A personal tribute to Peterborough United great Robbie Cooke from a PT Posh writer who knew him well: ‘A proper poacher and a wise and intelligent man’

The wavy-headed goalscorer (68 in 137 appearances for Posh) arrived at London Road in May 1980 from Grantham Town wearing jeans and a tight sweater, weighing about 10 stone, confident, but not cocky, We didn’t know much about him, except he’d been at Mansfield with Posh boss Peter Morris, who was about to embark on a project to re-create his promotion-winning side at Peterborough United.

But BANG, On his debut at Lincoln, “Cookie” scored a neat goal in a 1-1 draw and then got off the team coach to push me and snapper David Lowndes, who was driving the office yellow Mini, out of a deep puddle at Sincil Bank. He scored in the next three games as well. A natural.

After that he became a good mate, always ready to offer a quote and definitely ready to score goals, usually darting onto a through ball, or nipping in ahead of the goalkeeper. A proper poacher, who epitomised the joy of scoring a goal, thrusting both arms in the air in what appeared to be astonishment every time he did just that.

His touch and bravery were outstanding, his fearlessness in one-on-one situations with the opposing goalkeeping was legendary. I cannot recall him missing in those situations any more than I can remember David Seaman dropping a cross during his time at Posh. Robbie’s mantra was: “Hit it early before the keeper is ready.”

He did just that when scoring the winner at Notts County in the FA Cup, in a match he tells me is the one Posh fans always talk to him about because there had never been an away support atmosphere like it. The picture (taken by Lowndesy of course) of him, skipper Billy Kellock and Dave McVay (who went on to become a Fleet Street football writer) celebrating with supporters who were behind safety bars at Meadow Lane is iconic.

After playing alongside David Moyes at Cambridge United (why did Posh let their top scorer and talisman leave for £12,000?) the two formed a friendship which would last through the decades as “Cookie” became chief scout at Everton and then Manchester United, following “Moysie.” All during that time he would share little snippets of football gossip, always knowing I would keep the knowledge to myself. Which I did.

It was always fun at the pub when he was around, sharp and clever - he could complete a crossword in no time, whilst wisecracking with the best. I remember when he came into his local - Greystones in Sawtry - after winning his first England C cap while playing under Peter Morris again at Kettering and tossing it to a bunch of youngsters saying: “take a look at that.” They were awe-struck.

By then he was working for Travelex, as a kind of foreign currency fraud detective, just as diligent about that as he was during his full time professional career which also took in bagging goals for Brentford and Millwall, where he lined up alongside Teddy Sheringham.

He finished his playing career as assistant manager to - guess who? - Peter Morris at Kettering (49 goals in 95 appearances. taking them into the fourth round of the FA Cup with recently-departed Posh number nine Ernie Moss alongside him) and went on to manage in non-league at Bourne and, impressively, Warboys, where I ghosted with him a column for the Norwich-based Pink ‘Un called The Cooke Retort. It was an apt title.

After Manchester United, he worked for Burnley, then helped out David Moyes again at West Ham, where he is credited with finding Tomas Soucek.

That was “Cookie” all over - he was intelligent and wise when it came to football...and just about everything else you talked to him about, well he was born in Rotherham, Yorkshire.

My deepest sympathy goes to his wife, Linda, and the rest of his family and friends, of which there are thousands.