Andy Cook

Absolute horrocks. Adams would be gone if there hadn't been any dissent from the fans or threats to season ticket sales next year. Fantasy land.

 

Couldn't agree more. I'll be honest I was hopeful when he came in - his goals per game looked promising. But what we've discovered since, is that when he doesn't score goals he does bugger all else. Is he the goal scoring striker to propel us towards promotion? Well, no. Not enough tools in the box. Too easily turned and worked by centre backs. Not enough nous to find space for himself. At the very best he'll get 14/15 goals for us this season - acceptable as a secondary attacker, scoring midfielder, but he should be bagging 20 plus at least as our number one striker. He should go in the summer.

 

Reminder:

League Two goalscorers aren't all-action midfielders.

Do you remember how little effort Eoin Doyle used to put in? He wouldn't even jump for headers from throw ins, and was roundly mocked by City fans before we shipped him out.

If you're wanting Andy Cook to do anything but score goals, you're going to be disappointed no matter who plays up front. A bit like those ROD haters who have been disappointed no matter who's played in goal.

 

And does that make it ok? Bloody not. Bradford City need a 20 goal plus striker or we continue to be mediocre shite.

 

He could be a 20 goal striker.

Nearly anyone could be a 20 goal striker in League Two.

Some of the 20 goal strikers in the past are very poor, or one season wonders.

It is what it is.

You're not getting Wayne Rooney lol

 

We haven’t had a decent goal scoring combo since Hanson and Wells.

 

Totally disagree. Cook has had his fair share of injuries this term (groin op December?) which can’t have helped his fitness, it would be madness to let him go. We should be trying to find a decent strike partner who can shoulder some goal scoring responsibility. The rest of the strike force should go not cook who has a great goal scoring track record

 

I agree, and find it bizarre that people would rather look for multiple goalscorers, rather than keeping the one we've got and adding to it.

I mean, if we'd proven that we were really, really good at finding goalscorers, fair enough, but... well... you know the rest...

 

It's quite easy to forget that he's spent most of the season as a 'lone' striker against a minimum of 2, and often 3 centre halves, with aimless long balls up to him (and sod all protection from the referees!!). We've got nowhere near enough balls into the box. I agree that he's missed chances but that's why he's at this level, if he was banging 20+ goals a season in consistently he wouldn't be here!! I seem to recall somebody did a piece on here, or may have been C&B, about our 20+ goals a season strikers...and we've had maybe 4 or 5 in 40 odd years or so.....

 

I think MH will want us pressing high and that isn't Cook's game. IMO he'll be gone in the summer.

 

We can find them quite well, it's just what we do with them when they get here that seems to be the issue. Cook needs a partner like Doyle needed to be allowed to goal hang all game and do nothing else. Bowyer sucked all of the energy out ofVaughan, it goes on. I think we need to ask serious questions about why we mismanage forwards so much as opposed to not being able to find any.

 

You clearly didn't understand the point being made. I'll say it again just so it sinks in. Fans did not sack or get rid of Adams. Derek did that himself by playing the worst football seem here for a long long time. The fans opinions were merely a by product of that awful football. If he'd listened to a lot on here we'd have stuck with Adams for the ridiculous notion of stability.

 

If this club achieves promotion, it won't be with Andy Cook as a regular starter. I think there'd be a case for him being a squad striker though. That's the level we should be aspiring to, in terms of how we build the squad for next season

 

You probably need to reasses your expectations. Last season only one striker in the whole division hit 20 league goals.



Interesting to note there's two players there we couldn't get a tune out of though which suggests perhaps WE are the problem and not solely the strikers.

 

Problem is though that currently he's probably in the top 3 players we currently have at the club.

That's a big old overhaul.

 

It is. It's huge. But I can't escape that thought that we have probably no more than 8-10 current players who'd have any role to play in a promotion squad. Broadly:

POC, Ridehalgh, Watt, Cooke, Vernam Cook, Gillead, Sutton, Hornby.

And at least 2-3 of those should be squad players.

One of the things I hope Hughes gets us back to is quality over quantity. This idea that Adams had of 'you need the numbers' is a nonsense. Under Parkinson, and even under McCall in 2016, you knew our starting 11, when everyone was fit. Then you had 5 or 6 reliable players who could each cover 2-3 positions. Get us back to that. A core of 16-18 players, with a handful for younger lads padding things out.

 

Do we honestly believe, such an overhaul will happen? Names may change but quality?

Expectations are high amongst our fan base but tempering of expectations are needed.

Much is expected of Hughes. Not only will he need his managerial experience, midas touch and a lot of luck but full backing and cooperation of the club, for which I have historical concerns

 

Can't agree about Gillead and I'm wavering a bit with Cookes output but there's no one else I'd like to add. We probably do need to keep a few we might not want to though as we've simply too many spaces to fill.

Maybe versatile players such Foulds depending on wages or perhaps FCD or Staunton might be able to plug a few gaps.

 

Not a chance it will happen and I'm not overly hopefull he'll get anywhere near the backing he should get.

 

Gillead hasn't offered enough. However, I'm mindful of the environment he's been exposed to and the way he's been deployed. We've played him as a winger, often to the right of a lone front man. That's not him. At Scunny, he was used in the centre of a midfield 3 and they seemed to rate him highly. I remember our games against them last season and their commentators were resigned to losing him, but assumed he'd go to League 1 because in their words 'he's too good for League 2'. I'd like to see how he fares under Hughes. It really wouldn't surprise me if we see a more effective Gillead between now and May.