cooper was born in kingswinford, then within staffordshire but subsequently part of the west midlands. he began his career with brierley hill alliance, then playing in the birmingham & district league. in january 1955, he signed for crystal palace of the third division south. he made a goal-scoring debut in an away 4–1 win at walsall on 12 march. he went on to make eight appearances that season scoring twice. in the subsequent four seasons, cooper made a further 62 league appearances (25 goals) before moving on to rochdale in january 1959. he made a total of 75 appearances in all competitions for palace scoring 28 times.