Liam Cooper

 ( 1991 Births ) 

During the 2007–08 season, he was given the number 37 shirt but failed to make any appearances as the Tigers went on to win promotion to the Premier League for the first time in their history. He made his debut as 16-year-old for the club against Swansea City in the EFL Cup on 26 August 2008 and featured as an unused substitute in their Premier League defeat to Wigan Athletic four days later after signing his first professional contract. A year later, he would make his first Premier League start on 26 September 2009 at Anfield in a 6–1 defeat to Liverpool.

Over the following three years, Cooper would find his opportunities limited at Hull and spent brief periods out on loan at Carlisle United and Huddersfield Town in 2011. He briefly returned to the first team under Nick Barmby to form a solid partnership with James Chester in March 2012 for the rest of the season following an injury to Jack Hobbs. When Barmby departed for Steve Bruce in the summer of 2012, he was replaced by the new manager's son Alex.

The 2013–14 would prove to be a memorable campaign for both Cooper and Chesterfield under manager Paul Cook. The club reached the 2014 Football League Trophy Final and played at Wembley Stadium, but ultimately lost 3–1 to Peterborough United in front of more than 35,000 fans. In the league, Cooper formed a formidable partnership with Ian Evatt as the team won the division and were promoted to League One. At the end of the season, Cooper was named in the PFA Team of the Year along with three other Chesterfield players.

He made his debut three days later at home to Middlesbrough in a 1–0 win, before being made club captain by Neil Redfearn midway through his first season. He would struggle for consistency under a succession of managers, losing his starting place to Sol Bamba and later to Pontus Jansson, but would still go on to make over 100 appearances during his first four seasons with the club. During a period of 30 games between 2017 and 2018, Cooper was sent off three times and received another six game ban for a stamp on Reading defender Reece Oxford. His propensity to be a liability in games earned him the disparaging nickname 'League One Liam' among Leeds fans at the time, but Cooper remained a highly respected captain amongst his teammates. He kept hold of the captaincy during Thomas Christiansen and Paul Heckingbottom's time as manager in the 2017–18 campaign, who would be his 7th and 8th manager respectively at the club in less than four years.

The 2019–2020 marked Leeds' centenary year and Cooper's sixth season with the club. He would sign a new five-year deal with the club in September, and would be present at The Best FIFA Football Awards 2019 to collect the FIFA Fair Play Award on behalf of Bielsa and the Leeds United team for allowing Aston Villa to score an uncontested goal in the previous season. On the pitch, the team's nine–point lead at Christmas in the automatic promotion zone was completely eroded by the beginning of February after a run of four defeats in five games. With questions again being asked of Leeds' ability to maintain the form over the course of a full season, Cooper would score a crucial equaliser in a 1–1 draw in the following game against promotion rivals Brentford. It would later transpire that Cooper's son had been in hospital for three days prior to the game and there were doubts over whether he would play at all. The result proved to be a catalyst for the Yorkshire club's season, as they went on to win their next five games with Cooper being part of a defence that would also keep five clean sheets, taking the team back to the summit of the table and reestablishing a seven–point lead in the automatic promotion places. The momentum building around the club with only nine games remaining would be halted six days later when the season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The season would resume behind closed doors three months later in June, with Leeds' five match winning run coming to an immediate end with a 2–0 defeat to Cardiff City. Leeds would only drop two further points from the remaining eight games, as Leeds secured promotion to the Premier League on 17 July after West Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield Town beat West Bromwich Albion 2–1, and won the Championship title the following day after Brentford failed to beat Stoke City. Cooper became the first Leeds United captain to win promotion since Gordon Strachan in 1990 and lifted the Championship title on 22 July after a 4–0 win over Charlton Athletic on the final day of the season, immortalising himself in the club's history. He would also retain his place in the PFA Team of the Year.