Played for Dundee and Aberdeen – Charlie Cooke

Dundee travel to Aberdeen on Saturday and so we take a look at the career of one of the most exciting players to wear the dark blue or Dundee or Scotland or the red of Aberdeen. A wizard of the dribble, Charlie entertained the fans of Aberdeen, Dundee, Chelsea and Crystal Palace before moving to the United States where he still lives and runs a soccer school in Cincinnati.

For a club to lose a legend and find another one within weeks of their departure seems highly unlikely but Bob Shankly managed to do just that when he signed Charlie Cooke from Aberdeen for £40,000 in December 1964 within a fortnight of Alan Gilzean leaving for Spurs.

Of course comparisons between Gillie and Cooke were inevitable given their Dark Blue paths almost crossed but their styles were poles apart. The signing of Cooke was a masterstroke by Shankly as the Dundee hierarchy looked to appease the fans in the wake of Gillie’s departure by splashing out a Dens Park record fee and ‘The Bonnie Prince’ had the Dundee fans eating out of his hands in an instant with his magical concoction of ball skills and wizardry. The Dens Park choir were soon signing “Charlie Is My Darling” as a new hero was born and despite his short tenure in a dark blue shirt, the memories left were indelible.

Born in St. Monans in the East Neuk of Fife on October 14^th 1942, Cooke began his football education with Port Glasgow. His professional career started at Aberdeen in 1960, having joined them from Renfrew Juniors and he soon became the golden boy of Pittodrie where he would score 26 league goals in a four year career. Amongst those goals was a strike in a 2-2 draw against the newly crowned Champions of Scotland in the second game of Dundee’s title defence and on their way to winning the league, Charlie turned in a man of the match performance in a 3-1 win for The Dons in the Granite City.

Charlie’s debut for The Dee couldn’t have gone any better when he scored in a 4-0 win over Airdrieonians at Dens six days before Christmas and by the end of the season, the fans had all but forgotten about Gillie, with Cooke scoring seven goals in 25 games as an ever present since joining the club.

Within that spell Charlie turned in a virtuoso performance against the team who would become League Champions, Kilmarnock as he scored a brace in a 4-1 win at Rugby Park and just a few weeks later dazzled the eventual runners-up Hearts with his ball skills as The Dee won 7-1 at Tynecastle. Considering that Hearts lost the league title on goal average, Dundee’s 7-1 win would do the Edinburgh side some serious damage and Charlie Cooke had been in the middle of it.

Already a Scotland Under-23 cap when he arrived at Dens, it wasn’t long before his performances were rewarded with an international call up and he starred on his full Scotland debut in a 4-1 win over Wales at Hampden in April 1965. Later that year he got his second full cap in the ill fated World Cup qualifying decider against Italy in Naples where Jock Stein’s side lost 3-0 and in the same year also turned out twice for the Scottish League side against the English and Irish Leagues and for the Under-23 side against their Under-23 counterparts.

Charlie’s second season at the club saw Dundee record some indifferent results but he switched between wing-half and forward, his own performances were regularly terrific and he was rewarded with the supporters’ Player of the Year trophy in April 1966.

Having commuted by train from Aberdeen in his first few months at Dens, Cooke had now settled in a new house in Broughty Ferry and his happiness in his new surroundings were quickly relayed on the park.

There were times however when the mercurial Cooke could be anonymous too but on his day there were few better on show in Scottish Football. Fortunately for Dundee ‘his day’ was displayed on a regular occasion and season 1965/66 saw Charlie inspire Dundee to a 9-1 win over East Fife in the Scottish Cup, two victories over Dundee United and a win over eventual League Champions Celtic in a League Cup sectional tie.

Cooke revelled in the freedom new manager Bobby Ancell gave him in an attacking role, having switched places with Steve Murray and after a brilliant performance at Dens against Stirling Albion where Charlie scored twice in a 6-2 win, Chelsea manager Tommy Docherty announced his interest. Shortly afterwards Charlie handed in a transfer request and on April 26^th, just 24 hours after receiving the Player of the Year trophy, Charlie signed for Chelsea for a £72,500 fee.

Cooke had signed for Dundee for a record fee between two Scottish clubs and left for a fee which equalled the club record received for Alan Gilzean but the Dundee fans were furious once again to have lost another star man to a London side, whatever the fee. There was a storm of protest over his sale as unlike the sales of Ure and Gilzean, Cooke had been under contract but the directors claimed that they wanted to avoid another protracted transfer saga.

Charlie’s time at Stamford Bridge saw him win another fourteen Scotland caps, lift the F.A. Cup in 1970 and the U.E.F.A. Cup Winners’ Cup twelve months later. He had two spells at Chelsea between which he spent a couple of years with Crystal Palace and from there he went Stateside with the Los Angeles Aztecs, Memphis Rogues (as player/coach and manager), Calgary Boomers, California Surf, Cleveland Force and the Dallas Sidekicks in the now defunct N.A.S.L.

At Dens he still remains a hero where a supporters club is named in his honour and a hospitality lounge bears his name. Like Claudio Caniggia almost forty years later, Cooke’s time at Dens was short, lasting a mere sixteen months but like the Argentinean superstar, Dundee’s original ‘CC’ left a lasting impression with some wonderful performances.

Honours at Dundee:

Scotland full caps: 2

Scottish League caps: 2

Scotland Under-23 caps: 1

DFC Player of the Year: 1965/66

Appearances, Goals:

League: 44, 11 goals

Scottish Cup: 3

League Cup: 6

Other: 6

Totals: 59, 11 goals