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Hooper, Gary
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Personal
Fullname: Gary Hooperaka: Super Hooper/ Hooperman
Born: 26 Jan 1988
Birthplace: Loughton, Essex
Signed: 27 July 2010 (from Scunthorpe £2.4m)
Left:
Position: Forward, Striker
Debut: Olympique Lyonnais (a) Friendly (Emirates Cup) 31 July 2010
Squad No.: 88
Internationals: ? [which international team played for]
International Caps: ? [complete at end of career]
International Goals: ? [complete at end of career]
Biog
Gary Hooper started his career playing non-League football for Grays Athletic in 2004 as a 16 year old, playing in both the Conference South and Conference National. His 23 goals in 71 appearances earned him a trial at Southend Utd in July 2006 where he was rewarded with a 1 year contract. Whilst at Southend Utd he was loaned to both Leyton Orient (March to May 2007) and Hereford Utd (January to May 2008), where his 11 goals in 19 games helped Hereford earn promotion from League 2. This earned him a £125,000 move to League side Scunthorpe United, where in his first season he scored 24 goals in 43 league games as Scunthorpe earned promotion to the Championship. He would go on to score a further 19 league goals in 35 league games in the Championship before being transferred to Celtic in July 2010 for £2.4M.
At Celtic, Hooper scored on his debut against Olympique Lyonnais in the pre-season Emirates Cup in London and also in his first competitive match against FC Braga in the home leg of the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.
After scoring 19 goals in 31 games, Gary was nominated for Scottish Player and Young Player Of The Year which he unfortunately did not win.
His form in his first season at Celtic saw him included in the England U21 squad for matches against Denmark and Iceland in March 2011. Injury would prevent Hooper from joining up with the squad, and although he was included in the provisional squad for the 2011 European U21 Championships in Denmark, he missed the cut for the final 24 man squad.
[....needs heavily updated.....]
He will have the great honour of having scored the last goal v Rangers (oldco) ever, with the wonderful irony of his name Hooper driving another stake into their chest.
One of his great displays saw him score five goals v Hearts in league match. Granted it easy the last match of the season, but it was testament to his ability.
Hooper has been a revelation. The increasing philosophy at clubs has been that of attacking midfielders providing the goals with less emphasis on the strikers, if anything some top teams seem to play without strikers (flexible 4-6-0 formation). However, players like Hooper blow out the water the premature obituary for strikers. His great strike rate and skill are invaluable.
The quality of a number of his goals made him respected, but he has great positional sense as well, and this has meant grabbing those goals from rebounds and near misses that add up at the end for three points. Great burst of pace and a strong focus for goal gave him the advantage over others and made him a handful.
In truth he has had his minus points too. Possibly due to earlier inexperience (he had only played at lower levels before) he struggled badly as a lone striker (4-5-1 formation) when needed to play there for Celtic in early days. He allways needed a foil player or support man be it Samaras or Stokes. This didn't help when you had to lose your main striker for certain games in tough European matches, but it was needed else we'd have been handicapped, which meant that Samaras would be preferred in those games we played a 4-5-1 formation. Hooper could also sometimes blow hot & cold, but in fairness you can't always be effective. He more than made up for it
He was no Larsson or Cadete, but that is not fair as those players were something else. Compared to say Scott Mcdonald, Brian McLair or the like, he was more than a match for those prolific strikers and did the business when needed. In an era, where strikers seem to be thin on the gorund
If anything, the crowds want great strikers to watch. Liverpool curiously paid £35m for the ineffectual Andy Carroll who having played until the second tier at same time at Hooper actually scored less in that division. Celtic struck the better deal, and Kenny Dalglish made the poor decision for Liverpool. It was another great buy from Celtic to take Hooper, and maybe he now deserved a call up to the England squad.
[...]
Scottish Cup:
Scunthorpe United striker Gary Hooper has completed his £2.4m move to Celtic, making him Neil Lennon's sixth signing.
Hooper, 22, joined the Celtic squad at Glasgow Airport to fly to Portugal to play Braga on Wednesday. "I'm a little bit nervous, it's the first time I've travelled abroad for a game," said the ex-Scunthorpe player. "But I am looking forward to it and ready to meet my team-mates. When I knew Celtic were interested they were the only club I wanted to come to."
His form in his first season at Celtic saw him included in the England U21 squad for matches against Denmark and Iceland in March 2011. Injury would prevent Hooper from joining up with the squad, and although he was included in the provisional squad for the 2011 European U21 Championships in Denmark, he missed the cut for the final 24 man squad.
[....needs heavily updated.....]
