Cooper takes aim at recruitment

Mark Cooper said he should have left Yeovil following the victory against Eastleigh and that the club didn’t get recruitment right before the transfer window shut, laying bare the division at Huish Park.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the Glover’s 4-0 defeat at Gateshead, Cooper said: “I’ve been promoted out of this league as a manager, I think I know what a good National League player looks like. Obviously some people didn’t think that I knew that. We haven’t done the right thing and we haven’t reacted the right way to what we needed to do before the transfer window shut, in my opinion. The proof will be in the pudding and we’ll all get judged on that.”

You don’t need a PHD to read between the lines, with Cooper clearly taking aim at the club’s potential new owners. He added that the recruitment has affected the changing room: “I think it’s clear over the last few weeks it’s affected the changing room. In any business, if you don’t get your recruitment right you’re in for disaster. You’re always playing catch up and hopefully it’s a lesson for everybody, that in future, wherever we are that the recruitment needs to be solid.”

There was chants of “We want Cooper out” during the game, and Cooper understood the reasoning.

“It’s part of the job, you have to accept that. If you don’t win games, it’s coming. I think the reasonable, proper fans understand and know what’s going on. I wanted to come and build this club like I did at Forest Green for five years and make it into proper football league club. But you need support and you need backing for that,” he said.

When asked why he hasn’t walked away, Cooper said he wasn’t willing to walk out on the players, but that he “probably should have done after the Eastleigh game”.