Garry Cook [merged]

[london blue 2]

surely its up to City who we let into our press conferences. Why dont we get rid of the idiots who deliberately lie and damage the club? I know the press are part and parcel of the game, but was there really a need to hold a live press conference?

I do agree.. but we'd have no one there lol.

[DoomMerchant]

i can't for the live of me figure out why Cookie is even apologizing? Clubs do this shit every fuclin time they need to change a manager whether they are Real Madrid or fucking Boro or Celtic or Porto or New York Red Bull.

And in any other fuclin sport too...you can't have some clean break where you let the team or club take a dive while you run rudderless for weeks on end without a manager. Some clubs opt for the assistant as interim tag, but that's fuclin bullshit.

If Cook had stood up and said "fuck yes we've been sounding out managers for a few weeks. Have you seen us playing the last two months?" who could argue?

We're portraying ourselves like a huge bunch of pussies i think and i hate it. Stop apologizing Cook! We didn't do something horrible and dishonorable. Sorry.

cheers

[Im_Spartacus]

So instead of debating, just attack other people on the board eh? Isnt that what caused the divisions in the first place.

Firstly, no that isn't what caused the divisions. What caused the divisions for me was having to listen to people with quite dogmatic agendas re the management twisting every fact, happening or bit of press bollocks into more fuel for their anti-whoever agenda. The fact that they often then went on to act like kids in the playground slinging insults was neither here nor there for me

I don't think I attacked anyone for the record. Did I quote anyone? Was it addressed to anyone insulting them? No I don't think it was was it?

But....I think you will find that this section deals with the debating part or did you just skip over that. Don't let the truth get in the way of a good bit of outrage eh

There is no requirement to like a corporate figure like Cook. Indeed to be emotionally attached to one clouds judgement IMO (look at Bernstein or Rick Parry....both hugely flawed in terms of performance but given carte blanche because "the fans like them") so if you don't like Garry Cook....enjoy the bitterness and frustration of him not going anywhere.

meh, here was me getting all confused because you said you didnt intend to get into in a debate, yet there you were doing it

And as for naming people, dont play people for dickheads. Carl and NQDP made negative comments in the thread and were the chief "tubthumpers" you referred to, suggesting that next on the agenda was Cook.

All I ask is that people call a spade a spade and say what we mean, instead of your veiled digs at others on the site.

[ant london]

John, I don't think it was a veiled dig to be honest. It was pretty obvious what the target group of the comment was.....and it was aimed at a much wider audience than just Carl and NQDP.

Look, I just cannot be arsed with constant squabbling about who should get out of our club. Yes, I realise actually that my original post didn't exactly soothe matters and I should have just not bothered commenting if I am honest. The post was borne out of pure frustration.

I want us all to just get behind everyone for now. No-one has done anything disastrous. Cockie has made a few gaffes but, as someone else said, anyone who'd taken that conference would have ended up looking daft.

There are enough knives out for City at the moment without contributing our own from within is all I really meant to say. The next part of the season is going to be gripping and I just want to enjoy it.

[Im_Spartacus]

i can't for the live of me figure out why Cookie is even apologizing? Clubs do this shit every fuclin time they need to change a manager whether they are Real Madrid or fucking Boro or Celtic or Porto or New York Red Bull.

And in any other fuclin sport too...you can't have some clean break where you let the team or club take a dive while you run rudderless for weeks on end without a manager. Some clubs opt for the assistant as interim tag, but that's fuclin bullshit.

If Cook had stood up and said "fuck yes we've been sounding out managers for a few weeks. Have you seen us playing the last two months?" who could argue?

We're portraying ourselves like a huge bunch of pussies i think and i hate it. Stop apologizing Cook! We didn't do something horrible and dishonorable. Sorry.

cheers

The issue that the press are taking umbrage with though, is the fact that cook said one thing and Mancini apparently said another. Then adding this to the fact that Cook has quite a bit of previous for not conducting himself properly in the media/public.

Then there is the confusion around the terms of the manager's contract which strongly suggests that this will all happen again in the summer.

I dont have a care in the world how others partray the club, although I would much rather we didnt give the press ammunition, as it disapppoints me when I have to defend my club to my friends who only take their views from sensationalist media.

[Im_Spartacus]

John, I don't think it was a veiled dig to be honest. It was pretty obvious what the target group of the comment was.....and it was aimed at a much wider audience than just Carl and NQDP.