He will have the great honour of having scored the last goal v Rangers (oldco) ever, with the wonderful irony of his name Hooper driving another stake into their chest.
One of his great displays saw him score five goals v Hearts in league match. Granted it easy the last match of the season, but it was testament to his ability.
Hooper has been a revelation. The increasing philosophy at clubs has been that of attacking midfielders providing the goals with less emphasis on the strikers, if anything some top teams seem to play without strikers (flexible 4-6-0 formation). However, players like Hooper blow out the water the premature obituary for strikers. His great strike rate and skill are invaluable.
The quality of a number of his goals made him respected, but he has great positional sense as well, and this has meant grabbing those goals from rebounds and near misses that add up at the end for three points. Great burst of pace and a strong focus for goal gave him the advantage over others and made him a handful.
In truth he has had his minus points too. Possibly due to earlier inexperience (he had only played at lower levels before) he struggled badly as a lone striker (4-5-1 formation) when needed to play there for Celtic in early days. He allways needed a foil player or support man be it Samaras or Stokes. This didn't help when you had to lose your main striker for certain games in tough European matches, but it was needed else we'd have been handicapped, which meant that Samaras would be preferred in those games we played a 4-5-1 formation. Hooper could also sometimes blow hot & cold, but in fairness you can't always be effective. He more than made up for it
He was no Larsson or Cadete, but that is not fair as those players were something else. Compared to say Scott Mcdonald, Brian McLair or the like, he was more than a match for those prolific strikers and did the business when needed. In an era, where strikers seem to be thin on the gorund
If anything, the crowds want great strikers to watch. Liverpool curiously paid £35m for the ineffectual Andy Carroll who having played until the second tier at same time at Hooper actually scored less in that division. Celtic struck the better deal, and Kenny Dalglish made the poor decision for Liverpool. It was another great buy from Celtic to take Hooper, and maybe he now deserved a call up to the England squad.
[...]
Playing Career
[Table to indicate clubs played for, including dates, transfers and fees where known [e.g. soccerbase table]]| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 2010/2011 | 26 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 36 |
| Goals | 20 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 22 |
| 2011/2012 | 37 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 51 |
| Goals | 24 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 29 |
| Total Apperances | 63 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 86 |
| Total Goals | 44 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 51 |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish Premier League:Scottish Cup:
Pictures
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Hooper completes switch to Celtic
Scunthorpe United striker Gary Hooper has completed his £2.4m move to Celtic, making him Neil Lennon's sixth signing.
Hooper, 22, joined the Celtic squad at Glasgow Airport to fly to Portugal to play Braga on Wednesday. "I'm a little bit nervous, it's the first time I've travelled abroad for a game," said the ex-Scunthorpe player. "But I am looking forward to it and ready to meet my team-mates. When I knew Celtic were interested they were the only club I wanted to come to."
Hooper completed his medical at 2000 BST on Monday evening and had to complete the formalities of his transfer the following morning before meeting the rest of the squad at the airport. Ahead of the Champions League qualifier against the Portuguese Liga Sagres runners-up, manager Lennon said of his new striker: "I don't know about playing but he will be in the squad. "I was pleased to get him. He has been on our radar a while. "I think we have a good player on our hands, his record is very good. "It's not just goals, he can play a little bit as well and there were a lot of clubs after his signature." Hooper has been Scunthorpe's leading scorer with 50 goals over the last two seasons and had attracted the attention of several clubs including Leeds United and Derby County.
However, Lennon's side were favourites to land Hooper for several months and with the prospect of Champions League football, a move north of the border was an attractive proposition to a player who was with non-league Grays Athletic a little over five years ago. Hooper was lined up to make his first pre-season appearance of the summer during the Iron's 1-0 friendly win over Sheffield Wednesday at Glanford Park on Saturday.
The SPL club have already signed Joe Ledley, Efrain Juarez, Daryl Murphy, Cha Du-Ri and Charlie Mulgrew. England goalkeeper David James has delayed a planned trip to Glasgow for possible signing talks in order to deal with a family matter.
The SPL club have already signed Joe Ledley, Efrain Juarez, Daryl Murphy, Cha Du-Ri and Charlie Mulgrew. England goalkeeper David James has delayed a planned trip to Glasgow for possible signing talks in order to deal with a family matter.
Gary Hooper: The Economical Striker
Source: http://kieranmckenna.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/gary-hooper-the-economical-striker/Posted March 15, 2012 by kieranmckenna
Gary Hooper: The Economical Striker
Former Rangers Nikica Jelavic marked his arrival in English football last week, hitting the winner for Everton against Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League. The Croatian striker sealed his move to Merseyside in the January transfer window, having abandoned a sinking ship in Glasgow, for a fee of around £5.5m.
