Goalkeeper Mike Hooper was affectionately referred to by Liverpool fans as Hooper Man. He is possibly the best reserve goalkeeper Liverpool will ever have and he was always a really popular player despite not playing too often. My own personal example of his legacy at Liverpool is the fact that at my school, in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, any lad with red hair was usually referred to as Hooper, whether he played football or not.
Mike Hooper was born in February 1964 in Bristol, England. He started his football career with local side Bristol City in 1983. He only played one game in two years before moving to Wrexham in 1985. He received a degree in English Literature at Swansea University and received many plaudits for his performances in goal during 1985. After thirty four games for Wrexham he was signed by Kenny Dalglish for £50,000 to act as deputy to Bruce Grobbelaar.
Mike made his Liverpool debut at Wembley during the 1986 Charity Shield against Everton. Bruce Grobbelaar got injured during the game and Mike came on as substitute. The game finished 1-1 and back then there was no penalty shoot-out so the Charity Shield was shared by both clubs.
Due to Brucie’s injury, Mike started the 1986/87 campaign in an away game at Newcastle Utd. He played the first eight games of the season before Grobbelaar was fit again. One of his finest performances for Liverpool came during an FA Cup 3rd round game away to Stoke City in 1987. He prevented an upset by making a string of superb saves and made one world class stop during extra time.
During the 1988/89 season, Mike had an extended run of four months and twenty four games in the starting line-up. Bruce Grobbelaar was struck down with meningitis and Mike took his chance to play regularly. He proved to be a superb deputy and became one of the most popular players with the Anfield crowd. Mike did so well at this time that even when Bruce was fit, Kenny Dalglish kept him in the team. It was starting to look like he might genuinely have a chance to become the reds regular keeper but Grobbelaar was looking over his shoulder. The veteran keeper was starting to put the pressure on for a return to the team and with Mike looking nervous at times he lost his place to Bruce in early 1989.
With his opportunities become increasingly limited at Liverpool, Mike was loaned out to Leicester City in late 1990. He was brought back by new manager Graeme Souness in 1991 and was given a starting place against Manchester Utd in October 1991. He produced a man of the match performance in a 0-0 draw and it looked like he was going to be given a run in the team. However he was injured soon after and lost his place back to Grobbelaar.
In 1992 David James was brought to Anfield from Watford and it appeared that Mike’s days were numbered. However Mike was given another extended run in the team during the 1992/93 season. David James had a poor start to his Liverpool career and was suffering from a loss of confidence. Grobbelaar had fallen out with Souness over his constant travelling to Zimbabwe to play for the national side and for two months Mike was the starting keeper. Mike didn’t play badly during this period but unfortunately he was playing behind a constantly rotating defence and Liverpool were playing poorly and shipping goals. Mike was unfairly used as a bit of a scapegoat for the poor results. After a 2-0 loss to then Division One side Bolton Wanderers in the FA Cup, he was dropped and never played for Liverpool again.
In August 1993, Mike signed for Kevin Keegan at Newcastle Utd for a fee of £550,000. Nobody could blame Mike for taking this terrific opportunity and he left with nothing but good wishes from Liverpool fans. He started his Newcastle career in great style with a victory over Everton. In this game he almost scored a spectacular goal when he hit the crossbar from a goal kick. His great start at Newcastle continued when they thrashed Liverpool 3-0 in a game televised live on Sky. Unfortunately things began to go sour for Mike at St. James Park and he began a run of erratic and often poor displays. The final straw came when he was blamed for an FA Cup defeat to Luton Town and a 4-2 loss to Wimbledon. He became a target for boos from the crowd and even received sickening hate mail. The abuse got so bad at one stage that Kevin Keegan actually threatened to resign unless it stopped. Keegan eventually lost patience with Mike and in February 1994 he did him a favour and dropped him from the side to be replaced by Pavel Srnicek.
During the following season Mike was back to being a deputy keeper as Srnicek was preferred to play in goal. Mike played one more game for Newcastle when he came off the bench during a 3-3 draw with Tottenham Hotspur. He signed off in memorable style by saving a penalty from Jurgen Klinsmann in what proved to be his last ever appearance in a football match. Mike spent a loan spell at Sunderland but never played a single game for them. In the autumn of 1995 Newcastle signed another keeper, Shaka Hislop to deputise for Srnicek and Mike’s opportunities became even more limited. He remained at the club during the 1995/96 season until his contract expired at the end of the campaign.
Mike was released by Newcastle Utd in the summer of 1996 and with his confidence well and truly shattered he decided to retire from football. He was only thirty two which is really young for a keeper to retire, a sad end to what was once a very promising career. The last time I heard anything about Mike since his retirement is that he was working as a doorman in Durham.
Mike Hooper takes his place in the history of Liverpool FC for his reliable displays as a deputy keeper over eight years. With his red hair and giant frame, Mike remains one of the most memorable Liverpool players from the late1980’s. This is quite an achievement considering he spent the majority of his Liverpool career on the substitute bench.
Liverpool FC | Supporters Club | Vancouver, BC, Canada
