COLIN Cooper has ticked a lot of boxes on his football CV: player, captain, England international, Premier League defender, coach, assistant manager, yo uth team coach, reserve team chief and caretaker manager.

Until last week, and his appointment at Hartlepool United, one box remained empty. It's the one he's had his eyes on for a while, one he has had to wait for until the big opportunity came along.

He's been close in the past to getting there, but now it has arrived; the chance to be a football manager, and one he is determined to make the most of.

There's professional pride and a lot of personal honour at stake as he becomes Pools' sixth manager in just five years (caretakers included) and he is the club's first appointment with the proper title of manager since Danny Wilson in 2006.

Trimdon-born, Cooper is entrenched in North-East football, to the extent he regularly refers to the club as "Pools"'. A little local knowledge goes a long way.

With his former club ten miles down the A19 from Victoria Park and his birthplace of Trimdon closer still, there's not many in North-East football the 46-year-old doesn't know.

"I'm in the North-East, but if the opportunity had come for me in the opposite end of the country, then it's something I would have taken,'' he admitted.

"But it helps that I know the area, know the people, the players, because you keep an eye on all the North-East football if you like.

"I am from the North-East so I have to make it a success because my mates from Trimdon, the people at Middlesbrough, the supporters at Hartlepool - I don't want to let them down.

"It comes with different things and the driving force is that I don't want my mates, the people of Middlesbrough and Hartlepool saying that I couldn't actually do it, when I can.''

He added: "Hopefully, and in a year's time we will see, management is an ambition realised.

"After retiring and having the opportunity to move to the dark side - where players see coaches and managers - I spent four years getting all the badges and qualifications necessary.

"I did it for a reason and this is the reason.

"I had a couple of opportunities to be a caretaker (at Boro and Bradford) and that made me realise it's what I wanted to do.

"I'm grateful for the opportunity to keep my coaching going and my affinity with Middlesbrough will never wane, but this is what I've wanted.

"You have to realise there's an awful lot of people want to be a manager and it's a great world in football. Everyone wants to be amongst it and then you have to decide what sort of person you are.''

It was always clear what type of person Cooper, with 606 club appearances to his name - three games for Sunderland among them - is.

Loyal and committed to the last, he admitted: "As a player I always saw myself as a captain, a leader, so is this the next stage? I don't know yet.

"It does feel natural to me and something I've been wanting for a while. But that doesn't discount that all the way down the line I've spent time on the training pitch, which is what I enjoy.

"Being a decision maker and making tough decisions is something I enjoyed as a player and it's part of being a manager.''

The three rules of Pools' owners IOR Ltd have often been mentioned over the years: Enjoy the work you are going, don't embarrass yourself or the club, and don't get relegated.

After all three were broken during the previous campaign, Cooper is out to ensure, on the advice of chairman Ken Hodcroft, that they are followed next time around.

There is a sense around Victoria Park that mistakes have been made in recent times and Cooper admitted: "I'm not sure many football managers say they enjoy their job, but I aim to do that. You have to enjoy what you do and realise everything isn't going to be rosy - likewise everything isn't going to be down all the time.

"Expectations? I just want to get stuck into it and want the players to understand what, in my opinion, it takes to be a top-class professional. It's about high standards, I set them myself and will expect the same of them.

"I want them to buy into it and, when me and Craig get out on the grass and get some technical work into them, I'd like to think we can produce a team that can play some good, open, exiting football and get a smile back on the faces of the fans and make the players realise that they come to watch them because they want to come.

"That doesn't happen all the time in football. It would be nice, and someone mentioned it, that the team has bottomed out now in the same way that Middlesbrough did in 1986, when they played here after being locked out of Ayresome Park.''

Cooper was part of the Boro line-up that day that ran out at Victoria Park to face Port Vale after being plunged into a financial disaster, with the gates to Ayresome Park locked.

Pools haven't hit anywhere near that level, but the last two years have seen the club on a downward spiral.

"I hope it (relegation) is a springboard,'' admitted Cooper.

"It ain't going to be easy, but we are prepared for the hard work and if we do make it work it will because we are all pulling together.

"I worked under Bruce Rioch at Middlesbrough and Millwall and he taught me as a young player about setting high standards.

"No matter what level, if you are happy with 70 per cent, you aren't doing yourself justice. Myself and Craig managed to play at a high level for a long time because of those standards. There was an element of technical ability as well, but it's about ethic and workrate that give you the opportunity to show your ability.

"They will be working hard, we expect a high level of professionalism, but there's a high level of talent here as well and that will flourish if they are in very good condition and are setting their own standards very high.

"If people don't want to set their standards very high then we will have a problem.''

Cooper the player turned out for only four clubs - Boro (346 appearances), Millwall (77), Nottingham Forest (180) and Sunderland (three).

At each of them he made an impression with his honesty and commitment. With Craig Hignett as his trusted lieutenant, the pair will heartily implement those traits at Victoria Park and build on the values John Hughes tried to instill in the second half of the season.

"One thing I've always done and, with every club I've played for I do get a good reception when I go back, is that I showed I cared,'' added Cooper.

"I will be demonstrative, I will wear my heart on my sleeve, and be more studious, but people will know I'm desperately passionate to do well in this job.

"No saying I can turn a page and it will be great, but it won't be for the want of trying and showing I care.

"North-East football, I've always been a fan of it. I've been at Middlesbrough and briefly Sunderland and I'm not one to say I want to be in higher divisions than them or the like.

"I'm a North-East lad who likes to see North-East football thrive, the big three here are all willing to help us out. Because I'm from here, it doesn't mean I will work harder or put less effort in it. But I don't want my family, my mates who support Pools, or people at Middlesbrough to think he said he fancied himself as a manager, but he can't do it.''

Cooper laughed off suggestions he could have stayed at Boro and his office at Rockliffe Park for the rest of his career, such was the affection he has for the club and the regard he was held as part of their burgeoning academy.

That would have been the easy option. It would have meant that manager's box wouldn't be ticked.

"I had a good job at Middlesbrough and to be fair the one thing I will say is that they have been great,'' he reflected.

"I had a phone call from the chairman saying they didn't want me to go, but they understood where I wanted to be - and I reiterate that he said they will do anything they can to help.

"And that goes for everyone. I've worked with Dave Parnaby and he's always been supportive of what I would like to do long-term and, as long as the opportunity wasn't there, my heart and soul was put into helping the kids at Middlesbrough.

"That will never change because they have a philosophy and we have to bring some of that to Hartlepool.''

He added: "It's been a burning ambition, I'm not going to lie.

"I finished playing at 39 officially, but it was more like 37, and was given the opportunity to move into coaching, but it was a great learning experience for me while playing.

"Learning the skills to what goes on in the coaching and management side.

"I spent four years after retirement looking to get into management. It's the beginning of the next ambition of my career.''