MARK Cooper sought expert advice from a handful of seasoned managers before taking the decision to keep Nile Ranger at Swindon Town.

The Advertiser revealed on Saturday that Town had changed their minds about sacking the enigmatic striker after Ranger apologised to his teammates at a training session on Thursday and he repaid their trust by scoring the opener in a 2-1 victory over Peterborough United in League One at the weekend.

However, Cooper told the Adver that the sage words of some of his contemporaries helped him resolve that terminating Ranger’s stay in Wiltshire would not be the right move.

“I spoke to a couple of managers that I respect in the game, Premiership managers and a Championship manager, and I spoke about the situation,” he said.

“The first question they asked me was ‘have you got a replacement’ and I said no. They said ‘don’t even think about it’.”

Cooper confirmed that Town still intend to sign another striker during the January transfer window.

“I think there will be a replacement that comes in or another forward, another number nine, to make sure he does behave,” he said.

Some fans have queried the club’s decision to keep Ranger on, given the frontman’s regular absences from training and less than exemplary timekeeping.

Cooper responded to the suggestions by saying: “When someone is that good at their job I don’t think you want to get rid of them or it doesn’t make sense to get rid of them until you could get somebody in that could do as good a job. But like the fans say, he does what he wants. He certainly does that.”