Cooper – It’s DecisionTime

The Darlington & Stockton Times is today reporting that manager Mark Cooper’s position as Darlington manager remains unclear, and states that he says he is tempted by Grimsby Town’s offer of a two-year contract.

With his current deal with Darlington due to expire in June and the lack of contract talks at The Northern Echo Arena, 42-year-old Cooper is considering his options.
A question mark still hangs over the ownership of the Arena and, until that is resolved, the Quakers’ hierarchy do not believe they can commit themselves to extending Cooper’s contract.

Darlington turned down Grimsby’s initial approach for both Cooper and his assistant Richard Dryden. However, the managerial duo are understood to have held talks with the Mariners.

The Mariners are keen to appoint Cooper before the weekend and had been expecting to reveal him in a press conference today. But those plans changed after their approach for Cooper and Dryden was turned down.

It is not the first time this season that Darlington`s chairman, Rat Singh, has turned down approaches for Cooper. Both York City and Lincoln City had their advances rebuffed last October.

Although both Cooper and Dryden have the option of resigning before joining Grimsby, who are three places below Darlington in the BSB Premier, the Mariners would then have to pay compensation. Whether, or not, Grimsby are willing to become involved in that situation is not yet clear.

The Northern Echo reports that Cooper is considering Grimsby’s offer due not only due to his current deal expiring in June, but also due to own experiences of 12 months ago.
At that time, he found himself out of work, after being sacked by Peterborough United in February. He initially struggled to find a suitable position, and now he has been offered the security of a two-year contract by the Mariners.