Does Gary Cook understand this club?

[Blue Mooner]

I must say ol' Cookie is very adept at making himself look a giant tit.

We all know the man tries his best, but he really should think before he takes that enormous masonry block of a chin for a wobble.

Every non blue I've spoken to who happens to know of Cook thinks he's a grade A twat - and who can blame them?

I just wish he's do a little research before he tries to pigeon hole us all, and makes these ignorant generic blanket statements...

They're fucking embarrassing.

Off the top of my head I could reel off dozens of examples of ignorant shite that's rolled off his tongue, but I won't... because that wouldn't be constructive - and I'd be here all fucking day!

However, I will say that Garry should give up on trying to be some sort of sky blue Mancunian ambassador for the "global market" - as he's clearly not very good at it.



I'd just like him to do a little research, keep his head down, and forget about trying to get in the limelight every 5 minutes.

What an absolute load of bollocks.

Anybody that has had the opportunity to meet Gary Cook, whether it be in a Danish bar, or at a fans forum will tell you that he is a class bloke.

How does he court publicity ?? FFS he has given an interview to the clubs new website to try and explain that the club are trying to lose their typical city tag.

He got heavily critisized after the kaka deal for his comments when he got back. But who can blame him. Milan treated him like a **** and he was pissed off that he was made to look a fool by the Milan bullshit pr machine. Since then he has chosen his words better. But I wouldnt swap him for any other chief exec.

His job is to try and get City's name out there. We are trying to sign players that under normal circumstances wouldnt want to join us, so we have to try and boost our profile.

Anybody else saying they would rather keep the typical city tag really should see a fuckin doctor, cause Ive done that shit for 30 years. Now its payback time for all those typical city moments

Look, mate I'm not interested in how much of a nice bloke he is, whether or not he's good company to keep while sipping on a pint - I really couldn't give two shits.

For me it's how good he is at his job - and as far as I'm concerned he's been spectacularly mediocre, with few clangers thrown in for good measure.

I know he tries his best, but he worries me, I'm not convinced at all.

If he's to convince myself and others who aren't sure of the man he'll have to cut out all the shite - which I covered in my original post.

His glossy Americanisms and marketing cliches don't cut it in football, and they're also anything but endearing. He's not a football man (which he acknowledges himself), and for a man who holds a very powerful position at a football club to have no past experience in that particular line of work, is ever so slightly daft if you ask me...

That is by far his greatest weakness - which is one enormous achilles heel indeed.

He's learning, we all know that, yet from what I can see he really isn't learning fast enough.

The jury's still out on Cook.

I'm with you on this mate..

Well the old adage you can't please all the people all the time still rings true.

Cook is a great bloke and is the first CEO City have ever had that seems to understand what we need to do to finally put an end to the 30 years of mediocrity, and to build this club on a world stage, it's not just about changing the manager but changing the whole fabric of the club and that includes the mentality of the fans

It's clear that some City fans just don't like change, even when that change is quite clearly for the better.

 

[Franny Lee's Barrel Chest]

As a 45 year old City supporter, I think I can relate a little bit to what GC is saying. And to do so, I think you need to understand just when the two phrases actually came into being.

Firstly, Typical City. Now when I was younger, and I watched Colin Bell, Mike Doyle, Alan Oakes, Joe Corrigan et al, I can never remember the phrase "Typical City" being mentioned. Even when I went with my grandad, god rest his soul, we never sort of said "Typical City". We did used to say "We won't score from this corner, we never score from corners", but "Typical City", I don't remember. So I think that is a relatively recent thing borne out of the numerous "Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory" type of scenarios we started to go through. I'm not sure when this did start, but I'd guess it would be round about 1980 when we had re installed Malcolm Allison as manager, and promptly lost to Halifax in the cup. As a relative outsider Garry Cook won't be aware of when this actually did begin, but I believe he's right in that we have to eradicate that aspect from not only the supporters culture, but from the teams mentality too. I mean, no one personifies "Typical City" than Richard Dunne for example, has been player of the year for 3 consecutive years, and ends up the following year scoring more own goals than goals in the right net. Now THAT'S Typical City.

As far as "City til I die", again, this is a fairly recent additon to City folklore, and certainly wasn't around in the 1970's and 1980's as far as I recall. Again, from Cook's point of view, he could quite easily assume that CTID means that we've been starved of success for year upon year, but we will never change our attitude and outlook and will continue to support the club, until we die, regardless of success or not. The younger generation of supporter have grown up with the phrase, and again, will think that Cooky has missed the point of CTID, as they're not aware of a time when it didn't exist. So for them, it's always been there, and it's a way of life, rather than a defiant statment as it might have started out. I do remember times when it didn't exist, and would certainly hold with the idea that it was a statement of defiance, regardless of our lack of success. Cook wants this outlook to change, so that we don't have that "resigned to failure" kind of attitude, and I think on that one, he's spot on.

