COKEY MADE UP FOR HIS LATE START

COKEY AS REMEMBERED IN HIS PLAYING HEYDAY

It’s not just long in the tooth afficianados of Neilston F.C. who might go all misty-eyed at reading Gordon `Cokey `Cochrane was the player from a bygone age singled out this week to disclose the many reminisces of his Junior footballing days.

Tears might also understandably well up in the eyes of at least one ex-Pollok manager for whom asking the Brig O’ Lea playing legend for his remembrances was not all that different from the feeling one gets when sliding into a challenge knowing you’re going to get hurt.

Is one taking things too far ? Well not when there are all too vivid memories hanging over from 1997/98 and a Central First Division league campaign run-in which in its final week had the Newlandsfield outfit needing three points from their closing two matches (away to Neilson and Arthurlie) to be crowned champions.

What was a far from impossible ask for a team boasting the likes of Iain Spittal, Big Ashy, Danny Diver, Kevin O’Neil, Dougie Fontana and Davie Elliot had considerably more than a few degrees of difficulty added after a Cokey inspired Farmers Boys (he netted a brace of goals no less) ran out 4-1 winners on the Monday night.

An all or nothing 90 minutes against derby foes Arthurlie on the following Saturday was to finish goal-less yet if one moment encapsulated the title honours going the way of Maryhill ( on goal difference) it was the sight of their players somewhat dutifully slapping the backs of the Barrhead side as they trooped inside at the final whistle .

Whether the plaudits should actually have gone to Cokey & Co five days earlier is a matter of conjecture but not up for debate is the general acceptance that those 90’s and the ensuing noughties are when the then 30 year old was at the peak of his playing prowess?

And if it was needed, official recognition came when he was selected for a Lochburn Park staged Scotland Juniors trial outing against Maryhill around 2000.

Cokey laughed in recalling , “ Places in the Scotland squad about to be named for the Quadrangular Tournament were up for grabs and I was champing at the bit ahead of the Maryhill game despite being named as a substitute, but imagine how I felt watching on from the bench as our starting striker Norman Montgomery proceeded to help himself to three first half goals .

“Everyone had been promised at least 45 minutes and I replaced Monty at half time but deep down I knew there was never any way I was going to get the nod ahead of him after his hat trick heroics !”

Born and bred Paisley boy Cokey was your proverbial late starter after his pathway into football encountered all manner of hurdles not least of all a protracted teaching dispute during his formative years at Stanley Green Secondary which saw a total ban imposed on non-curricular activities such as `running a school football team`.

He scoffed ,” I did play for Stanley school sides in first and second year but we weren’t all that good if truth be told so the ban coming into effect was probably a good thing in many respects.

“ Organised kickabouts soon became the done thing while other football mad guys actually took to forming their own teams and I ended up playing for GlenNether United which was nothing more than a side combined of guys living in Gleniffer and Nethercraigs high rise flats .

“One of my team mates Derek Stevenson did show up well enough to get invited to train with Rangers but nothing ever came of it as far as I’m aware.”

While still at Under 14 level, Cokey played alongside Jim McGill ,who had a spell on St Mirren’s books along with younger brother Danny, in a more than decent Foxbar United team that reached the Scottish Cup Final only to lose 2-1 in a Love Street finale against Auchengill Amateurs from Easterhouse whose star turn he recalls was Paul Harvey, later to turn out with Manchester United , Motherwell and Clyde among others

Cokey’s own potential simmered away with Foxbar until Under 18’s football when his team manager ‘s friend , Graeme Sinclair ,the one and the same former Celtic , Manchester City and St Mirren defender, arranged for him to go in and train at another of his former clubs Dumbarton where Owen Coyle and Gerry McCoy were filling the striking jerseys under manager Mark Clougherty .

Not that Cokey’ was ever going to displace them because his feet were hardly in the door (3 months at the most) before Clougherty’s enforced departure along with the chore of travelling to Dumbarton three times per week brought him to turn his back on hopes of a Senior career so when a subsequent Lesser Hampden trial outing for Queens Park against an Army Select similarly came to no avail, he resorted to turning out with various Saturday and Sunday Morning amateur teams.

The passage of time then saw Cokey turn 23 before a chance meeting with a Paisley acquaintance Davie Hoy saw the question posed as to whether he would sign on the dotted line for crack local outfit Camphill Amateurs where Hoy and others like defensive lynchpin Alan Urqhuart and striker Stevie Campbell(better known as Big Shady) were playing.

Cokey elected to come on board and he immediately formed a prolific forward line partnership alongside Big Shady that enabled Camphill to be crowned Scottish Amateurs First Division champions as well as earning him selection for a Central League Select (also comprising of his later on Neilston team mate Davie“Spring` Wilson ) that lost 1-0 at Celtic Park against their Ayrshire counterparts.

