The Colorado Rapids said farewell to one of their most popular and long-serving players Tuesday, releasing veteran midfielder Terry Cooke to make room on the roster for Scottish striker Jamie Smith.
The writing had been on the locker room wall for at least a couple of weeks, as Cooke found himself sidelined against D.C. and New York, the first a 3-1 loss that could have benefited from Cooke's creativity, and the second a 4-0 blowout win that could have given Cooke an opportunity to stretch his legs on the pitch.
"Terry's been a good player for the club, and a good professional at that as well," Rapids head coach Gary Smith said Tuesday, speaking on Marcelo Balboa's From the Pitch radio show a couple hours after the news broke. "These situations with more senior players rear their head every so often, and it doesn't really matter what club you're at.
Cooke had played in just 10 of the Rapids first 18 games, making five starts, well behind the pace that saw him log his 100th match with the Rapids earlier in the year, his fifth season with the club. Cooke was the Rapids most productive assist generator last season, and was No. 3 in the league, and so to see him on the sidelines with Smith's squad has been a source of frustration for Rapids fans who have marveled at Cooke's consistent service from the right wing.
But Smith has been eager to fill his squad out with players of a different mold, and has been reluctant to give the 32-year-old Cooke the time on the pitch he has enjoyed through his MLS career. Cooke couldn't seem to win Smith's full confidence this season, and the nature of the maneuvering to guide the two most recent acquisitions through the international transfer window spelled a chance for the head coach to bolster an area of the attack he felt was lacking.
"The crux of it is, Terry's not played an awful lot of football this year," Smith said. "He's obviously one of the bigger earners. My thoughts were that we really needed to look toward the future. In Jamie Smith, that we've brought in from Aberdeen, I hope we've got an individual that will be able to achieve what Terry's achieved in the years that he's been here. Because of [Smith's] age he's got more in front of him.
"It's a very, very difficult decision, and not a nice one to make at that. But it's been made hopefully for the right reasons, which is for the team, for success, and for the future."
Smith acknowledged over the past week that completing the acquisition of Jamie Smith and wide man Facundo Diz from Argentina would necessitate a hard move regarding one of his senior players, and he didn't relish the league rules that forced a difficult juggling of his roster.
"It's extremely tough," Smith said of the decision. "Terry's a great guy, there's no doubt about it. Being a fellow Englishman, I've formed a reasonable relationship with him.
"The reality is, this league, and the rules that surround it with regard to contract, and semi-guarantees, and waivers, is very different to Europe. It breeds a lack of stability for players at times. It's a shame. But what I don't want to detract from is the fact that Terry's been a good servant of the club. He's played some good football for the club. He's been one of those characters that I think quite a few fans have gotten on board with, and he's entertained them. But what I do hope in the future is that some of those same people can get behind some of the up and coming players that we've got."
Cooke's last playing time came in a 1-0 win over Dallas at home two weeks ago, with the midfielder logging 63 minutes and sparking much of the attack on a day that the Rapids offense looked lackluster to say the least. He was critical of the game plan and the execution after the match, and hasn't seen the field since.
"To score goals you've got to take chances and get bodies in the box," Cooke said after the Dallas match. "There was no one in the box. It's frustrating, because my role on the team is to stay wide. The first half we played 4-3-3, and I was coming in, coming off the line, coming inside and making runs across the line. I was enjoying it, and in the second half I was told to stay wide.
"It gets very predictable, and it's frustrating for me because there's no one in there, and it makes me look at times like a stupid player, and I'm not," Cooke said after watching too many crosses go untouched by his teammates. "We need to get people on the end of it. I wanted to come off the line, but it's my job to stay wide and give delivery."
With Smith acknowledging rumors that teams were interested in one or more of the Rapids senior players that would have to be moved to make room for Smith and Diz, Cooke found himself on the sidelines for the last two games, his last hurrah coming in a 90-minute appearance in a friendly with Club America two weeks ago at home.
As one of only eight players to reach the 100-match milestone with the Rapids, Cooke remains a fan favorite, both for his performance on the pitch and for his stand-up character in the locker room and around the game.
Soccer aside, Cooke faced his greatest challenge earlier this season, when his 10-year-old son Charlie was involved in a serious car accident, going into surgery as Cooke boarded a plane home to England to be with him. The experience put things in perspective for Cooke, both in terms of his ultimate priorities with his own family at home, but also in highlighting the second family he has enjoyed throughout his time in Colorado and finding strength in the relationships he built through five seasons with the Rapids.
"Their support has been fantastic," the modest midfielder said of the Rapids community, and for his teammates, the Rapids personnel, and the loyal fans who have always been behind Terry Cooke, the feeling has been entirely mutual about the fantastic favorite who elevated the game in Colorado and whose seasons of service will not be forgotten.
Owen Perkins is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
