Bates Hopes Pools Did Cooper Proud On Emotional Day

Their tragic former manager died in May after sustaining a head injury following a fall.

A pre-match ceremony which was held to officially open The Neale Cooper Stand.
Cooper’s daughter Amy and Ellie we special guests in an emotional afternoon.

The football almost came second but the 1-1 draw, with the Black Cats levelling late, was a positive for the manager.

“I thought it all went very well – it was really well-organised by the club,” he told the Pools website.

“You saw the reaction from the fans and that told you how much they thought of Neale so it’s a great, great thing that has been done for him and I think he deserves it.”

On the game, which Nico Muir opening the scoring, the Bates said: “It was a warm game so it was tiring – the lads who played sixty minutes say they feel like they’ve played ninety but overall I was pleased.

“I was probably happier with the out-of-possession stuff, I thought defensively our shape was very good whereas we rushed it a bit when we were on the ball but we were playing against a League One side.”