Another three years down the line brought an approach from Neilston management duo Brian `Brass` Stevenston and Alex Gourlay (sadly no longer with us) wanting the four team mates to step up into the Juniors however the then 27 year old Cokey initially refrained from making the move on account of feeling he owed it to Camphill to see out the season with them first.

THE DETERMINATION AND TECHNIQUE THAT HAD BRASS CHASING COKEY’S SIGNATURE

Hoy, Urqhuart and Campbell went on to establish themselves as regulars prior to Cokey’s delayed arrival into a dressing room also boasting goalkeeper Jimmy Lyndsay, Ian ` Bagus` Penman, Big Spring and Gordon Graham (younger brother of Beith and Auchinleck Talbot great Gary ) for definite ???

He explained this relatively short listing thus , “ I had 11 wonderful years with Neilston all told and had the privilege of playing alongside scores of top Junior talents but at 55 years of age , I cannot for love or money remember all their names or when such and such came and left?

”I do know Neilston were in the Central Second Division when I came on the scene and that we were promoted at the end of the following one but I’m at a loss to pinpoint the there or thereabouts when Robert Fox, Paul Green, Dennis Connaghan, Willie Elliot , Jools Holland, Rab Fraser , Stevie Coyle and so many others of their ilk were doing their stuff or even whether they were doing it at one and the same time?”

Cokey went on ,”1998/99 stands out as being particularly memorable because that’s when we ended the club’s 50 plus year wait for silverware by winning the Sectional League Cup through a 5-0 trouncing of the much more fancied Bailleston at Fir Park.

“A funny thing about our victory was that I’d been playing as our main striker and had scored 12 goals during our Sectional games but come the Final itself, Brass dropped me back into central midfield and played the pairing of Paul Todd and Alan McQuade up front.

“ And I think their names were both on the scoresheet whereas I never had so much as a shot at goal in the entire 90 minutes.”

COKEY (5th from left standing)WITH NEILSTON’S 1998 CUP WINNING SIDE

The very mention of Brass , still a close friend to this day ,brought Cokey to recall an occasion (also against Bailleston) relating to his former manager’s legendary short fuse.

He takes up the story, “We’d just been turned over through at Station Park and Brian was giving us the full `hairdryer` treatment in the dressing room afterwards when the door opens and in comes a Bailleston official who handed him a tray of pies and sandwiches that Brian, without so much as a break in his rant, launched against the low ceiling.

“He then kept up his tirade about our performance and not a single player dared to move a muscle as the mince from the pies along with the various sandwich fillings oozed down on our heads!”

A bit of pulling and pushing were involved as 2002 brought the duo of Jimmy McQuade and James Ward to take up the Brig O’ Lea reins and piece together a team composed of what remnants of the Brass era remained such as Cokey, Spring and Tam Murdoch along with a veritable array of newcomers such as Robert Anderson , Andy Whiteford , Ryan McDonald, Gavin Duncan, Michael Fallon , Chris `Tiff“Aitken , the other Gary Wilson, Alan Waddell and James McGuire that were to come agonizingly close to winning the first ever West Superleague First Division title.

“ It was nip and tuck between Pollok and ourselves all the way through the season “ recounted Cokey.

“But we suffered a kick to the teeth from a 0-0 midweek draw down at Kilbirnie that left us needing Pollok to slip up in their final league game away to Cumnock however they won 3-1 to leave us needing a most unlikely victory margin of 14 goals in our last game of the season (also against Cumnock) .

“2-1 was the score so we lost out on goal difference and it was an even sorer one to take after we were relegated the following season on the back of Jimmy and James joining Hamilton Accies and taking Tiff, Andy Whiteford, Gary Wilson and Alan Waddell with them .”

What had been the all too rare occurrence of a Neilston trophy success was to be repeated in 2005 under the tutelage of Sammy Johnston and No 2 Gary Peebles when the early season Sectional League Cup was again held aloft following a 4-3 spot kicks triumph over East Kilbride Thistle (regulation time ended 0-0) and once more there was an undercurrent to Cokey getting his hands on the silverware.

COKEY (4th from right standing) CELEBRATING IN 2005 WITH HIS TEAM MATES

He revealed , “ I’d been rated doubtful in the days leading up to the game because of the imminent birth of my son Luke who took it upon himself to arrive at 9am on the morning of the Final and as you might expect I was shattered after being up all night because my wife had gone into labour.

“I got in touch with Sammy to say I would be available to play (after getting permission of course) but it would be putting it kindly to say my contribution was below par and Sammy had no choice other than to substitute me around the 70 minute mark.

“Thankfully the guys were able to get the Cup won without me and things got even better later in the same season when we got ourselves back up among the big guns by finishing atop the Super League First Division pile.”

