Swindon Town

AS 2014 draws to a close, Mark Cooper says that he cannot wait for what the New Year will bring.

Speaking to Red&White, the official STFC matchday programme recently, the Gaffer explained that the past 12 months have been a learning curve for him and his staff.

“It’s been a good year,” he said. “If you look back on the calendar year and look how many points to games ratio I think it would be really high especially when we went to the 3-5-2 formation.

“I’ve learned loads. Dealing with a group of young professionals and young men, it’s totally different to a normal squad where you’ve got a lot of experienced players. It’s been really interesting. I think you definitely have to change your ways when dealing with young players. It’s more of a father figure role really so I think I’ve learned about dealing with the players. I also got a bit of stick about my media work but that’s just me – I like to think about what I’m going to say first so I’ve learned to be a bit more light-hearted. Not a lot, a little. You’re always learning about your players, learning about different tactics so I’ve really enjoyed it.”

Cooper admits that the mood inside the camp among the players has always been one of quiet confidence.

“We’ve added to the group really well,” he continued. “We haven’t got any characters that we’re not sure about. Every member of the group has bought into what myself and the staff are trying to do so that’s made it really easy for us. I don’t think anyone expected us to do that with the uncertainly in the summer because of the court case and the lack of recruitment. It was a bit of doom and gloom outside the building - definitely not in it - and we knew what we were trying to do in terms of what players we were going to get and we got 95% of the targets we wanted - fair play to the chairman again.”

Finally, the manager revealed his new year’s resolutions for 2015.

“My first one would be to not be as harsh on referees, which I’m getting better at. I’m going to try and not take the downs too harshly and I’m going to keep up my fitness regime. I can’t wait for 2015!”