Cook: You Can’t Win a Marathon After a Mile
Friday, 13th Aug 2021 11:45

Manager Paul Cook knows the Blues have a long season ahead of them as they chase promotion from League One and says “you can’t win a marathon after a mile”.

Town have drawn one - 2-2 at home to Morecambe in the league - and lost one - 1-0 to Newport at Portman Road in the Carabao Cup - in their first two games as Cook integrates his 14 new signings into a cohesive side.

Asked what’s pleased him most about the two displays, he said: “It’s so hard, you’re making changes. A lot of our first-team lads haven’t yet trained together, the senior lads who played against Newport, the lads who have been brought in, the likes Kyle Edwards, for example.

“I don’t get too high, I don’t get too low on anything that’s going on. As I say, the same message will come from [CEO] Mark [Ashton] and myself, we just get on with finishing the squad as quickly as possible and then we can train hard and integrate them into a system and a style that can hopefully see us have a promotion push.”

There have been positives in both performances and despite not picking up a win so far, Cook says there’s no sense of panic, knowing from his time elsewhere that clubs can make slow starts and still have successful seasons.

“It’s football, it’s the nature of the game. I always look back to when we were at Portsmouth, the year we won the league [League Two in 2016/17]” he reflected.

“We drew at home to Carlisle, we travelled to Crewe and drew 0-0 and we lost on the Tuesday night 2-0 at Morecambe and everyone thought the world had ended.

“We were second or third from bottom and at the end of the season we won the league. So as you can see, when you’ve been a manager, I don’t buy [into treating any one result with too much importance].

“If we win at Burton tomorrow, does that mean we’re going up? If we lose tomorrow, is it not going to be good enough?

“I’m very much a manager who believes in getting it right on the training ground. Repetition in work, repetition in shape and the results will take care of themselves. That’s the path I’ll follow.”

Asked if there’s been time for any chilled out moments over the last week, Cook says it’s been rather too frantic, particularly for those coming into the club.

“As you can imagine, it’s very difficult,” he said. “I think when you see the medicals, you don’t just nip in and touch your toes and jump up and down on the spot any more, do you?

“I think the medicals are quite thorough. I think then you’re talking about lads moving into hotels and moving into the area and trying to find accommodation and looking after their families.

“Then we’ve got a game Tuesday night, so as you can imagine you’ve got a squad preparing for Tuesday and you’ve also got a squad who is not involved on Tuesday.

“The lads have a down day on Wednesday but the other lads are training hard. At the minute, we’re all like passing ships in the night.

“I’d love to tell everybody it’s a different world and we’re all together every day. Probably the coach journey up today will probably be the first time lads will chat to themselves in a relaxed environment.

“I think from our supporters’ point of view, a little bit of patience is important. It really, really is. These lads have all bought into the project, myself, Mark and our owners have set out.

“We all want the end goal but you can’t win a marathon after a mile and we’ve got to make sure we prepare for the journey properly.

“With my experience in football and management, I’ve been in situations where people think the world’s about to end but fortunately in football it’s never about to end.

“We’re going to be a very positive team, we want to attack, on Tuesday night for example, we had 25 attempts on goal.

“If you keep playing football and having 25 attempts on goal and don’t score, then there are bigger problems for me going forward, that’s for sure.”

He added: “One of the things I don’t like is how every game gets scrutinised, the result gets scrutinised and the manager gets scrutinised.

“I think if we go back in time there have been a lot of successful managers who haven’t started particularly well.

“Jurgen Klopp didn’t win a trophy at Liverpool for four years, Sir Alex Ferguson was getting sacked. If we keep judging managers with a short-term view all we’ll do is keep sacking managers.

“I don’t look into football like that, I just keep working hard on the training ground and the results and the performances will take care of themselves.”

Photo: TWTD

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johnwarksshorts added 11:55 - Aug 13 I'm afraid you're going to get scrutinised PC. That's just football management. But I believe in what you are trying to achieve. COYB!
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ldnj added 11:59 - Aug 13 ... but you can put yourself in a good position.
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Uhlenbeek added 12:00 - Aug 13

Sensible comments by PC. The good thing about League 1 is that you can almost lose half of your games and still be in contention. Which promoted teams in recent years have had amazing seasons? There are always peaks and troughs.

He shouldn't be judged on individual results, especially in the first couple of months. If ITFC have confidence in his methods then us fans should give him the time to put it all together

legoman added 12:05 - Aug 13 Our enemies can scrutinise him but as supporters and fans we have to cuddle him!
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Saxonblue74 added 12:07 - Aug 13 As fans of ITFC we're getting exactly what the majority wanted. Our job now is to back PC and our entirely new squad with realism for a while. We have recruited very well, and very quickly but now is the time for patience. Forget the last 10 years or so, this is new.
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shakytown added 12:34 - Aug 13 You don't win many races when you keep giving the opposition a free ride like our defenders do Paul.
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number8 added 12:44 - Aug 13 Never big yourself up too much when you win and don't be too hard on yourself when you don't. Keep level headed, it's the very beginning of a journey - let's see where we end up!!!
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Europablue added 13:26 - Aug 13 Last season Mourinho turned Spurs into title contenders in the eyes of the media when they beat Man City, then he got sacked for poor results and dour football. Most proper fans understand how football works. We've dropped two points so far and we haven't even played our second match yet!
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TimmyH added 16:33 - Aug 13 Yeah you have to back PC for the foreseeable...his team now, problem is after the last 2 seasons in this league and not even making the play-offs patience certainly will wear thin after a while. See where we're at nearer Xmas.
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blueboy1981 added 16:52 - Aug 13 Go for it PC - you have, and will have, Supporters with a brain cell behind you - they know full well it will all take time to gel, and achieve results. The future is brighter for our Club now than at anytime in the past decade. Time will bring it all on.
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