IT was a real rags-to-riches tale. Colin Cooper may have had a relatively tough upbringing as a young footballer but the former Boro and Millwall defender would not have had it any other way.
Cooper joined Boro when the club was in financial meltdown in the mid-80s and he is certain that he would not have prospered as a footballer and gone on to represent his country had things been easy.
"After joining as a youth trainee at 16 from school, in my first two or three years the club was on a financial downward spiral and there was none of the new sparkling kit and the sparkling conditions that the kids get now," Cooper said, in an interview first published in REDSQUARE.
"We had to be down early to get the best stuff for the pros we looked after and then get the rags that we were left ourselves for training.
"It seems very old school but it grounded me as a person and made me appreciate everything as a footballer, because all we got was a pair of boots.
"We weren't treated as prima-donnas. We had to roll up our sleeves and graft with the groundsman. Kids don't have to do anymore. That makes you appreciate things when it turns in your favour and you become a successful professional."
Cooper followed Boro manager Tony Mowbray through the ranks as the club overcame the odds to gain back-to-back promotions under the guidance of Bruce Rioch.
"The crowds were low and the football wasn't very sparkling, even though Boro players are always taught to play in the right way," Cooper added. "The condition of the club dictated that the quality of players wasn't good enough.
"When I made my league debut the club was very close to relegation and if people think crowds dwindling to 13,000 are depressing at the Riverside you should try playing in front of 3,000 at Ayresome Park. They were the real diehards."
Cooper would leave Boro after seven years to team up again with Rioch at Millwall.
"I thought my career was up following liquidation because it would have been a matter of going out on trial everywhere, so I felt it was disappearing," Cooper said.
"Instead things really clicked. I got England Under-21 recognition but we had three hard seasons on the bounce and that top-flight season caught up with us. It started to take a toll on my young body. I played with a fracture in my foot for seven months without knowing it.
"My body packed in and I felt that for 18 months I was drifting along, although I was decent player. Things came to a head when Lennie Lawrence took over. It felt right.
"It was the best thing for me because my career had levelled off and in my opinion was tailing off. I was just married to Julie ad the time was right for a fresh start.
"Lennie has been very complimentary and said he should never have let me go. But I know for a fact that the player I became in years hence I would not have been if I hadn't left."
So it was to Millwall and although things worked out well for Cooper, those at The Den didn't take to Rioch.
"I thought Bruce, who had taken over at Millwall, would be right person to put me back on track," Cooper said.
"It was a bit daunting at first, having to mix it with club stalwarts such as Les Briley and Terry Hurlock, but the older players didn't take to Bruce, who tried to change things and it never worked.
"Bruce had a really disciplined way of being a manager. He could be relaxed but all he wanted was high standards. Trying to impose them on players on people who'd been there for a long time, he found himself banging his head against a brick wall."
A change in manager to Mick McCarthy took Cooper's career in a different direction.
"Mick had been a team-mate and a friend and when he became manager he said he'd convert me from full-back to centre-half, because it would suit my qualities better" Cooper said,
"I was more than willing to oblige and I'd do anything for him, because he was a mate, and also for the club.
"So there was a bit of luck and good judgement on Mick's part but I never looked back. We had two years where we just failed to make play-offs and then in 1993 Mick said the club had been made an offer it couldn't refuse and I moved to Nottingham Forest."
Cooper thrived at Forest and won two full England caps before coming home and rejoining Boro.
He later progressed to the coaching staff and after a short break is now back at Rockliffe Park once again as U18s' coach. But his Millwall days have left a huge impression on Cooper. And the Lion's fans never forgot him, rallying round after the death of his young son, Finlay.
"Millwall always get a lot of flak for the way the supporters are," Cooper said.
"But the one thing I always knew from them and which stood me in good stead down there is that they are similar to Boro fans in that if they know their players will give everything for the cause then they will back you to the absolute hilt. But you have to show you care.
"They were not over-fussed about a skinny northerner arriving but by the time I left they realised that when I play for a club, I give my everything.
"They appreciated that so much so that I still speak to a lot of Millwall fans and they still realise money for the charity we formed. They get as much respect from me as they gave me."
