Bert Cooke was a football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 manager

Manager (association football)

In association football, a manager is responsible for running a football club or a national team. The manager of a professional club is responsible directly to the club president. The position of manager is almost exclusively used in British football...

. He managed Tranmere Rovers

Tranmere Rovers F.C.

Tranmere Rovers Football Club are an English team based in Birkenhead, Wirral. The club currently compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system...

 from 1912-1935, the longest spell of any manager at the club. He oversaw their first Football League

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

 match in 1921.

Management career

Cooke became manager of Tranmere in 1912, and stayed in charge for 23 years, the longest spell of any manager at the club.

In 1919, Tranmere were promoted to the Central League

Central League

The or is one the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consists of six teams from around the country,The Central League...

. Within a year, Division Three North

Football League Third Division North

The Third Division North of The Football League was a tier in the English association football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran parallel to Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to one or the other according to geographical position...

 was created and, in 1921, Cooke oversaw the club's first Football League match. A string of talented local youngsters were developed by Cooke before moving to First Division

Football League First Division

The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....

 clubs - Dixie Dean

Dixie Dean

William Ralph Dean , better known as Dixie Dean, was an English football player. Dean originally started his career with Birkenhead based Tranmere Rovers before moving on to Everton, the club he had supported as a child, where he became one of the most prolific goal-scorers in English football...

, Ellis Rimmer

Ellis Rimmer

Ellis Rimmer was a former professional footballer who played for Tranmere Rovers, Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich Town. He was a left winger who was quite tall and scored his fair share of headed goals...

, Pongo Waring and Nibbler Ridding

Bill Ridding

-External links:...

.

In the 1934-35 seasons - Cooke's last in charge - Rovers led Division Three North for most of the campaign but, in the last few weeks, blew their promotion chance. They did however win the Welsh Cup

Welsh Cup

The Welsh Cup is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams from Wales.The Football Association of Wales is the organising body of this competition, which has been run every year since its inception in 1877-78...

 that year. He left under acrimonious circumstances, amid FA

The Football Association

The Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of football in England, and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It was formed in 1863, and is the oldest national football association...

 enquiries into illegal payments to players to induce them to sign for Rovers and the dismissal of several directors. Cooke was replaced by former England international, Jackie Carr.