Yet another Brig O’Lea highlight for the veteran campaigner arrived in the shape of a John Greig and Ian Durrant steered Rangers X1 coming through to East Renfrewshire to play in a testimonial match for him but the dreams he still nurtured of a silverware coated last hurrah were cruelly dashed in 2007 when aged 37, he and his Farmers Boys team mates lost 2-1 at home in a Scottish Junior Cup quarter final clash against Kilwinning Rangers .

COKEY( with son Luke) AT HIS TESTIMONIAL

He delved into his memory banks to say, “ Sammy was keen for me to coach players but I had a yearning to keep playing so I signed for Renfrew where my former team mate Rab Fraser was assistant to Danny Galt and I remained there for fully three seasons though without making a splash of any notice.

He continued , “ Danny being shown the door and replaced by the Colin Clark/Martin Ferry combo brought it home that my time was also up however instead of fading quietly into the background and being thankful to have played the game until my 40^th birthday , I decided to offer my services to Arthurlie Amateurs for whom a number of ex-Juniors like Derek Carson , Lee Martin and goalkeeper Alan Donahue were still pulling on the boots.

“ For the next four seasons ,I was to be running around the middle of the park for them and kidding myself on that I could have managed another season or two in the Juniors.”

The 2012 emergence of his son Luke as a prospect with St Mirren Youths coincided with Cokey feeling the time was right to pull the curtain down on his own playing days however his footballing involvement was not diluted in the slightest after Youth team boss Craig Ashwood roped him into coaching the youngsters even after a dispute led to the team going out on its own with a change of name to Arklestone Amateurs.

Upon turning 12, Luke moved to Glenvale Amateurs whose team manager Joe Hosuston , former Kilbirnie Ladeside goalkeeper , asked Cokey if he would help out and that was to be his lot for the next four years until the pandemic brought the near cessation of all youth football.

Cokey admitted , “ The enforced break saw many young guys switch allegiances and my boy Luke was no different to many others in electing to sign for Neilston Youths where I was getting away with a minimal involvement until Andy Whiteford telephoned to ask if I would lhelp him out of a pickle by looking after the running of their Under 20’s team.

“Luke is just coming up from the Under 18’s so it was killing two birds with one stone so to speak but truth is I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my role even if training Mondays and Wednesdays plus playing games on a Friday night takes up a lot of my time and that’s before taking into account the travelling involved to places like Auchinleck, Cumnock and Whitletts .”

“ The upside is helping develop younger players for the top team and both Dom Reilly and Owen Adam went on to do well while more recently, the likes of Sam Ballantyne, Alex Anderson and Josh Gilmartin have shown signs of making the breakthrough”

Don’t want to put pressure on Cokey however I’m surely not alone in thinking both his and Neilston’s situation is worth the watching after team boss Kevin Muirhead recently tendered his resignation and forced Andy Whiteford into taking interim charge while club officials await a response to them advertising their vacant post.

FIXTURES FOR SATURDAY 11^th NOVEMBER (Kick Offs 2 PM):

CLYDEBUILT HOME IMPROVEMENTS Scottish Junior Cup.Third Round. Gartcairn v Largs Thistle, Rutherglen Glencairn v Arthurlie, Dundee Downfield v Dalry Thistle, Hermes v Hurlford Utd, Dundee Violet v St Cadocs Rothie Rovers v Shotts Bon Accord, Johnstone Burgh v Irvine Meadow,P.D.M HUWS GRAY Premier Division. Pollok v Beith, Cumnock v Auchinleck Talbot, Clydebank v Darvel, Benburb v Glenafton.P.D.M HUWS GRAYFirst Division. Drumchapel Utd v Blantyre Vics, Ashfield v Kilbirnie Ladeside, Renfrew v Cambuslang Rangers, Maybole v Petershill.PDM HUWS GRAY Second Division. Bonnyton Thistle v Glasgow Perthshire, Craigmark v Wishaw, Maryhill v Vale of Clyde, Kilsyth Rangers v Cumbernauld Utd, Ardrossan Winton Rovers v St Anthonys, ,Caledonian Locomotives v Muirkirk, Larkhall Thistle v Yoker Athletic. PDM HUWS GRAYThird Division. Vale of Leven v Kilsyth Athletic, Glasgow Utd v Irvine Vics , Lanark Utd v Port Glasgow, Lesmahagow v Threave Rovers, Finnart v Greenock, Girvan v Bellshill Athletic.PDM HUWS GRAYFourth Division. Eglinton v Royal Albert, Glenvale v Giffnock SC, Carluke Rovers v Campbeltown Pupils, BSC Glasgow v Knightswood , Lugar Boswell v St Peters, Saltcoats Vics v Easterhouse. Strathclyde Demolition Cup.Neilston v Thorn Athletic, West Park Utd v Forth Wanderers.

Regards Jim O’Donnell