(3)
1962–1968	Scotland U23	5	(0)
1965–1975	Scotland	16	(0)
Managerial career
1979–1980	Memphis Rogues
1986–1988	Wichita Wings
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

After playing at youth level for Port Glasgow and Renfrew Juniors,^[3] Cooke began his professional career with Aberdeen in 1960, making his first team debut on 13 August in a 4–3 Scottish League Cup victory over Ayr United.^[2] He moved to Dundee in December 1964, where he was voted player of the year. He signed for Chelsea in April 1966 for a then club record of £72,000 as part of manager Tommy Docherty's restructuring of the Chelsea side. He made his debut in May 1966 during a 2–0 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup win over FC Barcelona. On his league debut the following season against West Ham United, Cooke waltzed past England's World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore en route to scoring the winner for Chelsea. Cooke took the place of Bert Murray on the right wing as several players were replaced owing to a growing rift between Docherty and his players. He proved a versatile player when the post World Cup tactics limited the use of wingers and he was often played in a deeper right midfield position behind Tommy Baldwin who had replaced George Graham in a direct swap between Chelsea and Arsenal. His debut season saw Chelsea reach the FA Cup final against Tottenham Hotspur (Cooke's cross had created Tony Hateley's winner for Chelsea in the semi-final against Leeds United). Cooke had a shot tipped over the bar by Pat Jennings early on, but Chelsea generally underperformed and lost 2–1.

In the early 1970s, Cooke was one of the star players in a flamboyant Chelsea side, alongside Peter Bonetti, Peter Osgood, Alan Hudson and Ian Hutchinson. They reached another FA Cup final, against Leeds United, in 1970. The first game ended 2–2 and, with Chelsea trailing 1–0 in the replay at Old Trafford with the clock running down, Cooke's run and chipped pass set up Osgood's equaliser with a diving header; Chelsea eventually won 2–1 after extra time. The Cup Winners' Cup was added in 1971 with a replayed win over Real Madrid in Athens. Chelsea reached a third consecutive cup final in 1972, this time the League Cup, and though Cooke again created the equaliser for Osgood, Chelsea lost to Stoke City.

He was sold to Crystal Palace shortly afterwards for £85,000 and made 44 appearances for the South London side, but returned to Chelsea a year later. By that stage, the club were in decline and were relegated in 1974–75, though Cooke's experience proved invaluable in helping manager and ex-teammate Eddie McCreadie's young side earn promotion again in 1976–77. In his two spells at Chelsea, Cooke made 373 appearances, scoring 30 goals.

Cooke with the Los Angeles Aztecs (c. 1976–78)

Cooke left Chelsea for the second and final time in July 1978 to play for numerous American teams, including the Memphis Rogues, Los Angeles Aztecs and California Surf in the now-defunct NASL.

International career

He was a Scotland international, winning 16 caps.^[4] He made his debut in a 4–1 win over Wales in 1965 and played his final match in 1975 against Portugal.^[4] He also won 5 caps for the under-23 side between 1962 and 1968.^[5]

Post-playing career

In 1979, he replaced his old Chelsea teammate, Eddie McCreadie, as the head coach of the Memphis Rogues. After new ownership moved the team to Calgary, Cooke himself moved to the California Surf where he played one last outdoor season. After this however, he continued to play in the indoor leagues, making his last appearance in the 1985–86 season for the Dallas Sidekicks, after which he took charge of the Wichita Wings.^[6]

He now runs a soccer school in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 2006, his autobiography The Bonnie Prince, written with Martin Knight, was published.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^{[2][7][8][9][10][11]}

Club	Season	Division	League		National Cup		Other Cups		Europe		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Aberdeen	1960–61	Scottish Division One	32	10	2	0	5	0	—		39	10
	1961–62	Scottish Division One	29	5	5	0	5	2	—		39	7
	1962–63	Scottish Division One	27	8	3	0	6	0	—		36	8
	1963–64	Scottish Division One	22	3	4	0	4	0	—		30	3
	1964–65	Scottish Division One	15	1	0	0	6	1	—		21	2
Total			125	27	14	0	26	3	—		165	30
Dundee	1964–65	Scottish Division One	18	7	1	0	6	0	0	0	25	7
	1965–66	Scottish Division One	26	4	2	0	6	0	—		34	4
Total			44	11	3	0	12	0	0	0	59	11
Chelsea	1965–66	First Division	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0
	1966–67	First Division	33	3	7	0	3	0	—		43	3
	1967–68	First Division	41	3	5	1	1	1	—		47	5
	1968–69	First Division	26	0	5	1	2	0	3	1	36	2
	1969–70	First Division	35	4	6	0	3	1	—		44	5
	1970–71	First Division	31	1	3	0	3	0	8	0	45	1
	1971–72	First Division	38	2	3	1	7	1	4	0	52	4
	1972–73	First Division	8	2	0	0	0	0	—		8	2
Total			212	15	29	3	19	3	17	1	277	22
Crystal Palace	1972–73	First Division	29	0	3	1	4	0	—		36	1
	1973–74	Second Division	15	0	1	0	1	0	—		17	0
Total			44	0	4	1	5	0	—		53	1
Chelsea	1973–74	First Division	17	1	0	0	0	0	—		17	1
	1974–75	First Division	39	5	1	0	4	1	—		44	6
	1975–76	Second Division	17	1	3	0	0	0	—		20	1
	1976–77	Second Division	8	0	0	0	0	0	—		8	0
	1977–78	First Division	6	0	1	0	0	0	—		7	0
Total			87	7	5	0	4	1	—		96	8
Los Angeles Aztecs	1976	NASL	12	2	—		—		—		12	2
	1977	NASL	20	2	—		—		—		20	2
	1978	NASL	16	2	—		—		—		16	2
Total			48	6	—		—		—		48	6
Memphis Rogues	1978	NASL	7	0	—		—		—		7	0
	1979	NASL	22	2	—		—		—		22	2
	1980	NASL	25	1	—		—		—		25	1
Total			54	3	—		—		—		54	3
Memphis Rogues (indoor)	1979–80	NASL Indoor	11	3	—		—		—		11	3
Calgary Boomers (indoor)	1980–81	NASL Indoor	18	4	—		—		—		18	4
California Surf	1981	NASL	29	3	—		—		—		29	3
Cleveland Force (indoor)	1981–82	MISL	19	4	—		—		—		19	4
Dallas Sidekicks (indoor)	1985–86	MISL	2	0	—		—		—		2	0
Chelsea Total			299	22	34	3	23	4	17	1	373	30
Career total			693	83	55	4	66	7	17	1	831	95

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[4]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Scotland	1965	2	0
	1966	2	0
	1968	4	0
	1969	5	0
	1971	1	0
	1975	2	0
Total		16	0

Managerial statistics

Team	From	To	Record
			P	W	D	L	Win %
Memphis Rogues[12]	1979	1980	54	18	0	36	033.33
Memphis Rogues (indoor)[12]	1979	1980	12	9	0	3	075.00
Wichita Wings (indoor)[6]	1986	30 January 1988	79	38	0	41	048.10
Total			145	65	0	80	044.83

Honours

Club

Chelsea

• European Cup Winners' Cup: 1970–71^[13]
• FA Cup: 1969–70;^[13] runner-up: 1966–67^[13]
• Football League Cup runner-up: 1971–72^[13]

Individual

• Dundee Player of the Year: 1966^[14]
• World XI: 1967^[15]
• Chelsea Player of the Year: 1968,^[16] 1975^[16]
• NASL All-Stars: 1976 Honorable Mention,^[17] 1977 Second Team^[18]