The other catalyst - along with Kevin Campbell - of the van Hoojdonk strike fiasco and the abject Forest collapse towards inevitable relegation from the Premiership in 1998-99. At the time Cooper was club captain and a cult figure with the supporters - not to mention a critical part of the defence. So very few people were exactly amused when he was suddenly sold.

When Frank Clark took over from Brian Clough in 1993, he assembled his backroom staff and asked them who were the two players they'd most like to sign. The answers were Colin Cooper and Stan Collymore. The prompt signings of both went a long way towards restoring morale and putting the club back on the right track, even if only on the playing side.

Coops was born and brought up in Middlesbrough - indeed he formed what must have been a pretty sound defensive partnership with Gary Pallister at the beginning of both their careers. Boro were stupid enough to let them both go (see, it isn't only us!), and when we signed him he had just spent a highly successful season at Millwall. Not especially tall for a defender, he is none the less one of the best defensive players we have had since the heady days of Burns, Lloyd and Needham. Strong in the tackle, a good captain and blessed with a good enough football brain to use the ball excellently from the back (indeed when injuries forced him into midfield he did not look out of place), he could and should have been at the heart of our defence for many more seasons than he was.

Coops' excellence in the newly promoted side of 1994-95 even forced him into the England reckoning - 2 caps, if memory serves, around the time of Le Tournoi. In truth he probably wasn't quite up to international football, but the margin must have been very small.

Certainly he was a good and extremely popular servant for us - witness the standing ovation he received on running out to warm up on his return with Middlesborough a few weeks after his sale - and he was still getting consistently rave reviews in the papers when drafted into their expensive side in emergency as late as 2005.

How we could use someone of his quality now!