Mike Hooper (footballer)
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Michael Dudley Hooper | ||
| Date of birth | 10 February 1964 | ||
| Place of birth | Bristol, England | ||
| Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Mangotsfield United | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1983–1985 | Bristol City | 1 | (0) |
| 1985 | Wrexham | 34 | (0) |
| 1985–1993 | Liverpool | 51 | (0) |
| 1990 | → Leicester City (loan) | 14 | (0) |
| 1993–1996 | Newcastle United | 25 | (0) |
| 1995 | → Sunderland (loan) | 0 | (0) |
| Total | 125 | (0) | |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Michael Dudley "Mike" Hooper (born 10 February 1964 in Bristol) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was most notable for his spell with Liverpool, where he mainly operated as an understudy to Bruce Grobbelaar. He also played for Newcastle United, his last professional club.
Hooper attended Glenfrome Junior School. As goalkeeper for the school team, his towering height proved an imposing sight to the opposition. He later attended Lockleaze Comprehensive School and played as goalkeeper in the same school team as fellow future professional footballers Gary Smart, Gary Penrice and Ian Holloway, who were all roughly the same age.
Hooper received a first class degree in English Literature at Swansea University.
Having started his professional career at Bristol City in 1983, and tasting regular senior football after signing for Wrexham in the 1984-85 season, Hooper was signed by newly appointed Liverpool player-manager Kenny Dalglish for the 1985-86 season. He was at Anfield for eight years, during which time the club won six major trophies, but his first team opportunities were limited by the presence of Bruce Grobbelaar, his only real opportunities of first team football coming in 1988–89 when Grobbelaar missed 17 league games through illness, but when Grobbelaar recovered Hooper was back in the reserves. The arrival of David James in 1992 made his first team chances look even slimmer.
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