Gary Hooper (born 26 January 1988) is an English footballer who plays as a forward for Maldon & Tiptree.
Hooper started his career at non-League club Grays Athletic in 2003. While there he won the 2004–05 Conference South, as well as the FA Trophy twice in 2005 and 2006. After this Championship club Southend United signed him on a free transfer in 2006. He was loaned out twice by the club, on a three-month loan to League One club Leyton Orient in 2007 and a six-month loan to League Two club Hereford United in 2008. Scunthorpe United signed him in 2008, for a fee of £175,000. After two years he was signed by Scottish Premier League club Celtic for £2.4 million. In his first season with the club he was the top scorer (22 goals in all) and also won the 2011 Scottish Cup.
Hooper has scored in the Premier League, Championship, League One, League Two, FA Cup, League Cup, Football League Trophy, FA Trophy, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, Scottish Cup, Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Premier League, the first and only player to achieve this feat. On top of this, he has also scored in the Conference National, Conference South, Southern League Premier Central, Isthmian League North Division, A-League and the Indian Super League.
Hooper was born in England but has not represented the national team at any level. In March 2011 it was thought that he may be eligible to represent Scotland. However, this possibility was later closed off. Following his move to Celtic he was considered for England duty and was called up to the under-21 squad for a friendly, but had to pull out due to injury. He was then included in the provisional squad for the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship but did not go to the tournament.
Club career Early career Hooper was born in Harlow, Essex and grew up in Loughton. He joined the Tottenham Hotspur youth team at the age of seven. When he was 14 he played 20 minutes of a trial match and was then released by the club. After this he had trials with Northampton Town and Luton Town. These proved unsuccessful and he started playing Sunday league football. He then had a short spell with Maldon Town.
Grays Athletic Hooper joined Isthmian League Premier Division club Grays Athletic in the 2003–04 season, being named as used substitute in an Essex Senior Cup match against Braintree Town on 11 November 2003 whilst he was still 15 years old coming on for Edward Erekosima.
His debut came the following season when Grays were promoted into the newly formed Conference South, helping them to win the league by scoring 12 goals in 30 league appearances. He started for Grays in the 2004–05 FA Trophy Final against Hucknall Town, but was substituted towards the end of extra-time. The match went to penalties and Grays won the shoot-out 6–5.
The following season in the Conference National, Hooper scored eight times in 40 league appearances. He was an unused substitute in Grays Athletic's 2–0 triumph over Woking in the final of the 2006 FA Trophy.Grays beat Cards to retain Trophy BBC Sport, 14 May 2006 At the end of the 2006 season he was released by Grays. Hooper said that he was only getting substitute appearances for the last few minutes of matches and that he wanted to move.
Southend United In July 2006, after his release by Grays, Hooper went on two trials. Firstly to League Two club Barnet, then to Championship club Southend United, where he was given a one-year contract by manager Steve Tilson the following month. On 24 October, Hooper scored twice in a 3–1 League Cup win over Leeds United. He went on to make 18 appearances for Southend in the Championship, although only two were starts. On 15 March, Hooper joined League One club Leyton Orient on loan for the rest of the season. Tilson said that this loan would allow him to assess whether Hooper merited a new contract and would give the young striker experience. Hooper was recalled from loan on 1 May before, already relegated, Southend's last match of the season. A number of players were out injured for the match and, five days after his recall, Hooper started in the 4–1 defeat to Southampton.
Hooper made 18 appearances in League One for Southend during the first half of the 2007–08 season, scoring twice. On 28 January 2008, Hooper signed a new 18-month contract to extend his stay with the club. He then moved on loan to League Two club Hereford United.
At the start of the 2008–09 season. Hooper, along with three other strikers, was listed for transfer as Tilson looked to re-build his attack. Hereford had a bid accepted for Hooper after his successful loan spell, but could not afford to match the larger transfer fees offered by other teams. Several other League One clubs were interested in him. Cheltenham Town had a bid accepted but Hooper eventually decided to move to Scunthorpe United. He scored just four goals in 44 appearances during his time at Southend. Although he did have two successful loan spells.
Leyton Orient (loan) On 15 March 2007, Hooper moved on loan to League One club Leyton Orient. Two days after joining the club he scored in a 2–2 draw with Oldham Athletic after coming on as a substitute. A week later, he scored against League One leaders Scunthorpe United in another 2–2 draw. Hooper made two more appearances for Orient, before being recalled to Southend on 1 May, when the club activated a 24-hour return clause in his contract. Orient manager Martin Ling said that he thought Hooper had done well during his loan spell with the club and that he would monitor the progress of the young striker.
