Cook

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Steve and Jo
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Re: Cook

Post by Steve and Jo » Thu Jan 06, 2022 9:39 am

I must admit Mike this part was when I truly thought WTF!!! "His backroom staff appointments left a lot to be desired too, I mean a striker coaching the defence for crying out loud " :astroll:

I still cannot get my head around that, Lets have a goalkeeper coach the strikers next because they know what shots they dislike the most :roll:

Having said this I do feel Cook's passion and I really do wish him all the very best, it was fresh air compared to Lambert reign

Its a shame but I feel also was right thing to do to replace Cook. Like you said Mike its great we have a CEO, chairman and board who acts

hallamblue
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Re: Cook

Post by hallamblue » Thu Jan 06, 2022 9:58 am

Maybe the owners should have simply paid him off in the summer after he’d ditched that old squad, Starting the new season with a new manager?

In his defence when Cook came in he said the first job was to get promoted . The results changed overnight and nothing will convince me differently that those players threw the towel in. Let’s be honest they’d fallen away badly every season prior to last season whilst under Lambert, So it wasn’t unexpected.

Cooks choice of backroom staff and lack of #2 was his big undoing. But I think he was broadsided by his previous #2 deciding to stay at Wigan, along with the back room staff that Cook had been working with. He was suddenly left with a couple of weeks to “ find” a backroom staff. He was already on a loosing wicket wasn't he.


I think Town ( Ashton/ O’Leary) maybe should have paid Cook off in the summer. If he clearly wasn’t their man ( Evans final stitch up for this Club), and it has effectively cost us another season in league one.

It’s clear also, that Ashton was always going to build his infrastructure. He was continuing by do that around Cook and his team. Some of those recruitments appear not to have sat easily with Cook, and do the friction built. The performance team was being built by Ashton inspire of Cooks team and it was one that fits with Ashton’s data analysis and science driven performance approach . Cook was already superseded and undermined in my view.

Again I have no problem with Ashtons scientific approach. About time tbh, but again it undermined the manager and the staff he’d brought in . The Club either backed him fully or if the old school manager didn’t fit with Ashtons approach , then the right thing to have done was dispense with Cooks services. I think the Club (Ashton), showed a lack of integrity in how they handled Cook on the back of Ashtons approach . Everything about Ashtons recruitment ( off field), is about HIM building “ his team”, to implement “ his” data analysis approach . Nothing wrong with that, but my fear is it’s always going to be Ashton that calls the shots , and the manager / coach is essentially his puppet .

Interestingly Ashton said of McKenna. He ( McK) sees it the way I do. There was a meeting if minds , a perfect fit.

If it all goes well none of us will be unhappy with Ashtons approach. But if it doesn’t the brown stuff won’t be sticking to Ashton I feel.
Last edited by hallamblue on Thu Jan 06, 2022 10:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

hallamblue
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Re: Cook

Post by hallamblue » Thu Jan 06, 2022 10:07 am

That made me laugh … but I’m not sure why !!

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Bluemike
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Re: Cook

Post by Bluemike » Thu Jan 06, 2022 10:15 am

BlueBalls wrote:
Thu Jan 06, 2022 10:04 am
Ashton does have an air of 'used car salesman' about him.
LOL, that being the case Cook must be Harold Steptoe.

JamessB
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Re: Cook

Post by JamessB » Thu Jan 06, 2022 10:25 am

I’m pleased that in Ashton we finally seem to have a chairman with a definite plan on what he wants to achieve and how we wants to do it, this club has been stumbling along aimlessly for far too long. He might not be universally popular but then very few in his position are. Ashton ultimately answers to the Americans so he must also be under pressure to deliver, repeated failures and he’ll be on his bike too!

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Shed on tour
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Re: Cook

Post by Shed on tour » Thu Jan 06, 2022 3:51 pm

I see Cook has come out with some further comments today. Ffs man give it a rest. Ok we might not have a recruitment room ( whatever that is) but it certainly appears we now have a departure lounge and that is where you ended up. He really is beginning to make himself look silly now.

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Bluemike
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Re: Cook

Post by Bluemike » Thu Jan 06, 2022 4:02 pm

I'm actually starting to dislike the gobby tool, a recruitment room is why he failed then? That is as embarrassing as his lack of footballing nous, I actually think we've dodged a bullet. Just STFU man.

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number 9
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Re: Cook

Post by number 9 » Thu Jan 06, 2022 4:42 pm

Sounds to me like he's trying to put himself in the shop window, so he's passing the blame for the mostly sh*t performances from a team he built and coached.

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ashfordblue
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Re: Cook

Post by ashfordblue » Thu Jan 06, 2022 6:31 pm

Bluemike wrote:
Thu Jan 06, 2022 8:31 am
I find it quite odd how he can just disregard the back end of last season like it never happened. He arrived here with the team One point off the play offs and proceeded to take us backwards. It was Cook himself that went for the demolition man approach and while I agreed with it he is the one that has to be accountable for it failing.

His interview is sad really, he cherry picks certain clusters of games that make him look good but dismisses the dismal ones which caused his sacking.

It could be argued by some he deserved more time, personally I disagree, for this squad to be floundering in League One obscurity wasn't acceptable even if allowance had to be made for the total rebuild, other clubs have done it far more successfully.