Look, I just cannot be arsed with constant squabbling about who should get out of our club. Yes, I realise actually that my original post didn't exactly soothe matters and I should have just not bothered commenting if I am honest. The post was borne out of pure frustration.

I want us all to just get behind everyone for now. No-one has done anything disastrous. Cockie has made a few gaffes but, as someone else said, anyone who'd taken that conference would have ended up looking daft.

There are enough knives out for City at the moment without contributing our own from within is all I really meant to say. The next part of the season is going to be gripping and I just want to enjoy it.

Amen mate.....I think there are some who are pretty disillusioned now with Saturdays events, and then what appeared to be car crash TV from Cookie last night gives those who have a natural tendency to whine their opportunity. I was really surprised at some of the vitriol towards the owners/board, which did make me question whether some were taking their standpoint on Hughes to an extreme, taking it as far as calling the owners cunts etc.

For the first time in about 14 months, I am now genuinely really excited.

Like you, I think all sides need to call a truce on the calling of others views, calling the board cunts, calling the players cunts. Its a new start, a clean slate and all that.

Cant see it happening, but it would be nice

HE HAS GOT TILL THE END OF JANUARY AND IF WE ARE NOT TOP, I WANT THAT CUNT COOK AND MANCINI'S BALLS ON A PLATE :)

[john@staustell]

i can't for the live of me figure out why Cookie is even apologizing? Clubs do this shit every fuclin time they need to change a manager whether they are Real Madrid or fucking Boro or Celtic or Porto or New York Red Bull.

And in any other fuclin sport too...you can't have some clean break where you let the team or club take a dive while you run rudderless for weeks on end without a manager. Some clubs opt for the assistant as interim tag, but that's fuclin bullshit.

If Cook had stood up and said "fuck yes we've been sounding out managers for a few weeks. Have you seen us playing the last two months?" who could argue?

We're portraying ourselves like a huge bunch of pussies i think and i hate it. Stop apologizing Cook! We didn't do something horrible and dishonorable. Sorry.

cheers

The issue that the press are taking umbrage with though, is the fact that cook said one thing and Mancini apparently said another. .

I think that's just a red herring mate. What they really take umbridge with is, after criticising Hughes for 2 months and saying he was under pressure, they were caught completely unawares. Makes them angry and want to get at us even more.

Bollox to 'em.

[john68]

Kippax,
Thanks for your insightful post. Like others on here, I have no real idea what Cook does in a nuts and bolts way, on a daily basis and so am not qualified to comment....and that is important. The media are attacking him but they don't know either.
But don't blame the media...have an opinion about them but don't blame them. They are merely doing their job, looking for the sensational within the mundane. Something they have done for many years.

The weakness at the club is glaringly obvious. Mr Cook, as good as he may be in other aspects of his job, clearly is poor when dealing with the press. Often, as Kippax states, he is simply defending the club and doing his best in that regard. Sadly for us, he is not the suave, handsome, wiity, well cool and chilled dude who is king of the soundbites, that our chairman seems to be. Neither is he a Sven who was accomplished at dealing with a blood lusting media. Cook should quietly remove himself from the limelight and have a frontman who is accomplished.

But Kippax, I disagree regarding caring what others think of our club. You are right about the fans who wear the scarf, they chose City and others will too for different reasons but our club has to sell itself to a far more important audience worldwide...and IMAGE is all important in that respect. If we are to be global players, we have to take good care of our image. It is no good being good if we are perceiveed as bad.
One only has to look at Beckham and his missus to understand that the reverse is also true.

[john68]

Doomie,
We all know what the media game is. It hasn't changed for years.
The club knew the media game and so did Cook...that was poor preparation.
...and image is all important. That is why so many global companies spend so much on it.

[Beefymcfc]

I don't know what the big fuss is about. I didn't watch the full press conference but what was shown on SSN afterwards came across pretty well. He isn't the face of City but the suit, and it grates me that the media who have stuck the knife in on so many occassions when Hughes was at the helm, have now found another source to interigate.

The media have been out for us since day 1 and used anything and everything to have a pop, and if Garry didn't come across well in the rest of the interview, who cares. The main thing is he has put himself 100% behind the club and the fans, and for me, that's what matters, not how the media portray him.

He's got my backing!

[mcfc1632]

Kippax,
Thanks for your insightful post. Like others on here, I have no real idea what Cook does in a nuts and bolts way, on a daily basis and so am not qualified to comment....and that is important. The media are attacking him but they don't know either.
But don't blame the media...have an opinion about them but don't blame them. They are merely doing their job, looking for the sensational within the mundane. Something they have done for many years.