Hereford United (loan) On 28 January 2008, Hooper signed a one-month loan deal with League Two club Hereford United. He made his debut two days after signing for them, starting in a 2–1 loss to Barnet. He scored in his next match for the club, a 1–0 win over Rotherham United. He played five more times, scoring four goals, before his loan deal was due to expire on 28 February. However, manager Graham Turner agreed a deal to keep him until the end of the season. Southend manager Steve Tilson agreed to this despite having two strikers out injured at the time. Hooper's 11 goals in 19 appearances for Hereford helped them finish third in League Two and secure promotion.
Scunthorpe United
On 14 July 2008, Scunthorpe United signed Hooper for a fee of £125,000, rising to £175,000. Hooper signed a three-year contract with the League One club. In the first match of Scunthorpe's league campaign, Hooper scored in a 2–1 defeat at Glanford Park against Leeds United. He scored his first ever hat-trick against, Brighton, on 6 September and netted seven goals in his first seven matches to help Scunthorpe's promotion push. After this teammate Izzy Iriekpen paid tribute to Hooper saying that "As soon as he started training you could see there was something special there." On 28 October, league leaders, Scunthorpe suffered their first defeat in 12 matches as they lost 3–0 to Oldham Athletic. Hooper came off with an injury in this match and it was feared he had broken his foot and may have been out for up to six months. However, scans later revealed that his foot was just badly bruised. He was labelled in the media as the latest from Scunthorpe's "production line for talented young forwards." He scored both goals in a win over promotion rivals Millwall on 31 January 2009. Scunthorpe reached the final of the Football League Trophy and faced League Two Luton Town. Hooper scored the opener but Luton pulled it back to win the match 3–2 in extra-time. At the end of the season Hooper won Scunthorpe's Player of the Year award. He said he was delighted with the team's performance during the season, in which he scored 24 league goals to help Scunthorpe gain promotion. He then set himself a target of 15 Championship goals for the next season. He scored 30 goals in all competitions throughout the 2008–09 season, just three goals short of Billy Sharp's record 33 goals in a season for Scunthorpe.
At the start of the 2009–10 season, Queens Park Rangers had a £1 million rejected for Hooper. Coventry City were also rumoured to be interested in the striker. On 15 August, Hooper scored twice in a 3–2 win over Derby County. Scunthorpe manager Nigel Adkins said that he thought Hooper was a "massive threat" to the opposition and that he was worried that other teams would try to sign him before the end of the transfer window. On 22 February, captain Cliff Byrne, described Hooper as the kind of striker who could "create something out of nothing". He also stated that he hoped Hooper would stay at the club but if he did leave it would be for a lot of money. This was just after Hooper had scored in a 2–2 draw with Watford, taking his seasonal tally to 13. He scored a hat-trick against Bristol City on his return from a groin injury on 17 April 2010, and added a further two goals at Doncaster Rovers a week later. He scored 20 goals in 39 appearances in all competitions in the 2009–10 season, including 19 in 35 in the league, where he finished as third-top goal scorer behind Peter Whittingham and Nicky Maynard who both scored 20.Stats – Divisional Scorers The Football League
In 2012, Scunthorpe United fans voted Hooper as the club's best ever player.
Celtic
On 26 July 2010, Scottish Premier League club Celtic signed Hooper for £2.4 million.Scunthorpe striker Gary Hooper signs for Celtic BBC Sport, 27 July 2010 The move provided him with great experience, despite his young age of 22 when joining and kept him grounded. On 4 August 2010, Hooper scored on his debut for the club, against Portuguese Primeira Liga club Braga in the Champions League third qualifying round.Celtic 2–1 Braga (2–4) BBC Sport, 4 August 2010 Hooper tore his calf muscle in a friendly against Blackburn Rovers just four days later on 8 August, keeping him out of action for almost six weeks.
On 22 September 2010, Hooper made his return from injury in the League Cup, scoring in a 6–0 victory over Inverness Caledonian Thistle. On 25 September 2010, Hooper made his Scottish Premier League debut in a 2–1 victory over Hibernian at Celtic Park. Hooper scored his Scottish Premier League goal on 2 October, in a 3–1 win over Hamilton Academical. and then scored a double against Dundee United at Tannadice on 17 October. One week later, he scored the opening goal in a 3–1 defeat to Rangers at Celtic Park. On 6 November, Hooper and strike partner Anthony Stokes each scored hat-tricks in a league record 9–0 win over Aberdeen. The following week, he scored the winner against St Mirren.