The thing with Cooky is that he obviously isn't afraid of sticking his head above the parapet, even if sometimes, what he says might come up wrong. It's a bit like your star player on the ball, doing numerous stepovers. A lot of the time it looks fantastic, and other times, you end up on your arse.

That's my take on it anyway, and I stand to be corrected, but would be interested in knowing from any of the older posters when was the first time you remembered each of the phrases being said?

 

[christened at st marks]

As a 56 year old when I was a kid I can remember my dad and grandad using the phrase typical City with affection, thats why it maybe, touched a nerve to create this thread, CTID was much later, but is our way of standing up to the shit piled against us by the rag media and to me, the words are sacred, I know on my deathbed my last thoughts will be my family and City simple as that.

 

[biffa]

As a 45 year old City supporter, I think I can relate a little bit to what GC is saying. And to do so, I think you need to understand just when the two phrases actually came into being.

Firstly, Typical City. Now when I was younger, and I watched Colin Bell, Mike Doyle, Alan Oakes, Joe Corrigan et al, I can never remember the phrase "Typical City" being mentioned. Even when I went with my grandad, god rest his soul, we never sort of said "Typical City". We did used to say "We won't score from this corner, we never score from corners", but "Typical City", I don't remember. So I think that is a relatively recent thing borne out of the numerous "Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory" type of scenarios we started to go through. I'm not sure when this did start, but I'd guess it would be round about 1980 when we had re installed Malcolm Allison as manager, and promptly lost to Halifax in the cup. As a relative outsider Garry Cook won't be aware of when this actually did begin, but I believe he's right in that we have to eradicate that aspect from not only the supporters culture, but from the teams mentality too. I mean, no one personifies "Typical City" than Richard Dunne for example, has been player of the year for 3 consecutive years, and ends up the following year scoring more own goals than goals in the right net. Now THAT'S Typical City.

As far as "City til I die", again, this is a fairly recent additon to City folklore, and certainly wasn't around in the 1970's and 1980's as far as I recall. Again, from Cook's point of view, he could quite easily assume that CTID means that we've been starved of success for year upon year, but we will never change our attitude and outlook and will continue to support the club, until we die, regardless of success or not. The younger generation of supporter have grown up with the phrase, and again, will think that Cooky has missed the point of CTID, as they're not aware of a time when it didn't exist. So for them, it's always been there, and it's a way of life, rather than a defiant statment as it might have started out. I do remember times when it didn't exist, and would certainly hold with the idea that it was a statement of defiance, regardless of our lack of success. Cook wants this outlook to change, so that we don't have that "resigned to failure" kind of attitude, and I think on that one, he's spot on.

The thing with Cooky is that he obviously isn't afraid of sticking his head above the parapet, even if sometimes, what he says might come up wrong. It's a bit like your star player on the ball, doing numerous stepovers. A lot of the time it looks fantastic, and other times, you end up on your arse.

That's my take on it anyway, and I stand to be corrected, but would be interested in knowing from any of the older posters when was the first time you remembered each of the phrases being said?

eloquently put, spot on.

 

[BlueT]

Im sorry just got in from the pub, CTID means stand by our club no matter what. Typical City means 3 up against bouremouth and draw. gary cook as got a lot to learn.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

As a 45 year old City supporter, I think I can relate a little bit to what GC is saying. And to do so, I think you need to understand just when the two phrases actually came into being.

Firstly, Typical City. Now when I was younger, and I watched Colin Bell, Mike Doyle, Alan Oakes, Joe Corrigan et al, I can never remember the phrase "Typical City" being mentioned. Even when I went with my grandad, god rest his soul, we never sort of said "Typical City". We did used to say "We won't score from this corner, we never score from corners", but "Typical City", I don't remember. So I think that is a relatively recent thing borne out of the numerous "Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory" type of scenarios we started to go through. I'm not sure when this did start, but I'd guess it would be round about 1980 when we had re installed Malcolm Allison as manager, and promptly lost to Halifax in the cup. As a relative outsider Garry Cook won't be aware of when this actually did begin, but I believe he's right in that we have to eradicate that aspect from not only the supporters culture, but from the teams mentality too. I mean, no one personifies "Typical City" than Richard Dunne for example, has been player of the year for 3 consecutive years, and ends up the following year scoring more own goals than goals in the right net. Now THAT'S Typical City.

