Monkeyblue. You don't throw the bath out with the baby, just the bathwater :-)

I am sure I am worrying about nothing, but I am concerned about players like Jack leaving when 1, He has shown that he could with the right mentoring become a decent player for us, and 2, We are still a fair distance from getting new players in. Of course, maybe we are getting someone in return, a bit like the Webster/Clarke situation. Sad to see him go really, but good luck to you Jack and hope this is a good career move for you.

Monkey Blue pretty much made the point I was going to.
If 17 games is enough to decide that Lankester isn't good enough, well then the 16 games Cook has had should tell quite a tale too. How many of Lankester's 17 games did Cook even witness, before making that call?
I find the complete cull of the squad, and the almost euphoric cheering of it by some on here, very strange. Particularly when we are far from replacing them as yet, players are not exactly knocking down our door to get here & we are having to offer substantial contracts, according to a number of reports, to those we are trying to get.
Letting Chambers & Skuse go, and also Sears & Judge, the kind of senior players who would have controlled the dressing & set the culture of the club, makes sense when you want to change things, but I would argue that a good manager would work with the younger players at the club, who clearly have talent, and get them to buy into the new style & ethos. I think Lankester had more to offer.
Cook's policy of alienating everyone, & then using the comparatively vast budget of the new owners to buy in players he has worked with before, has not impressed me thus far, particularly after a dismal performance with a side well in the hunt for a top 6 place when he was appointed.
I hope it works & this new squad will gel together soon enough to get us promoted; but this has not been the managerial appointment I was expecting & was calling for before Christmas.

Monkey Blue.. I agree.. Cooks win ratio to date is far from impressive.. however this comes down to the fact which I said all along.. didn't matter what manager we had under the ownership of Evans they were destined to fail! I will judge Cook after 10-15 games of ‘the new Ipswich' … all my point was on this feed was why are we licking a backside of a 21 year old who has hardly pulled up trees?? Ok bad back injury but had game time last season! The sitter at Sunderland stands out.. let's all hope for a successful season! COYB

Listen to Alan Lee interview, he got his head tinted and didn't put in the work necessary. That's why he and every other kid at the club is getting hurt, no proper fitness foundation.

@Reuserscurtains - if that is the attitude, then why have an Academy at all !?!?!?!?! It is a hugely expensive exercise.

The only way we are going to see top quality players at Portman road in the next few years is if we develop them ourselves. We will always have issues encouraging the best players to this part of the country - even in the "good old days" we couldn't compete, let alone now we are languishing in the depths of Tier 3 of the pyramid. Even with the "new money" we are still seeing players picking other teams in more populous areas, as much for the lifestyle as the football.

Not so long ago we were producing players that Man City and Arsenal were snapping up - the youth coaching hasn't changed much, if anything it should have improved with Dyer involved, so there has to be some gems hiding in there somewhere. they just need the right education and a manager who believes in them.

I am in full agreement with the process taking place in so far as cleaning out those players with the wrong attitude and those who have consistently let us down and become "comfortable". What I do NOT agree with is throwing the Babies out with the bath water !

A footballers attributes is not solely about how he kicks the ball. Maybe Lankester ( along with a good few more “ stars”at this Club), have an attitude, a mental approach, or application problem. Cook is no mug ( his CV is far more impressive than the players he's now binning ), and he will have sussed out this so called strong squad….and most have been found wanting, and as Pencilpete rightly states, look where all these “stars” have ended up !!

Really disappointing to see younger players leave, who haven't yet had a chance to establish themselves. Well done Cambridge on their ambition. If he does succeed Cambridge will benefit now from transfer fees.

Assuming he does actually leave ... !

Some of our better players going down a league and Cornell going up a league with Peterborough #youheardit herefirst

Was Jack's performance any worse than Cooks last season?!! I'm hoping that in a months time I feel a little bit more upbeat, as at the moment this is very unsatisfactory. Like Bishop there is a good footballer here that we're allowing to leave for a rival. A manager worth his salt would get the best out of that talent. I hope there's a plan.

Pencil Pete
Can't understand your logic
Wes burns older than Lancaster .....where we get him from

The likelihood of an injury like Lankester had hampering his progress might be high, and he certainly didn't impress either of our recent managers enough to nail down a place. Would have survived if we had a bigger squad imo, but we can't be sentimental. Good luck , Jack.

Nice to see local lad but not upto standard unfortunately

As they say about all the other idle underachievers at the club there's a player in there somewhere. Always makes me laugh and with better players around him he'll be world class is another cracker.

Poor decision and one I'd been Hoping to avoid, but one you'd expect from a ‘telephone coach' like Cook so no surprise. He's bang average if he can't work with and develop the likes of Downes, Lankester and Nydam but then if you can just keep signing your old players it's an easy job I suppose.

With very few exceptions we needed to clear out, press the reset button. There is no room for sentiment among the new regime, and rightly so. Does anyone really believe that this mass exodus would be happening without replacements in the pipeline? 99% off fans wanted big change yet now it's happening we're selling “talent”? We are in lge1 because we have the worst squad in our clubs history, that's beginning to change. Be excited!

Well said monkey blue and Len Brennan. The level of delusion on here is astonishing at times. As I stated on here before Mr Cook arrived here and found a wasps nest. However instead of getting hold of pest control he decided the best solution was to burn the house down!

This guy will end up being another Connor Wickham

ringwoodblue. The phrase is “throwing the baby out with the bath water” so wtf ate you talking about?

Worcesterblue, Cook is far from the only manager to get nothing from those players. And as for some on here comparing a Managers record to a players record? I myself run a small business, we can only be as good as the guys we employ.

All these young players that have left in the past like westlake, Bowditch etc with all this promise we were ALL banging on about left and did absolutely nothing. Too many on here feel just because that person came from the academy they should get more of a chance than anyone else but if you're good enough you'd be in the team simple. I liked jack when he came into the side but no one on here works with him and reading into what Alan lee said there's clearly and issue with attitude so again do we want that around the club as it's been rife in the past 14 years?

ringwoodblue. The phrase is “throwing the baby out with the bath water” so wtf ate you talking about?

ArnieM. All you've offered there is speculation to justify the decision. It's like a flat earther saying maybe the pictures are faked.

Miltonsnephew, what did Wickham achieve? And Len, I'm not sure our lads "clearly" had talent? I'd say they kept it very well hidden!