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When Mike Hooper broke into the Liverpool first team, it looked as if
Kenny Dalglish had found a ready made replacement for Bruce Grobbelaar
even if, with the exception of his conspicuous ginger hair, Hooper had
nothing of Grobbelaar's flamboyance. If anything, the Bristol born
keeper was the complete opposite of his predecessor. Yet he was reliable
whenever called upon, did his job with the minimum of fuss and rarely
let the team down. As with many other goalkeepers, his breakthrough came
thanks to an injury to the regular number one. Signed by Dalglish from
Wrexham for a paltry £50000, Hooper made his Liverpool debut as a
second-half substitute at Wembley against Everton in the Charity Shield
after Grobbelaar was forced to come off. He then continued keeping goal
for the first eight games of the 1986-87 season before Grobbelaar
returned and reclaimed his place. Mike had to wait till the 1988-89
campaign for another extended run in the team.
Once again this came as
Grobbelaar's deputy but this time Dalglish opted to confirm his faith in
Hooper even when the regular keeper returned from the illness that had
kept him out. But with the team fighting to win the title, having a
relatively inexperienced keeper proved to be too much of a risk and
eventually Hooper returned to the sidelines. With the ageing Grobbelaar
becoming increasingly more erratic, new manager Graeme Souness decided
to try out Hooper and again he finally looked destined to claim the
number one spot. Sadly for Mike, injury struck at the worst possible
moment allowing Grobbelaar back into the team. When Souness signed David
James from Watford, Hooper's days at Liverpool seemed numbered. Yet
with the young England prospect struggling to settle and Grobbelaar
being constantly called to play for Zimbabwe, Mike once again got a look
in. However, Liverpool were struggling defensively and, as with all the
other keepers at the club, Hooper found the going difficult. A 2-0
defeat at the hands of Bolton in the FA Cup proved to be his last game
for Liverpool and Hooper was eventually sold to Newcastle in September
1993 for a fee of £550,000. (Paul Grech)
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