Former Town boss Paul Cook says he’s delighted to be back in a job having returned to his old club Chesterfield yesterday and admits the last couple of years, including his nine-month spell in charge of the Blues, have been tough.

Cook, who was sacked by Town in December after nine months at Portman Road, was previously in charge at Chesterfield between 2012 and 2015 during which time he saw them to the League Two title and League One play-offs.

The Spireites, who are second in the National League, were managerless after their Ipswich-born boss James Rowe departed by mutual consent on Friday having been suspended on January 24th.

The 54-year-old will be assisted by Danny Webb, the son of former Chelsea and QPR full-back David, first-team coach under Rowe and then caretaker-manager.

“I’m delighted,” he told the Spireites’ 1866 Sport channel. “The club’s in a great place, it’s in a great place off the pitch, the Trust is running the place really, really well. The team is doing fantastically well on the pitch.

“It’s not normal a manager gets a job in these circumstances when everything’s going so well, so I’m just delighted to be here.”

Despite his struggles at Portman Road, Cook might have been expected to walk into another League One job soon enough, so why was he prepared to take a job outside the EFL?

“Just Chesterfield Football Club,” he said. “I wouldn’t have dropped out of the League for any other team in the [National League], obviously that’s no disrespect to any other team.

“I think Chesterfield was the club that gave me my big opportunity when I was coming through, from Accrington.

“They trusted me then. Obviously I’ve watched the results from afar and have been as disappointed as the supporters, then all of a sudden to see the disappointment turning to a little bit of joy, the spirits of the club changing to the position we’re in today.

“When the opportunity came round to come back here, I’m sitting at home thinking ‘Why not?’. Why not go back and try and help them.”

The Liverpudlian admits he’s been through a tough period: “The last two years have been a difficult two years for me, if I’m being truthful, from 18 months ago when Wigan went in to administration.

“From joining Ipswich Town Football Club to work under Marcus Evans, I think Marcus left about six weeks later. He must have seen the warning signs, mustn’t he! He must have realised quickly!

“Marcus sold the club, Ipswich Town are in new ownership. To start a league campaign and only be given 20 games I find very disappointing to say the least, but that’s football today.

“My father, who has been a massive influence in my life, passed away in November, so it’s been really tough.

“Sitting at home with [wife] Joanne and Conor, Gabriella, my children, my other children, Liam, Megan and Kieron, who watch you so much, discussing it, the pitfalls of coming back here against the what-ifs if we can be successful and hopefully go up and hopefully go up again and restore the club to a place where I left it.

“That’s the challenge for me and the staff and the players. I’m delighted to be back in football.”

Photo: TWTD

Mariner1974 added 20:40 - Feb 11 Beattiesbackpocket...you sound like you have the same approach to life as Paul Cook. Very black and white, with no attention to detail. We all know it was time for Chambers, Skuse, Judge, Sears and co to move on, but none of us are moaning about those guys leaving at that point in time. Our beef is that we ditched all the academy kids that we'd invested time and energy in and could have played their part in the new Ipswich. To get Bishop finally fit and playing and then to chuck him out, to not give Dozzell & Downes the chance to play alongside more experienced midfielders like Morsey, and decent runners like Celina and Chaplin to pass to, Lankester who hadn't done anything wrong except get injured, to be tossed out. Will just never forgive Paul Cook for his demolition man rubbish. He never cared about our club. He has no history at our club. He's back where he belongs in the National League, with Chesterfield where he began. He does love them, and he does love Liverpool, but as we all know, the only job he'd get at Anfield would be selling programmes or pints of Guinness.

2

BeattiesBackPocket added 00:42 - Feb 12 Mariner1974 you sound like you know what happened behind the scenes fact is no one does apart from him. Sounds like you think you know me just because I make a comment YOU don't agree with! I didn't agree with everything cook did same as managers before him but to bang on about it constantly we needed a reset you say Bish I absolutely loved the guy however averaged 16 games a season over 7 years and 5 goals? Lankaster an absolute talent when he first started like the likes of bowditch and billy Clarke but did nothing after that initial excitement Lankaster has played only 12 games this season at a small club and no goals? So what exactly are we missing from them?? We've got goals and assists from midfield now instead which is what we needed in Chaplin and Burns to names 2! You fail to mention the fact evans sold off probably our best talent before hitting the under 23's. Whilst I don't agree with all his decisions to keep harping on about them is pointless and as for downes and dozzell how do you possibly think we could keep hold of them when they wanted to play higher up!? They deserved their chance higher up and a pay rise you really delusional to think they wouldn't have gone anyway? Really.

0

SpiritOfJohn added 07:55 - Feb 12 He brought some good players into the club, but his coaches, formation, tactics and substitutions were way below par. I don't miss his nonsensical interviews and I won't miss his ridiculous pre-match 'sprint' through the tunnel ahead of the players either.
5

Robert_Garrett added 09:52 - Feb 12 Good luck Matey! Keep laughing!
1

algarvefan added 13:45 - Feb 12 Can't believe some of the negative comments on here. OK things didn't work out for him here but he is a really nice bloke, a gentleman, and he deserves our respect for his time here and elsewhere. I wish him nothing but the best and would be happy to buy the guy a pint and have a chat. A true football man. I will watch his progress with interest, I bet he does well.

2

SickParrot added 16:23 - Feb 13 I wish him well and I hope he is back in the football league soon. He loves the game, his teams play good football and his enthusiasm and sense of humour are good for the game. I was delighted when he was appointed here because his CV indicated that he knew how to get teams out of this division. Unfortunately it didn't work out. He obviously missed the influence of his normal assistant and exacerbated this by appointing a novice coaching team. Although we did need to move some older players on, together with the injury prone, he probably got rid of too many at once. However, most of his signings were good and are now showing what they're capable of more often. He may have achieved the consistency we lacked given more time but I don't think he can really complain about losing his job. He had 44 games and 2 different squads (his decision) but his win rate was still poor.

1

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls