Phil SumblerFor a man supposedly in demand the future of Steve Cooper is as uncertain now as it was almost six weeks ago when the first rumours of his departure from Swansea started to surface.
The season had not finished when Roy Hodgson announced he was moving on from Crystal Palace and the future of Steve Cooper was put under the spotlight as he was instilled as one of the favourites from the job.
Since then there have been stories of his representatives meeting the club, reports of an interview but after each one a different manager was placed at the front of the queue. First it was Nuno Espirito Santo who Palace identified as their number one target but he pulled out due to personal demands (allegedly!) and Cooper was back in the running. His interview was reported to have gone well but clearly not well enough as Palace moved onto another target in Lucien Favre, the former Borussia Dortmund boss.
It seemed inevitable that Favre would be appointed and was even so close as just completing the paperwork relating to a work permit. But last night it was reported that there had been a U-Turn from Favre and he no longer wanted the Palace job which left them completely abandoned in their search and needing to return back to one of their earlier targets and Cooper was back in the frame once again. Not so much second choice but even now as low as fourth or fifth choice – not something a manager supposedly in demand will be feeling particularly wonderful about. Especially when you start to wonder what prevented two previous first choices signing on the bottom line.
Ruled out of the running is another one of Palace’s targets in Valerien Ismael who joined West Brom yesterday so it starts to appear again as if all roads may point to Cooper. Well, at least those that have not already been marked as dead ends already.
All of this happens as the rumours increase that Cooper was on his way to Fulham as a replacement for Scott Parker. Rumours in West London said that was where he was heading yesterday for talks but he may now head further South towards Palace again should they be able to convince him that he is someone that they want at the club although quite how they manage a conversation about their two public chases that have failed remains to be seen.
Where it leaves us though is that, still, the future of Cooper remains as up in the air as it always has been and whilst it clearly doesn’t stop our pre-season plans when the players start to return at the start of July it won’t make them any easier.
