John Wark dreamed of lining up with Davie Cooper for his boyhood heroes Rangers.
And he told him so regularly. Heavy hints had no impact though as Wark never got to play alongside a player who he was in “awe” of for the Light Blues.
More surprisingly for the Ipswich and Liverpool legend though is the limited time they spent together as team-mates in the dark blue of Scotland.
Now 62, Wark will take a quiet moment to remember Cooper on the 25th anniversary of his tragic death today.
Wark said: “I am a Rangers fan and I was often in awe of Davie when I saw him play. He was something else.
“He never got enough games for Scotland. We had Gordon Strachan and John Robertson and often Davie had to settle for a place on the bench so I didn’t see the best of him as a Scotland team-mate.
“But I knew exactly what he was like as his quality was the exact same in training.
“He had that natural ability. When you first saw him you’d say, ‘Bloody hell who is this guy?’
“Davie would glide past people, he could go past three in the blink of an eye. His talent was scary.
“I liked Davie off the park too. He was a typical Glasgow boy. I was always talking to him about Rangers telling him, ‘I wish I played for your team’.
“That never happened and unfortunately it didn’t happen often enough in a Scotland side either.
“Jock Stein seemed to prefer Robertson in that position and to be fair John was a great player too.
“I can’t believe that’s been 25 years since we lost Davie. He was a special player and a special person. One of the best.”
