Forest Green boss Mark Cooper has paid tribute to his Leeds United childhood hero Peter Lorimer.
The Elland Road club’s record goalscorer and former Scotland international died on Saturday after a long illness at the age of 74.
Cooper, the son of former Leeds United and England defender Terry Cooper, recalled his schoolboy days of pretending to be the man variously dubbed “Hot-Shot” and “Lasher”, who was an integral member of the team assembled by Don Revie, which also included Eddie Gray, Jack Charlton, Billy Bremner, Johnny Giles, and Terry Cooper.
Cooper said: “My dad phoned me on Saturday morning after he received a call from Eddie Gray and told him Peter had passed, that’s a few of them gone this year and dad was upset with that.
“I can remember when I was a young boy living in Leeds, I had a little goal down the bottom of the garden and I used to kick the ball about and pretend I was hot-shot Lorimer and smashing the ball in the goal and shouting ‘Lorimer’ he was a fantastic player.”
Lorimer 705 appearances for the Whites over two spells and is the club’s record goalscorer, having netted 238 times in all competitions.
