Scott Cooper (football manager)

Scott Joseph Cooper (born 16 June 1970) is an Irish-English professional football manager.

Scott Cooper

Cooper with Police Tero in 2018
Personal information
Full name	Scott Joseph Cooper
Date of birth	(1970-06-16) 16 June 1970 (age 54)
Place of birth	Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Position(s)	Right-back, right winger[1][2]
College career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1991-1992	South Florida Bulls[3]
Managerial career
1999	Chester City (assistant)
2001	Anguilla
2005	Montserrat
2009	Anguilla
2010	England U-15 (ISFA)
2011	Leicester City (youth)
2013	Buriram United (youth)
2013	Buriram United
2014	Muangthong United
2014–2015	Mitra Kukar
2015–2017	Ubon UMT United
2018	Police Tero
2018	Philippines (caretaker)
2019–2021	Philippines
2020	Azkals Development Team
2020–2022	Philippines
2022	Port
2023	Jamshedpur

Cooper last served as the head coach of the Philippines national football team. He has coaching experience with Huntsville Fire, Chester City, the Anguilla national football team, the Montserrat national football team, Leicester City, and the Independent Schools Football Association (ISFA) England under-15 national football team.

Managerial career

Early career

Cooper has coached the Anguilla and Montserrat national teams.^[4]

Buriram United

Cooper was picked by Buriram United to replace Attaphol Buspakom after the 2013 AFC Champions League against FC Seoul along with his assistant Darren Read.

On his arrival at Buriram United, Cooper found the club in third place of the Thai Premier League, five points adrift of the league leaders. Under Cooper's managerial reign, Buriram were unbeaten in the Thai Premier League, AFC Champions League, Thai FA Cup and Thai League Cup.

Buriram United won 23 out of 29 matches, drawing five and losing only once under Cooper. The club won all their away games at the top four Thai clubs during the season. Named "Manager of the Month" in June 2013, Cooper led Buriram United to the top 10 club rankings in Asia, creating history for the Thai club in the process. Under Cooper's tutelage, Buriram on an average scored 3.1 goals per game whilst conceding 0.75 goals per game.

Cooper also had a major influence on developing Thai players in his squad, as nine Thai players were called up to the national team.

Muangthong United

On 2 January 2014, Muanthong United officially appointed Cooper as the head coach.^{[citation needed]}

Mitra Kukar

On 11 December 2014, Mitra Kukar officially appointed Cooper as the head coach.^[5]

Ubon UMT United

In April 2015, Ubon UMT United officially appointed Cooper as the head coach.^{[citation needed]}

Philippines

In June 2018, Cooper was appointed as senior team adviser of the Philippines (Interim).^[6][7] Cooper was later tasked to oversee the national team's training camp in Bahrain in September 2018 in lieu of the newly appointed head coach Terry Butcher, who resigned from his post in August 2018.^[8] Cooper's interim tenure ended in late August 2018 when he was officially named as the regular head coach of the Philippine national team.^[9]

On 27 October 2018, Sven-Göran Eriksson took over as manager of the Philippines^[10] and Cooper assisted Eriksson in the Philippines' stint at the 2018 AFF Championship and 2019 Asian Cup.^[11]

Cooper returned as manager in January 2019 after the conclusion of the Philippines' campaign in the continental tournament and Eriksson's short-term contract.^[12] Under Cooper, the Philippines gained its highest ever World Cup point total.^[13]

In May 2022, it was announced that Cooper stepped down as head coach of the Philippines men's national team.^[14][15][16]

ADT

Cooper coached the Azkals Development Team, a football club meant for national team youth prospects. He mentored the team during the 2020 Philippines Football League season.^[17] He was succeeded by Giovanni Villagracia in the following season.^[18]

Jamshedpur

On 14 July 2023, Cooper was appointed as the head coach of Indian Super League club Jamshedpur.^[19]

Managerial statistics

As of match played 28 December 2023

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				P	W	D	L	Win %
Buriram United		3 May 2013	2 September 2013	26	18	6	2	069.2
Muangthong United		2 January 2014	30 March 2014	9	5	2	2	055.6
Mitra Kukar		11 December 2014	20 April 2015	2	0	0	2	000.0
Ubon UMT United		23 April 2015	30 November 2017	97	56	21	20	057.7
Police Tero		1 January 2018	24 April 2018	7	1	1	5	014.3
Philippines (Caretaker)		4 August 2018	26 October 2018	2	0	2	0	000.0
Philippines		25 January 2019	22 May 2021	4	1	1	2	025.0
ADT		1 January 2020	11 March 2022	5	3	0	2	060.0
Philippines U23		22 September 2022	22 May 2022	3	0	0	3	000.0
Port		28 June 2022	14 November 2022	14	6	7	1	042.9
Jamshedpur		15 July 2023	29 December 2023	12	2	3	7	016.7
Total				170	90	41	39	052.9

¹ A win or loss by the penalty shoot-out is regarded as the draw in time.

Honours

Manager

Ubon United

• Regional League Division 2: 2015

References

1. Solano, Javier (13 April 1997). "SpeedKings ready to get started". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
2. Guerrero, Bob (4 September 2018). "Scott Cooper's long and winding road to the Azkals". Rappler. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
3. "2020 USF Men's Soccer: History and Records" (PDF). South Florida Bulls. 25 March 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
4. Scott Cooper's long and winding road to the Azkals rappler.com
5. "Scott Cooper, Pelatih Baru Mitra Kukar" (in Indonesian). 11 December 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
6. "Irish coach joins Azkals coaching staff as senior football adviser". Rappler. 14 June 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
7. "Scott Cooper takes role as Azkals senior adviser, set to work hand in hand with Butcher". Spin PH. 14 June 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
8. "Terry Butcher steps down as Azkals coach". GMA News. Reuters. 3 August 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
9. "Cooper named Azkals coach". Tempo. 31 August 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
10. Averilla, Earl. "A significant step: Sven-Goran Eriksson's appointment as new Azkals head coach". Fox Sports Asia. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
11. Leyba, Olmin (25 January 2019). "Scott Cooper new Azkals coach". Philippine Star. Associated Press. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
12. Leyba, Olmin (20 January 2019). "Azkals move on, set sights on Asian qualifiers for 2022". Philippine Star. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
13. Saldajeno, Ivan. "Azkals held to draw by Maldives". Philippine News Agency. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
14. "PFF Statement On PHI Men's National Team". Philippine Football Federation. 22 May 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
15. Agcaoili, Lance (22 May 2022). "Scott Cooper steps down as Philippine Azkals coach". Inquirer. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
16. Leongson, Randolph B. (22 May 2022). "Scott Cooper steps down as Azkals head coach". SPIN PH. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
17. "ADT is the sure way forward – Palami". ASEAN Football Federation. 11 March 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
18. Terrado, Reuben (6 November 2021). "With United City out, Kaya, ADT, and Co. look to win Copa Paulino Alcantara". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
19. "Jamshedpur FC appoints Scott Cooper as new head coach". The Hindu. 14 July 2023. Retrieved 16 July 2023.