The Return of Cooper

Mark Cooper will be bringing his new team of players who were, "too shit for the Football League" to Rockingham Road tomorrow.  So, what can we expect from Mark's return?  Unless he has developed a sudden cavalier streak we should expect Darlington to be feisty, physical and a bit niggly.  A bit like Mark himself (in the nicest possible way!)

Come to think of it, it has just occurred to us that most Poppies teams over at least the last 20 years reflect their Manager's personality... Think about it -

Lee Harper's Poppies seem a bit big and slow (again, in the nicest possible way....)
Graham Westley's stint saw us become tediously defensively minded.
Morrel Maison's team was similarly cavalier and, well, black!
Kevin Wilson's teams were dour, workmanlike and niggly.
Paul Gascoigne's time saw us as schizophrenic as the Boss!
Nicky Platnaueur and Dominic Genovese's Poppies were palpably not up to the challenge.
Carl Shutt's reds were excitable when on top but lost focus.
Peter Morris produced dull and implacably grinding teams.
Steve Berry caused the arrival of a briefly exciting and capable team.
Gary Johnson's team was bouncy, exciting and terribly naive.
And Graham Carr's squad was bald, northern with a camp comic as a son....