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Paul Cook's Chesterfield have now taken 31 points from a possible 36 available in the National League this season. - Bet365
Good to see him recover some of his past form there, not a bad guy at all, just didn't deliver here. I hope he does well and gets them back into the Football League.
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Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 13:48 - Sep 28 with 2734 views
Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 13:43 - Sep 28 by jayessess
I find it really hard to square this idea of Cook as "likeable" and a "people person", with the guy who regularly offered out his players as scapegoats to a rather hostile fanbase. Not to mention the Bomb Squad stuff and the 30-second exit interviews, amongst other things.
Maybe that wasn't the real him and reflected the impatience of a man in a high pressure situation going through a tough time in his personal life. Nonetheless, I can't really see what qualifies Cook as "likeable" on the basis of his time at Ipswich. For me, it's not just in terms of results that Cook and McKenna are night and day, it's in how they conduct themselves.
[Post edited 28 Sep 2023 13:50]
But if you'd listened properly to his interviews and what he was actually saying, they were often quite deep... and then he would speak very highly of certain players...
Cook was always a stopgap appointed by Evans and was never going to fit the profile for the manager in the Gamechanger project. Some still think he should have got Lambert's lot promoted but would McKenna really be here if he had? A club struggling in the Championship would never have appealed to him, the opportunity to build something in League One with the benefit of the owner's resources is what got him here. As for Cook some will always resent him for getting rid of Captain Fistpump and his sidekick.
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Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 13:55 - Sep 28 with 2687 views
Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 12:31 - Sep 28 by Steve_M
Did badly when he came in, blamed the players. Then had the biggest budget relative to the club's position of any manager before McKenna, signed loads of players, brought in some mates to do some coaching, did badly and started blaming the players again before being sacked.
It's quite remarkable how much of a pass he gets from fans.
Brought in the majority of our best players as his 'mates' as well. Funnily enough when you build an entirely new squad, it takes a long time for them to bed in and become a team. Look at Chelsea, this season Charlton have done the same, Stoke were lots of peoples dark horses this season due to their signings and they're 20th, Forest took ages to get going last season despite heavy investment.
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Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 14:01 - Sep 28 with 2676 views
I liked Cook and his enthusiasm, but then I see Wolfenden playing top quality defending at the moment and under Cook he was surplus to requirements, Nsiala preferred.
Enthusiasm is great but not the be all and end all.
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Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 14:04 - Sep 28 with 2666 views
Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 13:55 - Sep 28 by Simonds92
Brought in the majority of our best players as his 'mates' as well. Funnily enough when you build an entirely new squad, it takes a long time for them to bed in and become a team. Look at Chelsea, this season Charlton have done the same, Stoke were lots of peoples dark horses this season due to their signings and they're 20th, Forest took ages to get going last season despite heavy investment.
He inherited a squad that was utter tripe. I think it's fair to criticise his tactfulness in delivering the demolition job but it was absolutely the right thing to do. People should read through the list of names below and check where most of these players are now.
Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 13:54 - Sep 28 by AlanG296
Cook was always a stopgap appointed by Evans and was never going to fit the profile for the manager in the Gamechanger project. Some still think he should have got Lambert's lot promoted but would McKenna really be here if he had? A club struggling in the Championship would never have appealed to him, the opportunity to build something in League One with the benefit of the owner's resources is what got him here. As for Cook some will always resent him for getting rid of Captain Fistpump and his sidekick.
Think it's the other way round really. People give Cook more leeway because he gave a kicking to some players they didn't like.
Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 13:48 - Sep 28 by TheBoyBlue
Didn't Morsy specifically come here because of Cook?
He came here because Middlesborough pushed him out the door and we were his only option - am sure Cook helped but Morsy spent the first few months of his time here in a bit of a funk about it all as didn't want to be here.
He's been utterly superb since McKenna got hold of him though
Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 13:55 - Sep 28 by Simonds92
Brought in the majority of our best players as his 'mates' as well. Funnily enough when you build an entirely new squad, it takes a long time for them to bed in and become a team. Look at Chelsea, this season Charlton have done the same, Stoke were lots of peoples dark horses this season due to their signings and they're 20th, Forest took ages to get going last season despite heavy investment.
That time it takes for wholesale changes to bed in was a good reason not to change everything in one window as some of us warned at the time.
Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 14:24 - Sep 28 by Steve_M
That time it takes for wholesale changes to bed in was a good reason not to change everything in one window as some of us warned at the time.
If he didnt we wouldn't currently be towards the top end of the championship. The players he got rid of have proven that they were not up to a promotion push at league 1 level. The players he brought in have proven they were Championship standard.
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Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 14:35 - Sep 28 with 2549 views
Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 14:06 - Sep 28 by jayessess
Think it's the other way round really. People give Cook more leeway because he gave a kicking to some players they didn't like.
Cook did what was needed at the end of the 2020-2021 season to clear the decks for the Gamechanger project, he was always a stopgap filling in until Ashton/O'Leary had identified a manager fitting the modern progressive profile to replace him at the appropriate time. He was never going to meet the unrealistic expectations of the HMSpiss the leaguers and left us with a far stronger squad than when he came and cleared the culture of the Evans era. He made KM's task less difficult.
