Cook... The Referendum

[Mighty Bongsmon]

It is possible, but i don't know if you'd tap up Harris at Millwall if you were Cardiff. If he was a top manager doing very well and suddenly jacked it in and turned up at Cardiff a couple of weeks later i think you'd be onto something. But i doubt at that time he quit Millwall at the start of Oct Cardiff had him earmarked to replace Warnock over a month later. They may not have even decided they were going to replace Warnock at that point.

I get your point, but by the same token why would Cardiff want Neil Harris at all if that was the case? Whether he was in work or out of work (Cup runs aside) he's not exactly ripped up any trees at Millwall - it seems a very odd appointment to me looked at in isolation and Harris was the bookies favourite as soon as Warnock left which makes me think something was going on behind the scenes

 

[jeffs right]

I dont disagree at all and I have never strongly supported the manager, my point is who else is there?

There is no one that stands out. When we have changed mangers around this time of year we ended up with Malkie Mckay and the worst manager ever Joyce

This Mon is on par with Joyce. Dull, boring and poor negative football.

 

[C_Latic]

I get your point, but by the same token why would Cardiff want Neil Harris at all if that was the case? Whether he was in work or out of work (Cup runs aside) he's not exactly ripped up any trees at Millwall - it seems a very odd appointment to me looked at in isolation and Harris was the bookies favourite as soon as Warnock left which makes me think something was going on behind the scenes

Harris has done fantastically at Millwall. Got them promoted and then well established in the Championship. Another club with a smaller budget than ourselves. The difference of course is that he actually cares for the club. You don’t spend the amount of time Harris has at Millwall without caring about them. He knew the fans were turning against him and that the squad wasn’t going to go any higher under his management so did the honourable thing.

Paul Cook however has little care for us. We’re just another club to him, he wants his pay off to fund his food budget and gift shopping for the Christmas period before he walks back into a L1 job after the new year.

If he isn’t sacked after the Millwall loss then it’s time to talk about boycotting games starting with Reading. It’s also worth finding the contact details for Stanley Choi as Darren Royle clearly hasn’t let him know about the job Cook is doing spunking his money away on a relegation.

 

[The_Pon]

Ihave so much respect for Neil Harris who apparently just went into the bosses at Millwall and said 'i have taken you as far as i can and think i should go' despite the board putting no pressure on him at all to walk and were happy for him to stay. Very few put the club first like that.

Or, he was tapped up by Cardiff before they sacked Warnock

Most managers, I'd probably share your cynicism, but Harris is like a stick of Millwall rock: Chop him in half and he's got Millwall written through his middle.

It's pride and loyalty to the club as an ex player that means he's willing to forego his own finances for the benefit of the club.

When you're talking football money, that's a lot of commitment to the club's wellbeing and I share KDZ's absolute admiration for Harris in doing so. Proper 'club men' are rare as hens' teeth these days.

Cook is an ex player and whilst he's not a legend like Harris is at Millwall, I'd have hoped for at least some pride and respect for the club... But there's nothing at all there. I'd happily take someone with 10% of that level of pride and commitment to the cause that Harris has for Millwall ahead of the spineless clown we've been infected with.

 

[The_Pon]

This Mon is on par with Joyce. Dull, boring and poor negative football.

Cook's worse than Joyce. A lot worse, all things considered.

Joyce came into an already struggling side, had a net spend which was negative (about -£6m I think), and had to bring in kids on loan to try to make it 'his squad'. He had health issues that required surgery mid way through his tenure, just to load up the stress levels even more. To his credit, he came back well before doctors said he should to try to right the already sinking ship.

I'm not arguing Joyce shouldn't have been sacked because the results and football were dire, but I can understand there were a host of factors at play that made his job a huge uphill struggle from day one. I don't think he'd have succeeded anyway, but we should at least recognise that he had an almost insurmountable task and it was made even harder by circumstances beyond his control.

Now think about Cook... 2 1/2 years to make the squad his own. Over ten million pounds spent. No hassle from fans for the vast majority of that time. No health issues that we know of...

And yet the results are actually worse than Joyce's statistically, and the football is certainly no better to watch.

