Town captain Sam Morsy believes Town’s miserable start to the current campaign — when they failed to win any of their first eight games in all competitions — contributed greatly to the dismissal of manager Paul Cook and his four-strong coaching team at the weekend.
Cook was relieved of his duties following Saturday’s disappointing goalless draw against Barrow in an FA Cup second round tie, which left the Blues with only two wins from nine games in League Two, the Papa John’s Trophy and, of course, the FA Cup.
Former Town stalwart John McGreal, a star of the club’s Premier League days under George Burley and also an ex-Colchester manager, will be in charge for tomorrow’s trip to Charlton while chief executive Mark Ashton and the club’s board of directors decide on the next move in finding Cook’s replacement.
Skipper Morsy, who arrived from Middlesbrough towards the end of the summer transfer window in which Cook added 19 new players, feels a great deal of the damage was done at the beginning of the season as the new-look team longer than anticipated to get into its stride.
Asked how he heard the news of Cook’s departure, the Egyptian international midfielder said: "The chief executive, Mark Ashton, gave me a call to tell me first before the news was released.
"He just sort of told me the decision really. He asked for professionalism during this time and with the club having a long-term vision he asked that we keep that going.
"My initial reaction? I was shocked, a little bit shocked really. Obviously, it was the manager who brought everyone to the club and I was successful with him over a number of seasons, so it was sad. I think all the players were shocked and even sad to see the manager go.”
Morsy, who was Cook’s captain during his time in charge at both Chesterfield and Wigan, was also asked if the departed manager was popular with the players he has left behind.
"Yes, definitely,” he said. "He was really popular and the staff, they tried to do their best and worked really, really hard. Unfortunately, us as players haven’t been quite good enough.
"I spoke to Paul to wish him well. It’s one of those things. Obviously, the club have invested a lot of money so I don’ think they have a lot of patience in order to get success. Obviously, like I’ve said, it’s down to players on the pitch.
"A manager never gets sacked for what he does; it’s the players on the pitch. The effort was absolutely there, the commitment was there, it was just the results in the previous weeks hadn’t been where we wanted them.
"The fine margins have gone against us. If you look at [the games against] Oxford and the Sunderland, and I just think with the way we started the season any sort of slip-up is going to look a lot bigger than what it is.”
Did Cook wish him and his colleagues well? Morsy added: "He wished me all the best and all the team. Obviously, he wants success for the team. He had the job in the summer of sort of clearing out everyone out and starting again really.
"We’ve got this squad now and he’s put that in place. It’s never an easy time and it’s always sad to see any manager lose a job to be honest, whether you’re close to them or not.
"It’s always a sad time but he wished us all the best and hopefully we can still have a successful season.”
How would you describe Paul Cook as a man? Morsy continued: "A great guy — honest, loyal and he put his everything into the club to try to make us a success.
"He worked as hard and was as focused as I’ve ever seen him, but these jobs take a little bit of time and obviously, like I said, I think the start has really impacted us — the first eight games of the season. Any sort of dip, and I think there has been a little dip, is going to of some magnitude.”