Classic photos by Albert Cooper

In Issue 4 of North West Side Stories, we featured an interview with retired press photographer Albert Cooper, who now takes photos for Squires Gate and Kirkham & Wesham at their home games.

In his working days Albert was one of the top sports photographers in the country, working for the Daily Mirror and The Sun at all the major sports events.

Through that, he obviously has an amazing back catalogue of pictures, and he has generously offered to share some with us and tell the stories behind them. We feature four photos from Albert’s library here, along with his descriptions of the stories behind them.

The good news is there’s more to come, and we’ll feature another four in the next issue. Obviously, the photographs are copyright of Albert Cooper and must not be reproduced without his permission.

Click the thumbnail image in the column on the right to see an enlarged version of the picture.

Picture 1 - Bobby and Jack Charlton at the end of the World Cup Final

For the 1966 World Cup Finals I was assigned to the games in the North, which were at Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Everton, and our Southern based photographer covered the games at Wembley. When it came to the Final, the paper arranged for me to get a pass, but it wasn’t a pitchside pass, it was a gantry pass.

Above the entrance to Wembley Stadium there was a gantry and I was on there with the television guys, with a telephoto lens. In those days the quality of those lenses wasn’t as good, and although I spent the game shooting pictures from there I was really wasting my time. There were about 200 photographers around the pitch and I was high up on this gantry right at the back of the crowd, so pictures of the game were better from the pitch side.

At the end of the game, everyone was on the pitch surrounding Bobby Moore and Alf Ramsey, and there was no way I’d get a decent picture of them, so I started looking around for other opportunities. I saw Jack Charlton run towards Bobby so I focussed on those two and when they met in the middle of the pitch they both dropped to their knees and hugged each other. No one else, not even television, picked this up.

It’s not the best quality picture in the world, but it was taken right from the back of the crowd, and you’d have been struggling to pick up figures on the pitch with the naked eye. It’s a good news picture, I just got that moment when they hugged one another and dropped to their knees and I don’t think anyone else saw it.

People would sometimes ask me how I could be at a big event like the World Cup Final and ignore everything that was going around to try and get a picture. I used to work with guys who would say “Forget it, I’m watching the game and I’ll take a few shots when it’s convenient and enjoy the day”. But I was never like that, I’ve got to get a picture. I’m always looking for a picture, and that shot on that day was the one I was looking for.

Another story I remember from the day concerns an old colleague of mine John Varley, who was a Leeds based photographer. He had passes for games in the North, and he appeared at Wembley on the day. I asked him how on earth he had managed to get a pass for Wembley, and it just shows that initiative can be a wonderful thing.

What happened was that before the tournament they issued different armbands to photographers to each game, but for ball boys they used boy scouts and each scout had the same armband, for every game including the final. So at the end of one of the earlier group games, John asked one of the scouts at the game to swap armbands. Then on the day of the final, he turned up at Wembley and was let in because he said he was helping look after the boy scouts!

Picture 2 - Matt Busby and a bucket

In 1968, Manchester United won the European Cup against Benfica at Wembley. Before the game I spent time at the Russell Hotel where the team were staying, with the journalists doing pre match interviews. I said to Matt Busby we had been told that photographers wouldn’t be allowed into the dressing rooms after the match. We always used to like doing that and get a picture of the players in the bath, filling the cup with champagne and so on, so I asked Matt if he could help me.

Matt went to the hotel reception and got some headed notepaper, and asked one of the staff to type a note while I waited. He told the girl to type on the sheet of paper “Please admit Albert Cooper, Sun photographer, to our dressing room at the end of the game”, and signed it himself.

Anyway, I put it in my pocket and at the end of the game I shot down the tunnel, flashed the bit of paper at the security guard who was at the dressing room door and went in. Just as the players and Matt followed me in, two arms grabbed me from behind, one under each arm and the next time my feet touched the floor was at the top of the tunnel back at the side of the pitch! So in the end Matt’s plan didn’t work, but I’ve still got that piece of paper to this day, it’s a nice souvenir of the night.

My favourite picture from that game was one I took in extra time, of Matt Busby and a bucket of water. I think it’s either George Best or John Aston sitting down and Matt is carrying the bucket over.

Picture 3 - Stanley Matthews in Malta

Stan went to live in Malta with his second wife and one of the journalists I worked with, John Bean, used to live in Stoke and knew him. John asked me if I fancied going out to Malta and doing a piece on Stan for his 60th birthday, so off we went.

Stan had done some coaching after he finished playing, and when we got out there, he told us that he was still playing, and that he had a game in a day or two. He had ended up playing in a local league for the Maltese Post Office, and they were playing a team of Italian waiters.

This picture is from the game against the waiters, and it shows Stan aged 60 still able to take on and beat lads in their 20’s. In fact, he was still able to run rings round them. Not only that, all his life he was up against players who wanted to prove they could face up to him, and must have taken a fair amount of stick over the years, so to still be able to play at 60 was a great achievement.

One of the reasons he lasted so long was that he was such a stickler for diet and fitness. When we were out there he took me to meet his baker, who used to bake him fresh bread to his own recipe in what was almost like a cave, like the Italians cook pizzas in a hole in the wall. Stan said I had to come and meet him, and I didn’t need any encouragement as I do like my food.

Another thing I remember from the trip was that Stan’s wife grew capers in the garden and used to pickle them. I’d never tried them until then, and now because of that I’ve liked them ever since and buy them quite regularly – all thanks to Stan and his wife. Another memory from the trip was that Stan’s wife kept feeding me her home made cookies, so I probably arrived home a good deal heavier than when I went.

I made sure I got a souvenir from that trip by getting Stan to sign an envelope, and I then went to the Post Office and got it franked on the day he played in the game.

Picture 4 - George Best and Mike Summerbee

I came on the scene as a sport photographer in the North on the Sun, but prior to that had been freelance. When you are a freelance, you do football on a Saturday and possibly a Wednesday and that was it. You’ve got to make a living on the other days of the week so I used to try and come up with ideas for pictures that had a significance, marking milestones and records or unusual and noteworthy events.

I’d just joined the Sun after freelancing in Sheffield and George Best wasn’t very old then but was hitting the headlines. He had gone into business with Mike Summerbee and they had a little boutique shop in Sale.

This picture was taken in 1966 I think. Manchester City had been promoted the previous season and they were due to play United in the derby game, which was the first one for many years, and it was the first time the two business partners were going to be up against one another.

So our reporter, the late Frank Clough, asked me if I fancied doing a picture of them both. We went down to the boutique, and I always had props with me in the car, so I got out a set of toy guns, which were actually my son’s.

I always used to try and think in headlines when coming up with picture ideas, and because I was working for the Sun my thought here was “A duel in the sun”. So I got the guns and asked them to stand back to back. They are actually standing around the back of the shop on a local rubbish tip!

I started off by taking a “High Noon” shot, with both of them drawing guns, but the distance between them ruined the picture, so I got them together, stood them back to back and did a close up shot. It’s a picture that doesn’t need any explanation, the message hits you straight away.

I like this one because it was an original picture at the time. It’s great when you come up with a new idea and the picture works out. That picture was copied by a photographer who photographed Franz Beckenbauer and Bobby Moore doing the same thing, and it’s nice when you see others picking up on an idea that was yours.

I did a similar shot many years later when Ian Rush and Kevin Ratcliffe were with the Wales squad a few days before they were due to play in a Merseyside derby. I went down to a Wales training session to get the picture.

Albert Cooper

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