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Cook: Owner's Relationship With Previous Managers the Attraction
Thursday, 11th Mar 2021 13:48

New manager Paul Cook says owner Marcus Evans's relationship with his previous bosses was a big factor in him deciding to take the Town job, having spoken to former incumbent Mick McCarthy about the role.

He says the relationships Evans, who it's understood is in the process of selling the club to a US-backed consortium, and general manager of football operations Lee O’Neill have had with previous bosses and staff were a big factor, as was the way the manager’s position is viewed at Town.

“I’ve got to be brutally honest, the club and Marcus, Lee O’Neill, that was the attraction, the relationship those people have with their managers and staff is massive to me,” he said.

“Football’s a massively changing game now, that’s life at the top end of football. There are so many components with sporting directors and different people at clubs.

“And I’m a great believer that the manager does have an important role to play at a club, he is important, he’s been brought in because of his football knowledge.

“Certainly I’m speaking with Lee and Marcus especially, and I’m going to be part of hopefully a success story.

“I need help, of course I do. I need help from recruitment, I need help from my other staff, I need help from the players.

“But certainly, in my opinion, Marcus’s relationship with previous managers, like Mick McCarthy when I spoke to Mick, the relationship shone through from Mick and that’s very important for a manager to know, that he has an owner’s faith.”

Regarding backing in the summer, he joked: “I'd like to tell you he has, but he hasn’t, so there we go. I’ll put a little bit of pressure on him.

“No, I don’t ask for that, I genuinely don’t. When I come into a club, I want to make sure we utilise everything we’ve got within the club first.

“Marcus will see what we’re doing on the pitch, like every Ipswich Town fan. He loves it, the good and the bad. At those points we sit down together and we say, 'Right, is there anything we can do to help this team?’. If there is, then fantastic, if not, then we go back to the training ground and work harder.”


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grow_our_own added 14:04 - Mar 11
I don't like this cosy manager-chairman relationship under Evans. We've fallen from Championship promotion contenders to mid-table third division under Evans and now vie with Sunderland to be the least successful football club for our size in England. I'd have preferred someone with loyalties above all else to ITFC rather than another hand-picked Evans yes man. Since Burley & Magilton, we've largely ignored our glorious legacy of success, and it's been to the detriment of the club.
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buzbyblue added 14:10 - Mar 11
Again sounds like if Evans is still here in the summer then funds will be very sparse, if any at all, with the club looking to trim the massive squad only

I only hope people are conned into buying season tickets again based on false promises from the owner......
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buzbyblue added 14:11 - Mar 11
Should read AREN'T whoops!
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Radlett_blue added 14:53 - Mar 11
The song remains the same - "I regularly speak to Marcus, Marcus has been brilliant", etc etc.
Cook is experienced to know that the reality is he first would like to make a decent show of trying to reach the play offs & then he more than likely has the huge task or producing a genuine promotion challenging team for next season. The one attraction of having Evans as owner is that he doesn't have a history of interfering in football matters.
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Chrisd added 15:31 - Mar 11
Sounds like ME isn't going anywhere soon.
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Marcus added 15:34 - Mar 11
This may be true, but the relationship with the the supporters is non-existent. The totally controlled communication has moved us from a family club to a feeling like a dictatorship. For those inclined do a search for political power-distance, you can find some academic research on the effect of familiarity and how accessible leaders are to how their perceptions changes. With the Cobbolds and Sheepshanks there was an approachability. Sure, Patrick Cobbold wasn't as approachable as his predecessors but he wasn't invisible and Sheepshanks was very close to the fans. Evans is treating the club like a business interest, while he may be very professional this leads to a perception of lack of interest and involvement. It's quite changeable, however as with many of us his business is in a pandemic mire and the want to offload a hobby business must be tempted, although the thought that we are at the lowest value means it isn't sensible to sell (entirely from a business viewpoint). Personally I think a realistic option is for Evans to sell the majority of his shares and remain as a board member. With a new leadership team adding new life to the club he can then get some of his investment back in the long term.
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kpblues added 15:48 - Mar 11
Fair play to Mick McCarthy though.(and I wasn't a fan of Mick's football style)
He could have put him off so that says something about his character.
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Bert added 16:05 - Mar 11
If you look at it another way, if previous managers had vitriolic relationships with Evans, Cook would not be here.
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trncbluearmy added 16:22 - Mar 11
Evans took ITFC from a decent Championship team/club to a midtable 3rd Div shambles