Neither are good managers, but at least Joyce has some extenuating circumstances... Cook only has his own ineptitude to blame.

 

[jeffs right]

Cook's worse than Joyce. A lot worse, all things considered.

Joyce came into an already struggling side, had a net spend which was negative (about -£6m I think), and had to bring in kids on loan to try to make it 'his squad'. He had health issues that required surgery mid way through his tenure, just to load up the stress levels even more. To his credit, he came back well before doctors said he should to try to right the already sinking ship.

I'm not arguing Joyce shouldn't have been sacked because the results and football were dire, but I can understand there were a host of factors at play that made his job a huge uphill struggle from day one. I don't think he'd have succeeded anyway, but we should at least recognise that he had an almost insurmountable task and it was made even harder by circumstances beyond his control.

Now think about Cook... 2 1/2 years to make the squad his own. Over ten million pounds spent. No hassle from fans for the vast majority of that time. No health issues that we know of...

And yet the results are actually worse than Joyce's statistically, and the football is certainly no better to watch.

Neither are good managers, but at least Joyce has some extenuating circumstances... Cook only has his own ineptitude to blame.

To be fair to Cooky he did well with Caldwell and Joyce's squad in League One. A great season ironically away form especially. Played some crap on more than one occasion in home games where we couldn't break down sides.

 

[The_Pon]

To be fair to Cooky he did well with Caldwell and Joyce's squad in League One. A great season ironically away form especially. Played some crap on more than one occasion in home games where we couldn't break down sides.

He did... But looking at what we're seeing now, do you think we won the L1 title because of Cook or despite Cook?

With that squad in that league, we were always going to do well in 17/18. Could argue that Joyce would've done the same or better in L1. We'll never know, but judging by the crap I've witnessed for the last 16 months, I'd say of the two, Joyce would be (marginally) a preferable option to Cook.

 

[dwdan]

I can't agree that Joyce was better than Cook. PC is a much more experienced and successful manager but he's hit the wall now and needs to be replaced. I agree with jeff about the away days in League 1 and we need to acknowledge he's been successful with us but his tenure is petering out I'm sorry to say.

 

[FrancosLoveChild]

For how bad Joyce was, he had a worse team to work with and was completely inexperienced in actual first team management, though, for how boring his tactics was, he atleast got us playing in a system with purpose, unlike now. It was one of them appointments Sharpe thought could of been a masterstroke but for just didn't work out. When Cook goes, we need to hire someone with experience in this league, last times out we got it completely wrong except Rosler, Mackay had awful baggage with him and that baggage alone caused so much turmoil at the club it was ever only gonna go one way.

 

[jocklatic]

Sadly tho the longer PC stays on in his role the more fans will forget the good things he did do as they'll be lost away amongst the dire abject performances of late & the current ones coming.. do the right thing Paul....walk away with what little dignity you may have left.

 

[Mighty Bongsmon]

Harris has done fantastically at Millwall. Got them promoted and then well established in the Championship. Another club with a smaller budget than ourselves. The difference of course is that he actually cares for the club. You don’t spend the amount of time Harris has at Millwall without caring about them. He knew the fans were turning against him and that the squad wasn’t going to go any higher under his management so did the honourable thing..

Hold on, lets not go overboard here.
He was appointed in march 2015 & they got relegated in May (admittedly not his fault). It then took him 2 seasons to get promoted
In the first season in the Championship they did really well & came 8th. Last season they finished 21st & escaped relegation by just 4 points some 8 points behind Latics

Any promotion is to be celebrated (Cook has 1 to his belt at Latics & not via the play offs either - as champions) but two seasons in the Championship isn't well established when one of them had them escape relegation by the skin of their teeth & was a massive step back from the previous season & this year, under Harris, they were in for another relegation scrap

 

[OnLoanfromEnfield]

Seriously, whoever posts revisionist drivel about that useless ex united berk are just plain wrong. The sale of Yanic masked the blowing of the parachute payments on that splurge of subpar players.
Paul Cook as a manager is far superior to that useless ex united f*ckwit.

Just because the team lost on Saturday and people are still obviously upset ... please do not start clutching at any old limp excuse to berate the manager.

