Kippax wrote:King Kev wrote:Kippax wrote:The reason why the press, and others high up in footballing circles, hate Gary Cook is exactly the reason why we as fans should appreciate what Cook has done for the club.
He breaks the mould in that he would rather socialise with the fans of the club than have luncheons with the press, and this worries people not least Chief Execs of other football clubs who still see the fans as customers rather than friends.
I could harp on about all the times that I have met Gary and to a point socialised with him, although I wouldn,t go so far to call him a mate, I would definately call him a friend. Got closer to Gary in one season than I ever did to Alistair Mackintosh in all the time he was there. And with the arrival of the new owners came the breaking down of other barriers. I kind of label Gary as an exciteable school kid, he is as excited by what is happening at our club as we are, and although he may well be a Birmingham City fan his loyalties are without doubt fully behind the club. Some of the stuff he came out with regarding the Tevez poster was pure class.
You've only got to look at his walkabouts with fans during last seasons Uefa cup run, and buying of drinks etc, the handling of the fans during the South Africa Tour, and the 5 Star BBQ that was laid on for the fans in Abu Dhabi. How many other clubs Chief Execs would go to such lengths, and how much did you see written in thed press about it, practically bugger all. It was the same during the Banana craze following the fancy dress day at Stoke, there was bugger all in the press about that. You see the press don't like good things happening with the fans in football. Because they believe they have carte blanche to all things good, and they see themselves as vastly superior to football fans, especially working class football fans.
Personally think that he handled the Kaka and Eto deals reasonably well from what I have gleemed since, it was his way of saying we aren't going to be fucked around and believe me people were trying to fuck us about. OK he's made a couple of gaffs, again it was just his little joke that wasn't quite as appropriate as he thought, but we've all made hundreds of those in our life time. Haven't we?
I would just urge people not to make too hasty a judgement on Gary in light of recent events. I try not to judge people without having met them but I appreciate that in the current climate of open media this is difficult. He really is fully behind the best interests of the club.
Keep the faith Blues.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to one and all.
Kippax.
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Would it be fair to say that your view of Cook is slightly clouded because he is your pal?
It's great that he gives those fortunate enough to be able to travel the world free shirts, BBQs, etc but my problem with him is the way he conducts himself in front of the world's press.
Maybe he is very good at other aspects of his job, as you have pointed out he is good with the fans who travel abroad and I am sure this is appreciated by everybody, but I think he needs to hand over the dealing with press to somebody less aggresive in their manner. He is damaging the public's view of our club with his little outbursts.
Tut!Tut! KK.
You are surely better than that, using the word Pal, kind of makes you as bad as the press. I deliberately steered away from using the word mate, and then you come in and call us pals. Tsk! Tsk! But in answer to your question then I suppose my judgement of him is biased, because I have met him and spoken to him on several occasions and to be fair I have to say I like him.
Your second point quite frankly astounds me. At what point did we all suddenly become concerned as to how we are portrayed in the Press, can someone please enlighten me. Quite honestly I don't give a flying fuck how we are portrayed in the press. Ok, granted it's nice to be liked but it's not the end of the world. I want fans to come and follow us because we are Manchester City FC, not because we seem like a pretty decent club and the press really seem to like us, who gives a fuck? Did anyone of us on this board start supporting our bewloved Blues, because they were really well portrayed by the worlds media. For fucks sake get a grip.
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I wish you were right in that it doesn't matter about the how the press portray us, the reality, sadly, is that this is important - perhaps not to die hard City fans, and lets face it you qualify on more counts than most here Kippax, but to football clubs in general it's as much about (and I hate using this word when talking football) the
brand than ever before.
Lets face it 'brand integrity' is vitally important to our new owners, Manchester City FC is much more than just a football club to them, it's about conecting with it's audience on a global scale leading to a whole host of business opportunities and increased wealth. Damage to the brand can have a significant impact in this respect and they can be less than pleased with how things have unfolded over the last few days. Gary Cook has a very difficult job, not just engaging with the real fans but on a much wider level here in terms of protecting the brand on a very public level accross the world on behalf of the owners - i guess his nike experience should be particularly relevant here.
There is a much wider agenda than Manchester City FC for our owners and the people they employ.
Whilst it's good to see that Gary Cook has left a positive impression on Kippax, my view is that I don't like him very much, but i don't like the people in this sort of role very much anyway. He will undoubtedly have to be ruthless, not the sort of person you could trust easily and it would never surprise me if he was patting Hughes on the back and reassuring him whilst at the same time discussing a time frame for his replacment with the chariman and owners - I just don't like that sort of thing. All total supposition on my part of course without any hard evidence to back it up. But you just have to ask yourself - does this happen in football or business in general? Yes, all the time! If this makes me a bit soft, fair enough, I see it as more about morals than anything else so therefore I probably haven't 'got on' career wise as much as I could have.
A cracking film is 'The Club' an Austrailian film about the comings and goings, political back stabbing and in house fighting between board members, the coach and playing staff at Collingwood Football Club . This film is a work of genius and very funny, my favourite film in fact. I think it was made in the 70's and was actually originally (and still is) performed as a play across Austrailia- Perhaps Dazby or one of our other Aussie posters could confirm. This film constantly springs to mind where our football club is concenred and none of the board members have the interest of the club above their own interests, which I think sums things up perfectly.
I'll continue to support City as I have for the last 35 years, but don't like whats happended to the game even if it is about to bring success on the field for City. Having said that I've been a fan for long enough to know ony too well that nothing is guranteed where City is concenred and if the
brand is deemed to be damaged beyond repair we will be dropped like a stone and our owners will start again with something else.
As for Mr Cook? He'll have forgotten about the real fans and moved quickly on to the next project - and why not?