As far as "City til I die", again, this is a fairly recent additon to City folklore, and certainly wasn't around in the 1970's and 1980's as far as I recall. Again, from Cook's point of view, he could quite easily assume that CTID means that we've been starved of success for year upon year, but we will never change our attitude and outlook and will continue to support the club, until we die, regardless of success or not. The younger generation of supporter have grown up with the phrase, and again, will think that Cooky has missed the point of CTID, as they're not aware of a time when it didn't exist. So for them, it's always been there, and it's a way of life, rather than a defiant statment as it might have started out. I do remember times when it didn't exist, and would certainly hold with the idea that it was a statement of defiance, regardless of our lack of success. Cook wants this outlook to change, so that we don't have that "resigned to failure" kind of attitude, and I think on that one, he's spot on.

The thing with Cooky is that he obviously isn't afraid of sticking his head above the parapet, even if sometimes, what he says might come up wrong. It's a bit like your star player on the ball, doing numerous stepovers. A lot of the time it looks fantastic, and other times, you end up on your arse.

That's my take on it anyway, and I stand to be corrected, but would be interested in knowing from any of the older posters when was the first time you remembered each of the phrases being said?

Interesting post mate - I'm late 30s.

City Till I die was born, I can't remember the exact year but it would have been around 97-98, when we were really suffering, losing manager after manager and going down the divisions. It started as the song and we were, as I said earlier, the first club to sing it.

The first time I remember it really being belted out was Bradford Away. My memory is a bit hazy but City had a whole end and half of one side of the ground. I reckon it was around the time of that little false dawn we had under Frank Clark. When Gio was still delivering. I think we won 2 or 3 nil. It grew as a song and then other clubs started using it.

But City fans had this wierd thing at the time where a lot of the songs used to be set to a handclap and that naturally slowed them down. So the song slowed, lost that sort of rabble rousing bit where you belt out City Till I Die and became a bit of a drone. It hence nearly died out but has had a bit of a resurgence recently. Since the song started Blues do use this "CTID" to sign off internet posts and the like.

"Typical City" I don't think can be pinpointed, but it has certainly grown over the last 15 years or so. All Blues say it too each other with either a roll of the eyes and a wry grin or sometimes with a bit of venom. But I remember us being known as "The Great Unpredictables" as far back as the late 70s/early 80s. That phrase was used fairly regularly in the press then. Also, Franny Lee's famous "If there were cups for cock ups City's trophy cabinet would be full to bursting" quote is from the early 70s!

So City's penchant for the bizarre and incredible has been around all of my life and, knowing our history as i do,for most of the club's history.

 

[Prophet of Doom]

As a 56 year old when I was a kid I can remember my dad and grandad using the phrase typical City with affection, thats why it maybe, touched a nerve to create this thread, CTID was much later, but is our way of standing up to the shit piled against us by the rag media and to me, the words are sacred, I know on my deathbed my last thoughts will be my family and City simple as that.

but thriving on it is the kind of shit spouted by Colin Schindler when he was promoting his book earlier last season.

Fuck all the sentimental bullshit and gallows humour. Let us win a fuckin pot and change things for the better !

Its exactly all the typical city baggage why the top 4 and media wont take us serious !

 

[mcfcphil]

david gill is a prick, peter kenyon is a prick, florentino perez is a prick, berlusconi is a prick, rick parry is a prick. Who cares??????? We have very astute owners who have deemed cook to be the best man to be in that position at this time. Now if they think that i have absolutely no reason to doubt them. If anything when he said milan bottled it i thought it was brilliant - why should we take the crap off milan? He stood up for our club amid a media storm and took a lo of flack for it and i applaud him for that. I think he has missed the ctid point slightly but i also think city fans miss the point with it a lot of the time as well. I think sometimes we do wear our underachievment as a badge of honour - for example when people clap when the attendance is read out at matches is hideously cringeworthy. yes city til i die does mean that (like me - a 26 year old lifelong seasonticket holder who seen us win rock all) we will support city no matter what but some people interpret it as a badge of honour for supporting an unsuccessful team and give themselves a pat on the back for it. The guy is trying to turn the club around and let's judge him by the deals he manages to conclude this summer - up to now he doesn't seem to be doing a bad job.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

for example when people clap when the attendance is read out at matches is hideously cringeworthy

I'm glad you've said that! I agree

 

[Didsbury Dave]

We did used to say "We won't score from this corner, we never score from corners",

me and my Dad still say that. I'll tell you what, I'd be quite happy for Garry Cook to eradicate that particular phrase from our club forever too...