The weakness at the club is glaringly obvious. Mr Cook, as good as he may be in other aspects of his job, clearly is poor when dealing with the press. Often, as Kippax states, he is simply defending the club and doing his best in that regard. Sadly for us, he is not the suave, handsome, wiity, well cool and chilled dude who is king of the soundbites, that our chairman seems to be. Neither is he a Sven who was accomplished at dealing with a blood lusting media. Cook should quietly remove himself from the limelight and have a frontman who is accomplished.

But Kippax, I disagree regarding caring what others think of our club. You are right about the fans who wear the scarf, they chose City and others will too for different reasons but our club has to sell itself to a far more important audience worldwide...and IMAGE is all important in that respect. If we are to be global players, we have to take good care of our image. It is no good being good if we are perceiveed as bad.
One only has to look at Beckham and his missus to understand that the reverse is also true.

Normally always agree with you but have a different view of your last points - we need to remember who the arseholes are here

Cook might make mistakes - but he bats for CITY

The journos are poisonous lying bastards

I would like us to be universally popular but I do not advocate being plastic shallow muppets like the scum and beckhams just to woo these lying tosspots - no way

The balance of this thread should (IMO) be massively in support of someone who bats for us whilst commenting on how a couple of things could improve - not this crap witch hunt from some

[john@staustell]

Well said 1632

[pepsi_dave]

From what I have heard, the mongoloid press haven't quite grasped what was ACTUALLY said! They are making out that mancini was offered the job 3 weeks ago, whereas bob himself syas 2 weels ago.... This ipisses me off because, GC clearly said that city contacted him 3 weeks ago, he and khaldoon sat down and discussed football and non football matters, mark hughes job was discussed bu at no point did they offr the job to bob..... A week later after we humiliated ourselves against spuds, we then offered him the job! The press have only picked up on the two weeks and the three weeks, but not differentiated between the two!

[Rag_hater]

From what I have heard, the mongoloid press haven't quite grasped what was ACTUALLY said! They are making out that mancini was offered the job 3 weeks ago, whereas bob himself syas 2 weels ago.... This ipisses me off because, GC clearly said that city contacted him 3 weeks ago, he and khaldoon sat down and discussed football and non football matters, mark hughes job was discussed bu at no point did they offr the job to bob..... A week later after we humiliated ourselves against spuds, we then offered him the job! The press have only picked up on the two weeks and the three weeks, but not differentiated between the two!

Spot on.If the club had deciced on 2nd December to get rid of Hughes seems they have done quite well to keep it quiet till last Saturday.
I think the fact that these so called experts in the press knew fuckall about it the reason why Cooke is getting slated.

[Beefymcfc]

From what I have heard, the mongoloid press haven't quite grasped what was ACTUALLY said! They are making out that mancini was offered the job 3 weeks ago, whereas bob himself syas 2 weels ago.... This ipisses me off because, GC clearly said that city contacted him 3 weeks ago, he and khaldoon sat down and discussed football and non football matters, mark hughes job was discussed bu at no point did they offr the job to bob..... A week later after we humiliated ourselves against spuds, we then offered him the job! The press have only picked up on the two weeks and the three weeks, but not differentiated between the two!

I think they have Dave, they just do not want to portray it in real light as that isn't as sensational. Let's just wait and see what happens on Boxing Day and the reporting afterwards. I reckon that regardless of the score, there will be a lot of knives being sharpened. Remember when we first started on this project and all the vitriol that came with it, well I think we will be back to square one with them saying we are ruining football, again! They weren't happy with the thought of us breaking the cartel but were then happy when Mark Hughes' defence were shipping in goals and falling away from the top. Seems that as all changed, again!

[mcfc1632]

From what I have heard, the mongoloid press haven't quite grasped what was ACTUALLY said! They are making out that mancini was offered the job 3 weeks ago, whereas bob himself syas 2 weels ago.... This ipisses me off because, GC clearly said that city contacted him 3 weeks ago, he and khaldoon sat down and discussed football and non football matters, mark hughes job was discussed bu at no point did they offr the job to bob..... A week later after we humiliated ourselves against spuds, we then offered him the job! The press have only picked up on the two weeks and the three weeks, but not differentiated between the two!