[Post edited 28 Sep 2023 14:36]
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Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 14:37 - Sep 28 with 2531 views
He always seemed like a decent bloke, I have no ill towards him and wish him well.
He did a lot of the hard grafting in clearing out the dead wood and bringing in fresh players, a lot of whom are still with us today. Once the new owners were here they were always likely to look for their own type of manager.
Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 14:04 - Sep 28 by tractorboy1978
He inherited a squad that was utter tripe. I think it's fair to criticise his tactfulness in delivering the demolition job but it was absolutely the right thing to do. People should read through the list of names below and check where most of these players are now.
Did that require a huge amount of insight? Most of the players we released were barely a debate, post-takeover we were never going to be offering new contracts to guys in the mid-30s off the back of a poor season.
The skill in that Summer wasn't just making a list of everyone in the squad who we could conceivably improve on, it was picking out who we could actually use and getting them to buy into what came next.
On that front, he released James Wilson and kept Toto Nsiala (and would've let Luke Woolfenden go too if he'd stayed much longer). He offered a new contract to Gwion Edwards, but sent Kayden Jackson to the bomb squad. He also seemingly had no impact on Flynn Downes or Liam Gibbs' decisions to leave.
Hard to point to anything that was actually a tough call that he got right.
Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 13:23 - Sep 28 by chicoazul
Signing good players with a big budget on long deals is the least difficult thing for any manager to do.
You say that but it so, so often goes wrong. Our squad needed major surgery in addition to a few tough, unsentimental decisions. Two or three players cited Cook's role in convincing them to come, which at the time hammered home just how far we'd fallen. Paul Cook was a greater draw for Morsy and co. than the club.
Half of those signings are still with us and are now worth significantly more than we paid for them. £750K for Chaplin, £750K for Burgess, was Wes rumoured to be £500K? Loads of credit to McKenna and co. for helping to elevate them to where they are today but the talent needs to be inside the player to begin with.
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Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 15:17 - Sep 28 with 2405 views
Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 15:04 - Sep 28 by Vegtablue
You say that but it so, so often goes wrong. Our squad needed major surgery in addition to a few tough, unsentimental decisions. Two or three players cited Cook's role in convincing them to come, which at the time hammered home just how far we'd fallen. Paul Cook was a greater draw for Morsy and co. than the club.
Half of those signings are still with us and are now worth significantly more than we paid for them. £750K for Chaplin, £750K for Burgess, was Wes rumoured to be £500K? Loads of credit to McKenna and co. for helping to elevate them to where they are today but the talent needs to be inside the player to begin with.
Penney, Coulson, Harper, Carroll, Fraser, Pigott, Barry in the debit column. Bonne, Edmundson, Edwards, Evans in the mixed column. Burgess, Hladky, Chaplin in the "didn't show it until McKenna" column.
Even Hurst's transfer record looks alright if you just discount all the misses and credit him with everything good that Donacien and Jackson ever did.
Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 12:31 - Sep 28 by Steve_M
Did badly when he came in, blamed the players. Then had the biggest budget relative to the club's position of any manager before McKenna, signed loads of players, brought in some mates to do some coaching, did badly and started blaming the players again before being sacked.
It's quite remarkable how much of a pass he gets from fans.
Agreed. He was as bad as the other Pauls were for us.
Only difference was he wasn't a b&llend like Hurst and Lambert.
Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 12:24 - Sep 28 by ArnoldMoorhen
I agree. I don't put him in the same category as others amongst our recent Roll of Dishonour, not least because his father died during the short period that he was with us, and it clearly all became too much.
He could spot a player, had players who would move to work with him, wanted to play attacking football and was genuine in his wish to rebuild a relationship with the fans.
Things didn't work out here, but I am so glad that he has got his mojo back.
He was fcukin hopeless here. Had a golden opportunity to crash the play offs when Lambert was sacked, but instead he alienated the players and had us in relegation form.
Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 13:48 - Sep 28 by hoppy
But if you'd listened properly to his interviews and what he was actually saying, they were often quite deep... and then he would speak very highly of certain players...
On top of that he would often speak highly and deeply in the same interview.
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Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 15:28 - Sep 28 with 2354 views
Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 15:04 - Sep 28 by Vegtablue
You say that but it so, so often goes wrong. Our squad needed major surgery in addition to a few tough, unsentimental decisions. Two or three players cited Cook's role in convincing them to come, which at the time hammered home just how far we'd fallen. Paul Cook was a greater draw for Morsy and co. than the club.
Half of those signings are still with us and are now worth significantly more than we paid for them. £750K for Chaplin, £750K for Burgess, was Wes rumoured to be £500K? Loads of credit to McKenna and co. for helping to elevate them to where they are today but the talent needs to be inside the player to begin with.
Cook was trying to replace Cameron Burgess with Chey Dunkley, that was apparently one of the things that really p'd the board off and maybe expedited his departure - trying to replace players that were already the replacements he'd brought in
Paul Cook at Chesterfield on 15:30 - Sep 28 by itfcjoe
Cook was trying to replace Cameron Burgess with Chey Dunkley, that was apparently one of the things that really p'd the board off and maybe expedited his departure - trying to replace players that were already the replacements he'd brought in
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