Andy Cook

Good to know he feels the love. I find it staggering some fans slag him off. What is it? 28 and 19 last two seasons? He’s been a great signing and long may his current run continue. Get him decent aerial service like today and he’ll bag.

should have had a pen too. I hope he would have taken it on a hattrick……

 

I'll tell you what , someone is going to have to pull a mighty fine rabbit out of the hat in the next 18 months to find someone to replace him.

By the time his contract ends we could be looking at 100 goals in four and bit years that we will need to find elsewhere

 

He plays for BCAFC.

He just wants to be a good footballer for us.

 

Raw and honest interview. Really great listen and one the best I’ve heard for some time post match.

 

Best goal scorer we've had in decades. He'll end this season as our second top scorer in the clubs history and it's still amazing that some don't think he's in the top tier of City strikers.

 

The recent ‘Hard Truth’ podcast touched on the very same topic. McAnthony offered the point of view that we should have already started planning for his successor last season.

 

Far easier said than done. Pretty impossible to "future plan" specific areas of the pitch when football at our end changes so often. Managers barely get 18 months these days so succession planning for a striker on a 3 year deal is virtually impossible. This time next year we might be in L1, which opens up the potential market even more for a replacement.

If we had an U21s it makes those things that bit easier, but we need our late teens early 20s to be ready at that stage whilst we dont have an U21 level for a bit more seasoning. Works for Posh, they have an academy and also sign 17-19 year olds and let them play U21 leagues for a few years before landing in the first team.

 

Some fans don’t understand football.
You can’t expect a big lump number 9 to go chasing long balls into the corners.
They need service into the box for them to thrive. When Cook gets that service like today, he’ll score goals.

 

I touched on this on Twitter, it's really remarkable what Andy Cook has done at the club since he's signed. I don't think we have ever really built a team around him either.

You look at Hanson and Wells, they had a full team set up to help them, the set pieces and passes were designed to give them a constant supply. Similarly with Mills and Blake with Beagrie and Lawrence either side.

You also have McCarthy and Campbell who essentially had to the team set up to get them goals.

Cook has never had a player, who regularly assists him, I think ridehalgh has assisted him the most. Remember the season where Summerbee assisted Windass 10+ times. If we set a team up for Cook, he would have close to 100. Our set pieces and crosses are not consistent enough when you have a striker of his quality.

He will be such a massive muss for this club when he retires or leaves. The lack of help from his strike partners, when we have player with them is criminal.

 

You are right about the supply but he is far more than a big lump number 9. Go and watch the videos of his goals on YouTube he is a player of real quality. Some if the goals he scored while at Tranmere when alongside Stockton or Norwood were unbelievable.

 

Partly agree, however I would say in any successful organisation the talent of its workforce and their development and succession plans, are imperative to its long term future.

Strong leadership and a clear plan are key. Maybe that’s where we first stumble??

 

I just love the man. He finds a way to score. Cookie has that fighting bantam spirit right inside of him. The one thing we ask as fans is that fight and fight until they come out on top. That is what we are seeing we should have an alternative plan and really work on a 442 system to assist Andy wingers that can deliver and a strong midfield. We don’t always have to play it but sometimes when you are under the kosh it would be handy to switch.

Andy Cook take a bow, although my man of the match was once again Smallwood he was brilliant today.

 

Been supporting City for nearly 40 years and in that time, year after year we’ve talked about the elusive “20 goals a season player”.

Well…. we’ve got one and we should appreciate him, I’m sure we all do. What a man.

 

We have never been particularly good at this. Our McCarthy replacement was Neil Tolson, our Windass replacement, Eddie Johnson. In fact you could argue we didn't replace him until Wells signed although Thorne gave us a short break from the lack of a goalscorer.

Speaking of Wells his replacement was Aaron McLean. Then we had to wait for Wyke.

What I will say is, how we failed to get a tune out of Vaughan, Doyle and Donaldson will baffle me until the day I die.

 

His job is to score goals.
That’s what he does.
The end.

 

It isn't just his goals though. He got the most assists last season as well and he's very under appreciated by some for the work he does in defence, today was a good example of that, he was immense in the first half.

 

Indeed. Barring injury or catastrophic loss of form he should end up this season #4 on the total-goals list, and #3 on the League goals list. Not bad at all...

RCB

 

Really good point. Let’s be fair, 20 goal a season strikers don’t exactly grow on trees and you’re never going to have 100% hit rate of finding replacements. That said, the few you highlight there were quite epic in their failures at City.

What worries me who is asking the question and who is providing the answers of “what’s the plan after Cook”? Is this a role a DoF would commonly be responsible for? It’s certainly not the role of the manager.

As for Cook himself, I’ll admit I’ve queried him at times. However cannot be more complementary to how he has approached and started this season. He looks fitter, leaner and even younger. Credit to him for what he explained in the interview and the goals he’s scored so far this season. Please keep scoring them!