I said from a very early stage his stubbornness to switch tactics and formations was why I wanted him gone, his tactical awareness mid game was embarrassing, he had no clue how to defend leads, we lost points galore from winning positions, he also had no clue how to influence a game with substitutions when we were losing, some of his changes were bizarre to say the least.

His backroom staff appointments left a lot to be desired too, I mean a striker coaching the defence for crying out loud ? No wonder we shipped goals for fun, and some of the others were just talentless journeymen, Scouse old pals. No wonder Mark Ashton brought one or Two in, it had to happen and from what I am understanding Cook didn't like it and it sounds like his off field behaviour was becoming unacceptable to the hierarchy who employed him, add to that it was starting to come across that certain members of the playing squad were getting disillusioned and unhappy and these were players cherry picked by Cook himself.

For me it was a total disaster, say what you like Gamechanger never really wanted Cook and definitely didn't appoint him, he was given a chance and failed miserably despite being backed to the hilt, with the money Cook had to work with any of our previous Three managers would have done a better job.

I wish Cook all the best but he needs to shut up and move on because his tenure here and his failings were down to him, nobody else and I for One am really pleased we have a CEO in Mark Ashton that is not afraid to act, we are building a big long term project here with good investment, it includes all the Sports Science stuff that goes with the modern game and if you are not buying into it you won't be here long, Cook clearly couldn't adapt, old school manager with outdated ideas who needs a top assistant beside him. Totally the right decision to get shot and I take my hat off to Ashton for the exciting and clever appointment of Kieran McKenna.
Nail on Head Mike 👍

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arana peligrosa
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Re: Cook

Post by arana peligrosa » Fri Jan 07, 2022 1:25 am

Cook was brought in for the same reason as just about every name before him going back to Roy Keane. In that they had won some league title or promotion with another club at some time or another and the directors here thought it would make for an ideal appointment. They all invariably turned to sh*t and were never able - or going to - replicate their 'achievements' with employers elsewhere.

Never took to Cook from day one. Just came across prosaic and lifeless, whatever he got up to with teams before us became over time void and immaterial as the surge of sh*t results / tactics and performances repeated themselves. Some sorry-as* chairman or club will take on his services in the time ahead but for now just relief he's no longer part of the team or club name set-up.

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rossi
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Re: Cook

Post by rossi » Fri Jan 07, 2022 9:23 am

Well, his recent comments show him for what he is - an arrogant and conceited fool who - in his own eyes - can do no wrong, one who constantly talks up his past achievements in order to justify the present.

He is obviously trying to put himself in the shop window for a manager, and he would do well to ponder his own failings as manager of Ipswich rather than constantly bleating and whining that he wasnt given a proper chance.

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Dubai Blue
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Re: Cook

Post by Dubai Blue » Fri Jan 07, 2022 1:10 pm

I'm happy with the decisions that were recently made and already feel that we are in a different place. I also was extremely disappointed that not only did the squad PC inherited appear to down tools, but he also appeared to down tools in respect of them.

Having said that on a personal level he has every right to say what he wants and every right to feel aggrieved. It might not have worked out for him at PR but he is a manager with a decent pedigree and it would be reasonable for him to have expected longer to sort things out.

hallamblue
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Re: Cook

Post by hallamblue » Fri Jan 07, 2022 3:59 pm

I wonder if he'll end up at Huddersfield, given that Evans is reportedly in "advanced talks" to take over the Club?

God. Help . Them !!

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Bluemike
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Re: Cook

Post by Bluemike » Fri Jan 07, 2022 10:02 pm

Doubt it, they don't have a recruitment room or Tomato ketchup at the Hot Dog stall

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Bluemike
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Re: Cook

Post by Bluemike » Sat Jan 08, 2022 4:32 pm

If anybody needed showing what a tit cook was just look at the football today.

hallamblue
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Re: Cook

Post by hallamblue » Sat Jan 08, 2022 6:12 pm

You can add, Lambert and McCarthy to that list 👍

Ps on a serious note , you might want to give credit for the players Cook brought in. It’s actually his team/ squad. He just didn’t know how to utilise them …

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Bluemike
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Re: Cook

Post by Bluemike » Sat Jan 08, 2022 6:33 pm

I thought Ashton brought them in ? :wink:

hallamblue
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Re: Cook

Post by hallamblue » Sat Jan 08, 2022 6:48 pm

Bluemike wrote:
Sat Jan 08, 2022 6:33 pm
I thought Ashton brought them in ? :wink:
lol , no, I "questioned" if he'd bought some of them in....( was thinking actually, of Celina?) :D But most appeared to be Cooks ( especially the ones that had previously played for him). All managers do that...

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number 9
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Re: Cook

Post by number 9 » Sat Jan 08, 2022 6:54 pm

hallamblue wrote:
Sat Jan 08, 2022 6:12 pm
Ps on a serious note , you might want to give credit for the players Cook brought in. It’s actually his team/ squad. He just didn’t know how to utilise them …
Maybe there's a job for him in the Recruitment Room? :lol:

hallamblue
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Re: Cook

Post by hallamblue » Sat Jan 08, 2022 7:27 pm

Lol, I doubt it, he’s gone with “ what he knows” hasn’t he.

It’s a shame he just didn’t have it in his locker.

Really exciting times ahead now hopefully.

I personally, have just got to get used to the new “modern” approach to football havent 🤷‍♀️Lol

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