MARK COOPER feels that he is slowly but surely winning the Darlington fans over.

Having made a number of long-term signings this month, Quakers’ boss appears to be making steady progress in what he calls his “rebuilding programme” at The Northern Echo Arena.

But Cooper accepts it was always going to be a gradual process after such upheaval in the past couple of years.

It is seven months since the 42-year-old and his assistant Richard Dryden were appointed and while he is the first to admit there is still a fair way to go, Cooper feels progress is being made.

“It was always going to be a gradual thing,” says Cooper, in an interview with Darlington’s matchday programme for the visit of Kettering.

“When you’ve had a couple of really bad seasons as Darlington have had, it’s like when someone has been seriously ill, they don’t get better overnight, it takes a while.

“You need a lot of rebuilding, a lot of love and comfort, and that’s what it’s going to take to get back on track. I think I’m slowly starting to win the fans over. I have a lot of banter with a bunch of lads behind the dug-out, they’re good fun and are passionate about their club.

“They were saying Aaron Brown was the worst left-back they’d ever seen and I told them, he’d be the best you’ve seen here for a while, and they love Browny now.

“We’re trying to play the game properly and I think they appreciate that, but at the end of the day winning games is the only sure way of winning people over.”

Cooper says he and Dryden, who were also in tandem at Tamworth, work well as a duo.

They currently live in rented accommodation in Durham, close to the club’s training base, and Cooper said: “We’ve got a deal – he does all the cooking, the cleaning and the shopping, and I just sit and watch the telly.

“We’ve known each other for 20 years, we played together and roomed together at Exeter and Birmingham.

“I’ve worked with him before and I know what he can do. He’s a good foil for me, he’s not afraid to disagree with me which is good, the last thing I need is a yes man, and the players like him as well.

“We do have some heated discussions about team selections and tactics, but we usually agree that I’m right.”

􀂄 To read the full feature interview with Cooper, grab your copy of Quakers today.

Packed with club information, interviews, columns and features, as well as a detailed look at the opponents, Quakers is on sale in and around the Arena as well as from the club shop and ticket offices before and after the match, priced £2.50.