Gary Hooper

Early career

Hooper was born in Harlow, Essex and grew up in Loughton. He joined the Tottenham Hotspur youth team at the age of seven. When he was 14 he played 20 minutes of a trial match and was then released by the club. After this he had trials with Northampton Town and Luton Town. These proved unsuccessful and he started playing Sunday league football. He then had a short spell with Maldon Town.

Grays Athletic

Hooper joined Isthmian League Premier Division club Grays Athletic in the 2003–04 season, being named as used substitute in an Essex Senior Cup match against Braintree Town on 11 November 2003 whilst he was still 15 years old coming on for Edward Erekosima. His debut came the following season when Grays were promoted into the newly formed Conference South, helping them to win the league by scoring 12 goals in 30 league appearances. He started for Grays in the 2004–05 FA Trophy Final against Hucknall Town, but was substituted towards the end of extra-time. The match went to penalties and Grays won the shoot-out 6–5. The following season in the Conference National, Hooper scored eight times in 40 league appearances. He was an unused substitute in Grays Athletic's 2–0 triumph over Woking in the final of the 2006 FA Trophy. At the end of the 2006 season he was released by Grays. Hooper said that he was only getting substitute appearances for the last few minutes of matches and that he wanted to move.

Southend United

In July 2006, after his…

Hooper has not represented England at any level. His paternal grandfather William Hooper was raised in the Scottish Borders, and this led to hopes that Hooper could be eligible to play for Scotland. Then Scotland head coach Craig Levein sought clarification as to the place of birth his grandfather's birth certificate recorded, as he had been born in a hospital in the English border town Berwick-upon-Tweed. The possibility was closed off when it was confirmed that his grandfather was included in the English Births Index. On 13 March 2011, Hooper was included by Stuart Pearce in his 31-man squad for the England under-21 team to play Denmark and Iceland. However, Hooper pulled out of the squad due to injury. On 3 May 2011, he was named in the 40-man provisional squad for the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, but did not make the final selection. In February 2012, BBC Sport reported that the Football Association of Wales were investigating his eligibility, but Hooper was unaware of having any Welsh ancestry. Hooper declared his desire to play for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics, but was not selected. In November 2012, Hooper was set to join teammate Fraser Forster in the England squad for their upcoming friendly against Sweden in Stockholm, after it was revealed The Football Association had contacted Celtic about the fitness of Hooper. They were handed a bleak prognosis by Celtic's medical team, meaning Hooper couldn't make the squad through injury.

Hooper has all the main attributes to play as a striker: he is strong and can hold up the ball well. He is also a good finisher; he has been described as being a 'penalty box striker'. However, he can also pass the ball well and this allows midfielders to play-off him. He has received praise since moving to Scotland. The Daily Record described him as being one of the most skilled attackers in the SPL. They also said that he had shown that he could deal with the physical nature of the Scottish game, due to his ability to ride a challenge well. One criticism that Steve Claridge had when analysing Hooper's game was that "[he often] played at either breakneck speed when involved in play or at walking pace when not". Claridge noted that Hooper needed to work harder to make himself available to his teammates for passes, especially long balls out from defence. While at Celtic, Hooper struck up an excellent partnership with fellow striker Anthony Stokes. They scored over 40 goals between them in their first season together and were considered to be Celtic's best strike partnership, although on many occasions, especially for big matches, Georgios Samaras was often used alongside Hooper. Hooper expressed his disappointment at this because he felt that he worked very well with Stokes. In their partnership Hooper usually had a more advanced role, playing off the shoulder of the last defender, or in the box, and making runs in behind. His strength, pace, finishing ability and awareness…

As of match played 16 December 2023