Wigan boss Leam Richardson says he’s “surprised, absolutely devastated and gutted” for sacked Blues boss Paul Cook, for whom he worked as assistant at Chesterfield, Portsmouth and Wigan.
Cook was relieved of his duties at Portman Road following yesterday’s 0-0 FA Cup draw with Barrow.
"Surprised, absolutely devastated and gutted for him individually because nobody needs to tell Ipswich fans or anyone else in football the calibre of management on his cv,” Richardson said following his side’s 2-1 FA Cup win at Colchester today.
"For me he’s a Premier League/Championship manager so it’s surprising. People look to get out of the division (League One) and in that situation they probably look for Paul Cook and the likes of him.
"He’ll be fine — he’s very experienced, very robust, very thorough and very thoughtful. I’m sure he’ll already be looking for his next challenge, knowing him, and I wish him well.”
Prior to this weekend's events, Richardson and Cook were set to lock horns when the Blues travel to Wigan next Saturday.
The early betting on Cook's successor has made an erratic and fluctuating start with former Blues defender Frank Yallop a surprise favourite at 2-1, presumably due to his spell at Arizona United, now Phoenix Rising, where Town’s Three Lions are among the owners.
Former QPR midfielder Marc Bircham is second at 3-1, having recently left League of Ireland side Waterford, a showing which is also likely to be down to a spell as assistant coach at Arizona United in 2016.
Ex-Town defender, John McGreal, who rejoined the Blues on Thursday and is the likely caretaker-manager following Cook’s departure, is third-favourite at 6-1.
Lincoln boss Michael Appleton, who TWTD reported was interesting to new Town owners prior to the takeover, is also at 6-1.
Frank Lampard, who was interviewed for the Town job in the summer of 2018 before withdrawing from the race, is next at 8-1, followed by Neil Harris, who was interesting former owner Marcus Evans prior to Paul Lambert’s sacking, at 12-1.
Former Town academy midfielder and coach Liam Manning, currenty in charge at MK Dons, is also at 12-1 and, as reported yesterday, is admired by Town and could be among the leading contenders.
Sunderland manager Lee Johnson, who worked alongside Blues CEO Mark Ashton at Bristol City, is at 14-1 with ex-Chelsea skipper John Terry at 16-1.
Elsewhere, comedian and Cobbold Stand regular Omid Djalili has thrown his hat into the ring.