Davie Cooper deserves to be remembered as one of Scotland's greatest ever players, according to former Rangers team-mate John MacDonald.

Cooper, who died of a brain haemorrhage almost exactly 10 years ago, did not win enough caps to be named among the greats in the Scottish Football Association's Hall of Fame.

But those who saw the wing wizard in his prime still swear his name should be bracketed with the likes of Kenny Dalglish, Denis Law and Jim Baxter.

Cooper won 13 winners' medals while a Rangers player and helped Motherwell to Scottish Cup success in 1991 two years after leaving Ibrox.

Sunday's CIS Insurance Cup final between Rangers and Motherwell also doubles as a tribute to Cooper, with money being raised for the special needs children's charity that bears his name.

And MacDonald, who netted 76 goals in 230 games for Rangers between 1978 and 1986, believed that was only appropriate.

He said: "He has got to be in the top 10. He only won 22 caps for Scotland but there were a lot of other good players at that time.

"And when he did play for Scotland he didn't let them down. I remember he got on as a substitute in Wales on the night that Jock Stein died.

"He took the penalty that took us to the World Cup finals and showed he had the bottle to take it in those circumstances."

Like Baxter before him, Cooper was an entertainer with ball skills that few other mortals could boast.

Rangers fans of a certain age still talk about the goal Cooper scored against Celtic in the Drybrough Cup in August 1979.

It is arguably the greatest ever strike in an Old Firm clash as Cooper went one better than Baxter's famous "keepie-uppie" skills by lofting the ball over the heads of no fewer than four Hoops players before volleying past a startled Peter Latchford.

MacDonald had the best view of anyone of that astonishing display of solo skills - and admitted he been tempted to spoil it himself.

He said: "That was my first Old Firm game and was the best goal I ever saw. It was brilliant.

"But I still wish I had pushed him out of the road because I had been waiting for ages for a pass.

"The other goal he scored that sticks in my mind is the one he scored against Aberdeen when we won the 1987 League Cup final.

"He hit a free-kick so hard that I think the only time Jim Leighton saw it was when it was coming back out again."

Cooper may have possessed skills to rival the best but he was a totally different character off the pitch.

MacDonald said: "Davie was a shy guy. We used to have our lunch together at the same place every day but at night time when the boys used to go out for a drink he would always go back home to Hamilton.

"We once had our Christmas night out in Hamilton because he wouldn't have come otherwise.

"He was different on the park though - a great guy to play with. He was a great guy off it too but he always wanted to do things his way."

March 23 1995 will go down as a black day in Scottish football history as it was then that it was confirmed that Cooper had not recovered from the sudden collapse he had suffered hours earlier.

By then Cooper had returned to Clydebank, his first senior club, and was still playing at the age of 39.

Ironically, MacDonald's own career had taken him there as he used to train with Cooper and the Clydebank players to stay fit for Highland League matches with his new club Fort William.

And it was a shock therefore to learn that his friend, who had been his normal self in training just hours before, was no longer alive.

MacDonald recalled: "I was over at Love Street getting treatment form the physio there and it was Jimmy Bone who first told me Davie had collapsed.

"At first it was thought it had been a heart attack and no-one knew how serious it was.

"But I had a friend who worked at one of the newspapers and she told me it was a lot worse than people realised. That was when it sunk in."