Tom Cooper

Port Vale

Cooper played for Longton and Cheshire County League side Trentham before being bought by Port Vale for a fee of £20 in August 1924. He made his first-team debut on 13 December 1924, in an FA Cup qualification win at Alfreton that finished with an 8–2 margin of victory. He made his league debut at the Old Recreation Ground a week later in a 2–1 victory over Manchester United. He played 21 Second Division matches in the 1924–25 season, but featured just 11 times in the 1925–26 campaign.

Derby County

Cooper was sold to George Jobey's Derby County for a £2,500 fee in March 1926, having impressed in a Boxing Day fixture against the "Rams" the previous year. He settled straight into the first XI and became an integral member of the team that secured promotion out of the Second Division with a second-place finish in 1925–26. County went on to finish 12th in the First Division in 1926–27, before rising to fourth place in 1927–28, though Cooper missed much of the latter campaign after undergoing a cartilage operation. After a sixth-place finish in 1928–29, County finished second in the league in 1929–30 – though they ended up some ten points behind champions The Wednesday. In December 1930, Newcastle United had a bid for Cooper rejected. Derby secured a sixth-place finish again in 1930–31. Cooper was made captain at the Baseball Ground in 1931, and led the club to 15th in 1931–32, seventh in 1932–33, and fourth again in 1933–34. Stoke City attempted to…

The Football Association saw his quality at Derby and selected him to represent England 15 times. His first cap came on 22 October 1927 in a British Home Championship match at Windsor Park Belfast; Ireland were the hosts and won the game 2–0. He played in the 1929 defeat to Spain, which was England's first defeat overseas. Cooper was given the ultimate honour of captaining his country twice in his last two appearances for England; the first time was against Czechoslovakia on 16 May 1934; the Czechs won the game 2–1. He would surely have been selected to play even more representative matches had it not been for injuries, including having both knee cartilages removed.

Thomas Cooper was born on 9 April 1905 in Fenton, Staffordshire. He was the seventh of eight children to Stephen James and Sarah Ann (née Shorthouse); his father worked as a bricklayer. He worked as a haulage hand at the coal mine. He married Beatrice Jean Raynor in June 1931; they had two children. An accomplished golfer, he won the Merseyside Professional Golf Championship three years running.

Derby County

Football League Second Division second-place promotion: 1925–26 England

British Home Championship: 1931–32, 1934–35 (shared)