They are poisonous anti-CITY lying bastards - but they are not thick

They are entirely deliberately misunderstanding what is clear in an attempt to do us down

WHAT MAKES MY BLOOD BOIL IS THIS ISSUE OF A REPLACEMENT BEING FOUND / AGREED / SETUP ETC BEFORE THE SACKING - IN THE FUCKING REAL WORLD THIS IS HIGHLY PROFESSIONAL!!

Why the fuck would a professionally run business sack someone and create a vacuum before then going looking for a replacement!!! - Now that really is amateurish

So the job is offered to someone after the Spurs game and negotiations finalised on Thursday and Friday - absolutely professional - so how could the job be offered if there was not some previous interaction to gauge the individual's suitability - certainly if I was Khaldoon I would have really needed to sit down and look the guy in the eyes and ask some very searching questions

After that Hughes could survive (possibly) by keep winning - of CITY could move quickly if there was a bad run - Bolton and Spurs was the trigger - this is ABSOLUTELY THE EPITOME OF PROFESSIONALISM IN RECRUITMENT OF SENIOR MANAGEMENT.

When I recruit senior management the process could be several interviews and much interaction before an offer is made - I would be a pratt to wait until there was a vacuum before I got off my arse.

So for me anyone criticising the process of recruitment wanted us to act unprofessionally in line with the many many other time we have

a) sacked a manager too late
b) struggled to find the right replacement and ended up appointing an interim or the wrong person
c) wasting another couple of years before doing the same

[john68]

1632,
I agree with your assessment of the press, in fact, I couldn't agree more...My point however, is that we know this and knew this before. All successful comanies are aware of the nature of the press but take sterps to negate it.
I am not attacking Cook but actually defendiong him. By leaving him free to to his job to the best of his ability without the fear of him or the club being ridiculed.
It is important to realise that the press conference has caused more problems for the club instead of allaying them. There was nothing wrong with what Cook said on behalf of the club. It was his poor performance under pressure that has opened the door to allow the vultures in.
I reiterate that we are working to become a major global brand and market ourselves worldwide. We are actively seeking to increase our markets to new fans who will buy the merchandise and spend millions on us to increase our income. We are actively seeking new global business partners. We can NOT be seen to be inept in any part of our operation...Let alone the most important one...our glabal image.
Whether we as diehard fans enjoy that part of the new Manchester City, we can not have global football domination in isolation from global business concerns. They go hand in hand.

[Kippax]

Kippax,
Thanks for your insightful post. Like others on here, I have no real idea what Cook does in a nuts and bolts way, on a daily basis and so am not qualified to comment....and that is important. The media are attacking him but they don't know either.
But don't blame the media...have an opinion about them but don't blame them. They are merely doing their job, looking for the sensational within the mundane. Something they have done for many years.

The weakness at the club is glaringly obvious. Mr Cook, as good as he may be in other aspects of his job, clearly is poor when dealing with the press. Often, as Kippax states, he is simply defending the club and doing his best in that regard. Sadly for us, he is not the suave, handsome, wiity, well cool and chilled dude who is king of the soundbites, that our chairman seems to be. Neither is he a Sven who was accomplished at dealing with a blood lusting media. Cook should quietly remove himself from the limelight and have a frontman who is accomplished.

But Kippax, I disagree regarding caring what others think of our club. You are right about the fans who wear the scarf, they chose City and others will too for different reasons but our club has to sell itself to a far more important audience worldwide...and IMAGE is all important in that respect. If we are to be global players, we have to take good care of our image. It is no good being good if we are perceiveed as bad.
One only has to look at Beckham and his missus to understand that the reverse is also true.

John mate I hear what you are saying, i really do. But.

Is it going to win us trophies being the media darlings..

Is THAT LOTS success down to being the darlings of the media and being the best supported club in the world (allegedly) whilst at the same time being the most despised and hated club in the world (Fact).

NO IT'S NOT! IT'S THE WAY THEY ARE RUN AND PLAY ON THE FUCKING PITCH.

Nothing more and nothing less!

Kippax.

.

[london blue 2]

I recokn if/when we start winning trophies the media will come round. Providing they can sell stories about us they'll be happy.

[mcfc1632]

John68 - So make sure the dog wags the tail

Start to cultivate some journos - exclude others - really bring the international correspondents - penalise those with a clear agenda

As we grow their papers will soon want to get onside and start directing their journos to be more moderate / positive - they should dance to our tune

This is the one and only thing I would accept that the the arrogant twunts from the other city have been successful with

Show them wounds / pamper them / let them set the agenda and do not be surprised if it goes on and on - STOP IT NOW and all CITY fans should be behind all the club at this point - not just looking for another target