Cools was widely appreciated for his physical stamina and mental persistence. Cools ran up and down the right wing the entire match. With Ernst Happel as manager, he became the main player at Club Brugge in the seventies. When Wilfried van Moer joined him at the Red Devils, Cools kept running and became his tireless servant. The European Championship in 1980 was his only big tournament. He did serve as our captain there