Not a good route to go down Mr Cook
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dirtydingusmagee added 16:35 - Mar 11
you will get on with him just fine Paul ,as long as you dont want any funds, .
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muccletonjoe added 18:11 - Mar 11
If recommended by mick, then we have alot to thank the old b#gg#@ for.
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PositivelyPortman added 18:16 - Mar 11
We don't need another ‘yes' man.
We need someone that has agreed before taking the job, that decent funds will be mad available, or we're going to end up in exactly the same situation in a couple of years. A manager moaning about investment in needed players is an all to familiar scenario. They'll put up with it for a while solely because they're on a decent salary, but when the fans start getting on their backs, they blame lack of investment- then off we go again.......
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PositivelyPortman added 18:17 - Mar 11
*made available
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alfromcol added 19:50 - Mar 11
Money doesn't buy success, there is more to it than that, ask Derby. Hopefully PC will find the magic of getting our team back to winning ways.
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Bluearmy_81 added 20:27 - Mar 11
Money might not always buy success but lack of investment (12m sales vs 6m buys in summer 18) pretty much made us nailed on for relegation. Some fans seem fine with that
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DoseOfReality added 20:29 - Mar 11
No Paul Marcus Evans has been total abject failure & wilfully mislead fans

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bluelodgeblue added 20:44 - Mar 11
Unless something happens soon I do not like the Evans relationship as it will end in tears as it has done In last 13 years ?
1

BluedanW added 21:11 - Mar 11
Sadly there isn't enough talent within the team to earn promotio. I really want Cook to work, however too much deja vu for my liking here.
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Fat_Boy_Tim added 21:20 - Mar 11
What a load of crap you lot are talking. ME puts in £10M pet year and is happy to write it off and you all slag him off on here regularly. Every manager says how good their relationship is with him and you slag him off on here. He says that the £90M debt that the club owes him will be written off if he sells and you slag him off on here. You all wanted MM sacked and replaced because he was only keeping us mid table in the championship and he did, you all wanted a younger, up and coming manager and he got one, you all then wanted a more experienced manager and he got one then you all wanted Paul Cook and he got him and you are still not happy that Paul Cook had a good relationship with him. Just grow up.
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kaibe added 22:01 - Mar 11
As much as I agree with parts of your comment fat_boy_tim the reality is that we have had good mangers in but are working without a budget relying on free agents and loans. They are expected to work miracles against most other teams who actually invest in their teams. Someone has to take the blame and for too long it has been the mangers! When actually it is evans not investing in the team. He is the problem at this club and he has to walk in my opinion.
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Bluearmy_81 added 22:14 - Mar 11
Grow up, the shi ttest call ever. At the end of the day Evans has turned ITFC into a laughing stock. We generally don't score more than 1 goal a game... in division 3. It's pitiful. I couldn't give a toss what he's put in, he's used the club to offset tax too. No one made him buy us, he didn't 'save us' and he's been a colossal failure. You'd probably still defend him if he stayed and took us to div 4...😂😂
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Fat_Boy_Tim added 22:16 - Mar 11
But so are nearly all of the teams between us and the top of the championship. The problem has been the managers. There are a lot of teams whose combined transfer budget and payroll are way below ours who are higher up the football leagues.
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kaibe added 00:29 - Mar 12
No I disagree with that. You can't keep going around in the same circles we get someone in they do what they can with no money the fans turn on them and they get sacked. We then do it all again. In a couple of years time with ME at the helm. PC will have done what he could with what he has we will most likely still be in div3 and the fan will turn on the manager again. I can't understand how you can't see that ME is the problem here! No investment in the team, no structure from top to bottom. Faceless throughout his time here, quite frankly I had enough of this! I, like many others want more for this club than sitting in div3.
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Monkey_Blue added 03:18 - Mar 12
The anti Evans misinformation on here is pathetic. What if he'd continued to pile cash into transfers as he did with Magilton, Keane and to a lesser extent Jewell. He'd be £200m in the hole. Why should he blow that sort of cash? If spending £100m guaranteed success fine, but it doesn't. You all got what you wanted when MM left. A manager who brought in lower league players instead of frees and loans.... difference is those players weren't as good as the ones you slagged MM off for signing. Also no transfer fee doesn't mean cheap signings.
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Bluearmy_81 added 08:08 - Mar 12
What's pathetic MB, is 'fans' content to see Town stagnate in div 3. Compare us to West ham fans who took to the pitch and demonstrated when they were still in the prem! Thry are challenging for champions league now. Remember when we were shoulder to shoulder in the playoffs all those years aho?
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