A lot has changed since Liam Cooper arrived at Leeds United back in 2014, although the defender has become part of the furniture at Elland Road. He has polarised supporters at times but has never once been deemed surplus to requirements, despite having been judged by 10 different managers during his time at the club.
David Hockaday was at the helm when Cooper's move from Chesterfield was finalised, although his tenure came to an end less than two weeks after the defender's signature was secured. By the time his maiden campaign at Elland Road was finished, he had worked under two more head coaches in Darko Milanic and Neil Redfearn. He then featured under Uwe Rosler and Steve Evans during the 2015/16 season, before acting as cover for the first choice centre-back pairing of Pontus Jansson and Kyle Bartley under Garry Monk.
Leeds remained a revolving door workplace until the appointment of Marcelo Bielsa and between Monk's departure and the arrival of the Argentine, Cooper worked under Thomas Christiansen and Paul Heckingbottom. His outing against Southampton was his first under current head coach Jesse Marsch and as explained by Opta's Jonny Cooper, his appearance made him the first Leeds player to make a league appearance under 10 different managers.
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Cooper and Kalvin Phillips are the only survivors of the turbulent 2014/15 campaign, although Leeds' club captain does not receive the same fanfare as Phillips does. His role on the international scene with Scotland is not as high-profile as the one Phillips plays for England either but his longevity at what has not always been the most stable of clubs demonstrates how highly he his valued by peers.
The current Leeds squad contains centre-backs with arguably higher profiles in Diego Llorente and Robin Koch, meanwhile Pascal Struijk is considered by many to be one of the most promising young defenders in the Premier League. However, Cooper emerged as one of Bielsa's most trusted lieutenants and was selected ahead of both Koch and Struijk by Marsch for the clash with Southampton.
His leadership qualities are routinely praised and when that is considered, it is not particularly surprising that he has outlasted every single player that was on the books when he joined except the homegrown hero Phillips.
