Squires Gate FC bids farewell to legendary photographer Albert Cooper
Albert Cooper received a picture perfect send-off at his beloved Squires Gate FC this week.
Described by Gate as “an incredible person and a legendary sports photographer", Albert's passing at the age of 90 was marked at Tuesday night's home game against Holker Old Boys.
No North West Counties Football League team can ever have been blessed with a club photographer so over-qualified for the role.
For 40 years Albert was a national newspaper 'snapper'. Working for the Mirror, he covered the 1966 World Cup final, photographed Muhammad Ali, Pele and Tiger Woods, and worked at countless Manchester United matches.
Though born in Barnsley, Albert made the Fylde coast his home and Squires Gate his club, for decades covering their non-league exploits with the same professional dedication he had shown for the greats of Old Trafford.
Among those who gathered to honour him at School Road on Tuesday was grandson Matthew King, who will ensure Albert's legacy lives on.
Like Albert a resident of St Annes, Matthew has staged exhibitions of his grandad's work in Blackpool and Manchester.
He told The Gazette: "I've done five exhibitions so far and I want to travel the world putting them on. I'll carry on doing this for as long as I can.
“I’m so proud of my grandad. He showed me the way in life, whether that was how to treat people or how to use a camera. He couldn’t have done more for me growing up.
"I started taking photos with him and shadowed him while he was working.
"He was the Mirror's main man at Old Trafford for many years. I remember him first taking me to Gate when I was about eight and I told him I'd rather go and watch United. He just said that he'd watched them for free for so long he wasn't going to start paying now!"
Another man with the fondest memories of Albert is Ian Moore, the secretary of Squires Gate who stepped into the biggest of shoes as club photographer.
"We had a mutual friend in (Gate manager) Luke Evans, who introduced me to Albert and we became great friends," recalls Ian.
"I told him I was interested in photography and I clicked into his wisdom while he fired off the pictures in his final year as club photographer.
"I've done the job with the best of teachers since 2021 and Albert carried on coming to the games until the end of last season. He was a proper Gate man."
The players did their bit to provide an ideal send-off for Albert, beating Holker 3-0 with goals by Jack Arrowsmith, Dean Ing and Finley Lynch.
Throughout this writer's 20 years as Gazette sports editor no-one sent me as many photos as Albert ... and nobody ever sent a better one.