By John Lyons
Frustrated Hendon fans were drowning their sorrows in the bar after their side´s 2-0 home defeat by the Metropolitan Police.
“When they scored there wasn’t any cheering from their supporters,” reflected one.
“That’s because they haven’t got any,” piped up one of his mates.
It was an easy riposte and has a ring of truth to it. If you asked someone what their favourite team was and they said ‘the Metropolitan Police’, you’d probably think it was a bit strange.
But long-serving manager Jim Cooper insists the boys in blue do have a few loyal followers.
“We have actually got quite a few people who have no connection to the players but are supporters because they like the way we play,” he said. “We like to play football on the floor.
“But we are not a town or a city so people haven´t got any connection to us that way. I understand that – that´s the way it is.”
After almost 13 years at the helm, Cooper, a detective sergeant in his day job, is used to the differences in managing the boys in blue as compared to other Non-League teams.
For example, he said: “We cannot have players who have a criminal record and therefore we’ve missed out on numerous players we would love to see play for the police but quite rightly so.”
And he’s also got used to the fact that the chances of actually calling on serving police officers to play for the team are pretty slim.
“We´ve got one in Neil Barrett, but the problem is we just cannot get them off duty,” he said. “Quite rightly the public want to see police officers on the streets.
“We can’t get them to play whereas before they’d get time off.”
After a superb season last time around when they won the Surrey Senior Cup and reached the Ryman Premier play-offs, this campaign has seen the Met struggle in the lower part of the table in the early stages.
And Cooper is honest enough to admit that he wasn’t in the right frame of mind when the new season kicked off.
“We were so close to making the play-off final last year and then we came back with another budget cut,” he said.
“I was demoralised at the start of the season and probably three or four weeks in I wasn´t the same person nor was Gavin (Macpherson – assistant manager). But now we’ve said it is what is is, we’ve got what we’ve got and we’ll have to do as well as we can with what we’ve got.
“We lost a hell of a lot of players, but they’re playing higher so you can’t begrudge them that. We would have loved to have kept the side that we grew last year but it wasn’t to be.”
If all this sounds like one long grumble, then far from it. For despite the vagaries of bossing the East Molesey-based side, Cooper wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’ve got a job I’ve moulded since I’ve been in charge,” he explained. “I work Monday to Friday so I can go to every game, training etc.
“It’s a great release for me,” he said. “I’ve always been involved in football and I’ve got a supportive family. They are quite happy for me to go to football on Saturday despite all the hours I do working in the week. It’s something I love.
“The club’s been really good to me and they’ve been supportive in recent weeks bearing in mind our awful start.”
And if there is something that has brought a smile back to Cooper’s face in recent weeks, it’s been an upturn in results and the promise shown by the club’s youngsters.
When Late Tackle caught up with the Met Police boss, it was after their excellent win at Hendon – who had beaten his side in last season’s play-offs.
Quality goals from Taureen Roberts and Joe Turner – the latter set up by the club’s superbly-named captain Billy Crook – earned them three precious points.
Another player to catch the eye was centre-back Mekhail McLaughlin. Although not as tall, he looks like Manchester United’s Marouane Fellaini with his giant head of hair.
Fellaini is good in the air – and so too is McLaughlin with his springy leap.
“He’s 18 years of age, he’s on a two-year contract and we think he can go on to do good things in the game,” he said.
“He’s got a hell of a lot to learn and we had to talk to him at half-time about his positioning, but he stepped up to the plate in the second half and looked the player we know he can be.
“We’ve got a fantastic group of young kids. Ethan Chislett, who came on late on, is 17 and when you watch him for our youth team he’s spectacular. He’s another we’ve got on contract.”
And building up the club from the bottom could be one way to attract more people to come to watch them at Imber Court.
“We’re now a community club, an FA chartered club and we’ve got under-8s all the way through to under-18s,” he said. “Our youth team are a magificent side – the future is really good if we can bring those youth players through.”
At the age of 47 – and with only six years until retirement from his day job – Cooper has plenty left in the tank and could well be around to nurture those young guns.
“I’m very loyal to my profession and Met Police Football Club because they’ve shown loyalty back to me.
“I want to go on managing the club for as long as I possibly can and hopefully I can play my part in bringing success.”
So what would success be?
“For the club I think it would be to remain in the Ryman Premier and to compete in a Surrey Senior or London Senior Cup final.
“My own and Gavin’s viewpoint is that we regard success as getting promoted again.
“That’s not impossible because last season we reached the semi-finals and, in my opinion, were very unlucky on the night not to beat Hendon.
“Conference South would be a lot tougher than the Ryman Premier but we want to get promoted, there’s no two ways about it. We’ll do our best.”
