Does Gary Cook understand this club?

[Gary James]

It's possible Garry Cook's views have not been correctly reported. I think, to be fair to him, he wants to create a winning mentality and one which isn't satisfied to be second best or to say 'ah well, what did we expect'.

Having said that there are two aspects to Typical City that need to be remembered. Of course Typical City refers to the 'Cups for Cock ups' style of our history (win League one year, get relegated the next; at the height of our powers tell our most successful manager he's no longer wanted and take away his car park space and office; look destined to win the FA Cup then one of the season's biggest heroes scores an own goal etc.).

But to me it also refers to our win against the odds approach - it's Typical City when we win the League on the last day of the season while the Championship Trophy and BBC are at another ground because 'they' were destined to win the League. It's Typical City when all hope had gone and everyone writes us off yet we score two goals at the death of a game and then win promotion via penalties. It's Typical City when the whole world expects us to abuse our neighbours' tragedy and lose an important game yet we behave impeccably and deservedly win the match. It's Typical City when on the last day of the transfer window we smash the Transfer Record. Typical City is to expect the unexpected.

Personally, I believe the only way we will ever eliminate the negative aspects of the Typical City tag is when we find real success and build on that. No errors. I have discussed with many people at City over the years the Typical City tag and I believe that we should work hard to make it a mark of quality. We need to turn it into an absolute positive, not a negative. A badge to be proud of. Win the League - Typical City. Sign the biggest stars - Typical City. Sell out the stadium - Typical City. Loyal fans - Typical City.

The elimination of Typical City as a negative will only come if the Club delivers without error or cock up time after time. It's not something that can be eliminated until that time.

CTID - personally I think this is about loyalty. Death is obviously not a great marketing line, but surely CTID means something similar to Live4City - it's a way of life. It's a mark of loyalty. When most marry they use the phrase (or similar) 'Till death do us part' - it's about dedicating yourself to someone.

 

[Maineblue]

We ain't gonna stop saying CTID but I'll be quite glad to see the back of typical City.

And for what it's worth I like the fella.

 

[skiddypants]

I like Garry two r's when one will do Cook.

He is making things better.
Trying out new things all the time to make City the best Club in the world.
I even find what he says funny, its a typical chairman quote.

CTID

 

[Didsbury Dave]

I like Garry two r's when one will do Cook.

He is making things better.
Trying out new things all the time to make City the best Club in the world.
I even find what he says funny, its a typical chairman quote.

CTID

He's not the chairman

 

[skiddypants]

I Stand Corrected..Executive Chairman.
I gave him a quick promotion, can i have free seasoncard.

 

[Rösler's Dad]

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.

Agree, DD; and a great post by Lancashire Blue before that.

I don't recall CTID as a song until the late 90's - you may be right DD about it being started in that brief good period under Frank Clark (I still shudder at his interviews on GMR; "what's going wrong, Frank?" said by Jimmy Wagg and "dunno, you tell me" by FC in reply! Ffs, you were the manager, Frank!) - and I don't recall it being sung in the late 70's/early 80's as Nixon says, either, when I was standing on the Kippax. But memory plays funny tricks, so I could be wrong.

Can't see a lot wrong with what Garry Cooke has said; OK, he got a bit of our history wrong perhaps, but the different posts on here show that some fans on here share his views. Anyway, I think he's doing a brilliant job as Chief Exec improving the running of the club; nor do I accept for a moment that he's making us look foolish as a club, as some still say; on the contrary, we are now being taken very seriously indeed in the football world. So what if he said Milan bottled it? They did and Berlusconi was soon making nice noises about City afterwards; and he's a man who always fawns over the powerful or soon to be powerful.

IMO, the anti-City sneers in the press at as us parvenus, a no history club, and that Cooke is a ludicrous "management speak" idiot who can't succeed in this country are slowly dying away as the seriousness of our project becomes clearer. And if other fans come out with it so what? They are behind the game, that's all.