Paul Cook has his faults .... but he is nowhere near the shockingly poor level of management that started with Reading at home.

And by the way ... the abuse that was dished out at Barnsley away was far worse than what was dished out at Stoke. Gentle applause in comparison.

 

[The_Pon]

Seriously, whoever posts revisionist drivel about that useless ex united berk are just plain wrong. The sale of Yanic masked the blowing of the parachute payments on that splurge of subpar players.
Paul Cook as a manager is far superior to that useless ex united f*ckwit.

Just because the team lost on Saturday and people are still obviously upset ... please do not start clutching at any old limp excuse to berate the manager.

Paul Cook has his faults .... but he is nowhere near the shockingly poor level of management that started with Reading at home.

And by the way ... the abuse that was dished out at Barnsley away was far worse than what was dished out at Stoke.

Stats don't back that up though.

Joyce win % is better than Cook's at Championship level. And Joyce's squad was far worse.

No-one is saying Joyce was great. He wasn't even average. He was very poor. But he was better than Cook, and stats prove it.

 

[Hampton]

Seriously, whoever posts revisionist drivel about that useless ex united berk are just plain wrong. The sale of Yanic masked the blowing of the parachute payments on that splurge of subpar players.
Paul Cook as a manager is far superior to that useless ex united f*ckwit.

Just because the team lost on Saturday and people are still obviously upset ... please do not start clutching at any old limp excuse to berate the manager.

Paul Cook has his faults .... but he is nowhere near the shockingly poor level of management that started with Reading at home.

And by the way ... the abuse that was dished out at Barnsley away was far worse than what was dished out at Stoke. Gentle applause in comparison.

In no way was the backlash saturday just about saturday.
Lets face it aside from half a season under Rosler we've had a series of proper shit managers appointed to oversee our club.
Yes we've had 2 L1 promotions but these could have been delivered without a manager given the squad and budget available.
It says as much about the people who appoint the managers as the managers themselves.
Much as I love what big Dave did for our club the rot started with his awful (cheap) appointment of Coyle, the rest has been a sad slippery slope. If we manage a 3rd champ relegation I really fear for the whole clubs future.

 

[C_Latic]

Warren Joyce has more Championship
away wins than Paul Cook despite managing god knows how many less games and with a far shitter squad. Just let that sink in!

If we do go down I’m not actually that worried about us on the pitch. The shite clogging us up in the Championship will become world beaters once again in League One. It’s off the pitch where I fear we won’t recover with the inevitable cuts matched with our high wage bill and reduced income causing massive financial issues. All the planned improvements off the pitch with the ground, training facility and academy will probably go up in smoke. Will Stanley Choi prop us up or will he simply go fuck this, I’m off and leave us dead in the ditch while the EFL and rest of English football (the same folk who bent over backwards for Bolton) try their upmost to boot us out.

We’ll end up having a monstrous fire sale, which will include selling Gelhardt for less than half of what his true value should be. He should be worth up to 20 million in the summer if he had a proper manager looking after him right now. Under Cook, we’ll be lucky to get over 5 million for him. But we’ll also have high earners stuck on staff who we are unable to shift like Holt back in the day. All the cash will go towards paying those leeches off.

 

[ZAKKY]

He might have been content but I wasn't



But Cook was content to come away with something after seeing so many precious points snatched away in recent weeks.


"I'm pleased - very, very pleased," he acknowledged.

"It was the reaction we wanted and hoped for from Saturday's disappointment of conceding so late.

And I thought that was there for all to see.

 

[Hampton]

It was there for all to see until you bottled going for the win with the negative subs - again - ya ?

 

[walgarthjohn]

Dropped a place in the league and this fool is happy..........some on here calling there manager the fought back twice would we have done that with Cook in charge no chance

 

[moonay]

Dropped a place in the league and this fool is happy..........some on here calling there manager the fought back twice would we have done that with Cook in charge no chance

Not calling him John......... just suggesting he must be disappointed at losing a point to us.......... with our away record.

 

[king_dezeeuw06]

I fear this is a big part of the problem - Cook has low standards of what he is happy with. He doesn't seem to strive for excellence or demand more from his players in everything we do - he always just seems happy as long as the lads run around a bit.