Jim Cooper a coup for Grays Athletic

By Alex Narey
New Grays Athletic boss Jim Cooper is throwing the gauntlet down early as he aims to take the double FA Trophy winners back to their glory days of old!
The former Met Police manager – who was in charge at Imber Court for 15 years before vacating the gaffer’s chair in the summer – is eyeing promotion next season and believes that is the minimum a club like Grays should be aiming for.
“I have to be honest with myself and the players,” Cooper told The NLP. “We are 15 points off the play-offs. This season is done for us but next season, the aim has to be promotion.
“I am confident I am the right person to get the job done. What else can I say to the players? You have to target success, especially at a club like Grays.”
Cooper was officially unveiled as the new Blues boss last week, following Jamie Stuart’s departure as manager at the weekend. Stuart, a former player who made over 200 appearances for the club and was a pivotal figure during Grays’ halcyon days – helping them lift the Conference South and Trophy double in 2005 before retaining the cup the following year – left the club via mutual consent after last Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Tilbury.
And Cooper was quick to praise the outgoing manager, claiming Stuart called to wish him well following his appointment.
“Credit to Jamie,” he said. “The guy is an absolute legend at the club and it says a lot about him that he did that. He has been a wonderful servant to Grays, both as a manager and as a player.”
Cooper claims he got wind of the opportunity and the fact his name was in the frame through social media speculation. But when Grays chairman Steve Skinner contacted him on Monday morning to meet that evening, he sensed he would be faced with an opportunity that was “one he couldn’t turn down”.
“The job is made for me,” he added. “The location, the league, everything about the club is a good fit.
“My phone has not stopped ringing and to be honest I have missed that since leaving the MET last year. There were a few jobs I went for, and they didn’t happen. You do start to question whether you’re going to get back in, so to get back in at a club like this is very special for me.
“I’ll give everyone a chance, but anyone who knows me knows that I like to concentrate on a good defensive shape and we need to build from the back.
“It’s not rocket-science; you need to stop conceding the goals.”
During his hiatus from management, Cooper has been keeping his eye in by dabbling in a spot of punditry work as a summariser and analyst on Back of the Net – a weekly YouTube show that runs the rule over the big talking points in the Non-League pyramid.
“I love it,” he says. “It’s great to see the game from a different angle, and the work Back of the Net do, along with this paper, means an awful lot to the Non-league community because it gives us a platform and coverage we wouldn’t otherwise have.
“I wouldn’t say I have fallen out of love with the game at the highest level, but Non-League football is very close to my heart and it is what I know.
“Everyone involved in the game at this level makes it very special.”