John Cooke
Appointed Manager: October 1990
Departed: March 1991
First game in charge: 6th November 1990
v Bangor City (Int Lge Cup) home W 2-1
Last game in charge: 23rd March 1991
v Southport away L 0-4
Games in charge: Played 25 Won 9 Drawn 3 Lost 13
Honours with Mossley none

Clubs as Player:

Manchester United (Youth)
Altrincham
Goole Town
Wigan Athletic
Droylsden

Previous Clubs as Manager   Droylsden
Later Clubs as Manager   Manchester United (Youth Coach)

John Cooke's playing career took him to Manchester United, Altrincham, Goole Town and Wigan Athletic. He stepped into management with Droylsden in 1977. He later had spells as assistant manager to Brian Kidd at Barrow, Stalybridge Celtic and Altrincham and was the reserve team boss with Preston North End.

Cooke was appointed manager of Mossley on 26th October 1990 and had a promising spell in charge, reflected in performances more than results.

Assisted by Kevin Gorman, the future looked rosy. It came as a great shock to everyone when Cooke suddenly resigned following a second successive defeat on 23rd March 1991 citing business commitments as the reason for his departure.

Cooke later became an established youth coach with Manchester United.

John's son, Christian, signed for Mossley from Macclesfield Town in August 2005.



Kevn Gorman
Appointed Assistant manager: October 1990
Departed: March 1991

Clubs as Player:

Bacup Borough
Barrow
Horwich RMI
Droylsden
Mossley (2 spells)
Southport
Hyde United
Buxtton
Chadderton
Stalybridge Celtic
Previous Clubs as Manager   none
Later Clubs as Manager   none

Kevin Gorman was born in Manchester on 26th October 1953.

His early playing career saw him play for Bacup Borough, Horwich RMI, Barrow and Droylsden before signing for Mossley in January 1979 for a £500 fee.

A gritty but skilful midfield general Gorman quickly established himself in the team and was a mainstay of the all conquering side of the late 1970's and early 1980's under Bob Murphy. He made a total of 247 appearances for Mossley scoring 32 goals before moving to play for Southport in December 1983 following Bob Murphy's resignation.

Spells with Hyde United, Buxton, Chadderton and Stalybridge Celtic followed before he returned to Mossley in the twilight of his career in December 1989 under Mark Hilton. Following Hilton's departure he was made Caretaker-Manager but his work was to prevent him from taking the job permanently, though it was offered to him.

When Gorman was put in temporary charge in October 1990, he brought in John Cooke to help him and it was Cooke who was to become Manager with Gorman agreeing to stay and assist as Player-Coach.

In his second spell as a Mossley player Kevin Gorman made a further 51 appearances scoring 5 goals.