Cook Must Go

The following was submitted by mcfcirish.

As the title of my article suggests, this is not going to be a Gary Cook love in; let me also say from the start if you are in support of Gary Cook and his policies, I am not bashing you or anything similar, I am simply putting forward reasons why I think the guy has got to go.

Now as we all know, Mr Cook is our CEO. He joined us on June of 2008 after a spell at Nike in the United States. As his profile on www.mcfc.co.uk describes, he is 'an expert at creating and managing global brands and growth' .However I for one struggle to find any good thing Cook has done for us. One of the first blotches on his copy book came in the summer of 2009, whilst on a business trip to the far east. Cook in his role of 'City Ambassador' thought, 'The name Richard Dunne doesnt roll off the tounge here'. Well Garry, while Dunne may have been performing poorly at the time, he was at the club an awful lot longer than you were. Also, if he was trying to help sell the club, why would you knock the then captain? Sadly, this would not be Cook's last involvment with Dunne, who of course was sold to Aston Villa on the last day of the summer transfer window. Dunne on international duty with the Republic of Ireland in Bulgaria at the time, was informed that the club needed to sell him because they 'needed the money'.

Next of course came the Kaka debacle: a player valued at something like £100,000,000. Now according to who you believe, City never made a formal bid but Cook released a statment on the City website saying no formal contact had been made, nor had a bid. But yet, a few days later, he appeared outside Eastlands talking to Sky Sports News accusing AC Milan of 'bottling it'. Now, again, I dont know if City made an offer or not, but to come out and say that AC had bottled it is un-professional at best, and childish at worst. We didn't get Kaka, but Cook couldn't accept that, so had to fire in a very embarassing broadside. Of course there was a similar story with Eto'o; another madly priced player, someone like Kaka, who City didnt need but probably would have spelt a paycheck so big for Cook he would have needed a new wallet. We did not get Eto'o - again, according to who you believe, City walked away first but again a pretty high profile embarrasment for us.

Fast forward a few months and City have just beaten Sunderland 4-3 at Eastlands. However, talk is not about the win but how Hughes' days are up. Indeed, at the end of the game, Hughes came on the pitch and waved to the crowd as if to say goodbye. Of course the game was up for Mark, and before the day was out it was announced that Hughes had gone and that Roberto Mancini would take his place. A press conference was called for the folowing Monday at Eastlands where Mancini was to be un-vieled. However, it was Cook who took centre stage, first stating why Hughes had been sacked and just when Roberto Mancini had been contacted. His version of events didn't seem to add up with Mr. Mancini's, nor did the length of Mancini's contract. During the whole conference Cook looked bullish and refused to answer all but a few of the press' questions; leaving more people, including myself, questioning what was the real truth.

Of course then there was the combined incidents at the Uwe Rossler dinner, where Cook referred to us as Manchester Utd and then at a pub in the States pre-Carling Cup semi final vs Utd, stating that we were going to be the biggest club in the World - forgetting that we had done nothing to give that statment a hint of truth. Of course we were beaten at the Swamp, and Cook's remarks made us look about as bad as I'm sure we were all feeling.

Now, my mind was long made up before the last two examples, but I had to list them as they were the most recent. I hear people talk about there having to be changes in the summer: players maybe even a manager. May I remind people that Mancini has barely been here 6 months? What I am propsing is a change of CEO. If we are to get top 4 and Champions League, there will be a much bigger spotlight on us and the last thing we need is someone undermining us from within. This is not an attack on the club I love but an attack on someone who I feel has constantly put his own shelfish ego ahead of the clubs needs. Cook has done enough damage, so, for the good of the club, I feel he HAS to go. Only then can we move forward and work without fear from someone, who lest we forget, is a Birmingham City fan.

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