Source: Northern_Echo
Friends reunited as Singh seeks stability
MARK Cooper's assistant at Darlington is Richard Dryden, the duo reunited having taken their first steps in management together at Tamworth.[LNB] Six years ago they ended their playing days with the Lambs and made the transition into management for a near three-year spell.[LNB] That their first management experience came together was apt, as despite both having enjoyed somewhat nomadic playing careers, they started their playing days alongside each other in Bristol Cooper was at City and Dryden with Rovers before their paths crossed at Exeter City in 1989.[LNB] Each spent two years at St James' Park under the management of Terry Cooper, Mark's father, and won the Division Four title in 1990, 12 months before Darlington did likewise.[LNB] After leaving Exeter in 1991, both weren't afraid to travel.[LNB] Cooper, a midfielder, took in spells at clubs such as Birmingham, Fulham, Hartlepool, Rushden and Hereford, but defender Dryden was more successful.[LNB] He reunited with Mark's father when he was manager at Birmingham before the tall centre-back was bought for £150,000 in 1996 by then Premier League Southampton, where he played under Graeme Souness.[LNB] Among his team-mates were Neil Maddison, now involved in Darlington's youth set-up, and Dryden spent five years at the Dell before winding down his career with spells at the likes of Luton, Scarborough, Worksop and, finally, Tamworth.[LNB] After both left the Lambs in January 2007 by mutual consent, Cooper soon found himself at the helm of Kettering.[LNB] In late 2007, Dryden became manager at Worcester City, where he stayed until January this year before being sacked.[LNB] By coincidence, Cooper was sacked just days later by Peterborough.[LNB] Having been out of work for almost six months, the pair are in tandem again.[LNB] I was at Worcester as manager for two-and-a-half years and when the opportunity came up to work again with Mark I jumped at it, because we've had success before, he said.[LNB] We speak a lot on the phone and he often helped me at Worcester and we would bounce ideas off each other, so I'm looking forward to working with him again.[LNB] Cooper is no stranger to the North-East, having spent 18 months at Hartlepool in the mid-1990s and living on Teesside in the 70s, when his father played for Middlesbrough.[LNB] Dryden, however, is new to the region.[LNB] He played for 14 different clubs but none of them in the area, though he does vaguely remember playing in the North-East for Exeter City.[LNB] I think I scored against Darlington once it was either them or Hartlepool! It was raining, I remember that much,'' he said. I've forgotten now because the journey was so long I was brain dead by the time we got there![LNB] For the record, the goal came at Hartlepool in a 3-0 Exeter win in August 1989.[LNB]