Across the city there is another striker who was heavily touted for a move South of the border in January.
Celtic hitman Gary Hooper was linked with a move to Championship high-flyers Southampton, as boss Nigel Adkins prepares to take the South-coast club back to the promised land of the Premier League.
It didn’t come as a surprise to Celtic fans that there was interest in the former Scunthorpe striker, but eyebrows were raised by the lack of top-flights interest in their top scorer.
Perhaps he has flown under the radar. His non-League background may not have alerted him to clubs at England’s top table. After being released by Spurs, Hooper went on to have fairly quiet spells with Grays Athletic and Southend United.
However, 11 goals in 19 games for Hereford brought him to the attention of Scunthorpe manager, a certain Nigel Adkins. It was at Glanford Park where Hooper started to build a reputation in the football League, scoring 30 goals and firing his new club to promotion.
The next season, Hooper scored 19 League goals (2 more than £35m forward Andy Carroll) but it wasn’t enough to save Scunthorpe from the drop.
Scunthorpe’s loss would prove to be Celtic’s gain, as Neil Lennon took the Essex-born Hooper to Glasgow. Injuries meant that his Parkhead career was off to a stuttering start, but the Celtic fans had seen glimpses of the predatory instincts of the man they subsequently dubbed ‘Hooperman’.
He scored crucial goals in wins over Dundee United, St. Mirren and arch rivals Rangers. He forged an excellent understanding with Irishman, Anthony Stokes, and both players notched hat-tricks in a record 9-0 win over Aberdeen.
Hooper would end the season with 20 goals in just 26 games. A strike rate bettered only by Ronaldo, Messi and Di Natale.
This season has seen Hooper’s all-round game develop almost beyond recognition. In his debut season he was adored for his goal-poaching ability, and filing the role of penalty box striker Celtic had been missing. His first touch has improved, as has his ability to hold the ball up the play and link-up with his teammates.
What makes his goal-scoring exploits all the more impressive, is that he is surprisingly unselfish and he doesn’t often miss. If he doesn’t have a clear aim at goal, he plays it to a team mate and keeps the ball moving rather than taking a pot-shot. In fact, Hoopers’ 16 League goals this season have come from just 31 shots.
Hooper isn’t the best striker in Europe – far from it. But he might just be the most economic striker in Europe right now. The dictionary definition of economical is ‘avoiding waste or extravagance’. A definition that almost perfectly describes Hooper’s style of play. He isn’t unnecessarily flash or flamboyant, and doesn’t waste the chances he gets. He scores goals.
And the stats are there to back it up. The table beneath represents the shots:goals ratio as a percentage, and compares Hoopers’ stats to a sample of scorers from top European Leagues.
| Shots | Goals | Shots:Goals | |
| Gary Hooper (Celtic) | 31 | 16 | 51.61% |
| Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid) | 49 | 17 | 34.69% |
| Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Schalke) | 66 | 19 | 28.79% |
| Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich) | 77 | 21 | 27.27% |
| Nikica Jelavic (Rangers/Everton) | 56 | 14 | 25.00% |
| Lionel Messi (Barcelona) | 132 | 30 | 22.73% |
| Robin Van Persie (Arsenal) | 126 | 26 | 20.63% |
| Demba Ba (Newcastle United) | 78 | 16 | 20.51% |
| Falcao (Athletico Madrid) | 83 | 16 | 19.28% |
| Ronaldo (Real Madrid) | 176 | 32 | 18.18% |
| Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) | 112 | 20 | 17.86% |
| Sergio Aguero Manchester City) | 90 | 16 | 17.78% |
The counter-argument will naturally allude to the SPL being a ‘lesser’ League. But the stats are impressive nonetheless, and his goal scoring exploits have extended into European competition, too. Any manager aiming to solve goal scoring issues (yes, you Mr Dalglish) must feel that Gary Hooper is a gamble worth taking.
But what about International recognition? It’s notoriously tough for English players playing in Scotland to get a call to represent their country – just ask Chris Sutton. But with Rooney suspended, Bent injured, Carroll struggling for form and Defoe struggling for game time is ‘Hooperman’ not worth a look?
He has been one of the key performers for Celtic in overturning a 15 point deficit, which is now a 21 point advantage. Even without Rangers’ 10 point penalty for going into administration, the Hoops would still be 11 ahead having made up a staggering 26 points on their fiercest rivals.
Either way, the rise of Gary Hooper from non-League football over the last few years has been pretty incredible.
Only time will tell how much further he can go.
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Latest page update: made by joebloggscity
, Jan 15 2013, 5:55 AM EST
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