Cook has become some what an enigma at city, often vocal in his opinions on club matters (good and bad). He has become the main man in terms of City’s development on the ground! He has a fondness for marketing jargon ….buzz words. But with his recent bad press, what value does he actually have to the club?
Cook spent 12 years working for Nike in mostly the USA before taking his role as chief exec under Thaksin replacing the bean counter Alastair Macintosh! In January 08 he was made ‘President’ of the Nike Jordan brand, one of Nike biggest brands, it’s an extremely impressive role! Cooks ability is in Marketing, spreading Brands in the global market! This is what he brings to the club. He has great pedigree in the business and that should stand the club in good stead. Cook already attracted another marketing manager from Nike, ex Arsenal winger Brian Marwood along with David Pullen the marking manager who has a glittering CV in TV, Magazine brand growth and Chris Kay from Fallon (one of the top ad agencies around). So the majority of the City exec team are from marketing/ad background that has to reflect in the policies of the club!
Much or Cook’s rhetoric reflect his background (obviously), But does this translate well into football. Recent comments from Richard Dunne have exposed the lack of leadership at the top and perhaps reflects the evolution of the club if it is to become a Global brand!
"All he wants is big-money players,
He doesn't understand the core loyalty of the club and where it begins.
For him, I was probably a bit of a nuisance. I found out things that were going on behind my back and I wouldn't speak to him. Every time I came around he probably felt a bit uncomfortable.
It just needed people to be honest with me. I was getting phone calls from people saying Garry Cook was trying to sell me behind my back, two months after me going to him and saying if he has any problems to come and deal with me.
I'm disappointed with people who say one thing and then do the other. I'm not a baby, I'm not going to cry if the club want to sell me, but just don't do it behind my back."
These are worrying remarks from Dunne as it doesn’t reflect well on the club or Cook who in the words of Michael Jordan
“demonstrates tremendous leadership in the global marketplace”
Those comments don’t reflect what has transpired at the club. Cook has long seen Dunne a part of the old city. He has discussed in length ending the ‘typical city’ mindset from players and fans and saw Dunne as a part of that! In China he gave some indication of desire for change,
“No disrespect, Richard Dunne doesn’t roll off the tongue in Beijing.”
Dunne isn’t marketable player, he doesn’t have a global image that the club can use to sell itself. The club pursuit of household names or ‘marquee signings’ is the key to the clubs image progress. Cook would argue there is no room for sentimentality and he acted on behalf of the club to help it grow. City is a brand that he is in charge of spreading globally to boost our income and success, the players are simply a commodity in Cooks game plan! The treatment of Dunne shows Cook is taking an aggressive policy in managing the club, ruthless but he would argue necessary approach if we are reach our aims quickly as possible! However it should have been dealt with in a more respectful manner, Cook and the club have come under some degree of scrutiny over transfer policy and actions like this represent a lack cohesion and respect from executive! Cook insistence on retaining the traditions of the club have been neglected in this instance! The club cannot not afford to be too ruthless, there has to be some balance, this deal could have been dealt with far more diplomatically, which is a weakness for Cook. Last season Kaka deal ended in Cook blaming the Milan elite of wasting City’s time. I thought this to be an ill advised move especially for a marketing man! Diplomacy and respect are needed in a business where people are the commodity, it reflects well on the club and it’s dealings!
Cook talks a good talk and has the right acumen and skill to drive to club to a position where the owner want us to be in! He will feel he has take whatever steps that are necessary to achieve this, if that means stepping on a few toes on the way to the top, then so be it! It’s not the most pleasing of policy’s and something we don’t want to hear about in the press. Hopefully this is an aberration and the club gets it act together and makes sure it doesn’t happen again. Cook is the man to lead us forward, as he is running the club on a day to day basis. What he has brought to the club already looks impressive! The development of the ground, club website and shop, Umbro deal and the aggressive marketing campaign ie the infamous 'WELCOME TO MANCHESTER' poster with Carlos Tevez! It's all very impressive and hopefully more is to come, with the academy's abroad, more lucrative pre season tours, and more developments of club facilities.
City should be in good hands and if Cook is good at his job, Dunne type incidents won’t happen again!
22 comments:
Just exactly what has cooke done wrong,his image has been damaged this week by a player that should of kept his mouth shut,Dunne didnt exactly cover himself in glory last year did he,as captain and leading figure in the dressing room he came across to me as very weak,and the leader of the old regime.
What is the right way of showing someone the door?to me,taking a pay off and then going public with your bitter comments just shows to me that Cooke has been justified in his actions,i also think Cooke has taken all the blame for this,Hughes obviously didnt try to hard to keep him,hes only spoken to his captain twice since south africa,doesnt say much for him does it.
Well it showed a complete lack of respect for Dunne, who, as stated spoke with cook and asked him to discuss any problems. Dunne didnt appear to want to leave the club. Cook acted without the diplomacy and respect that the club captian and player of 9 years deserved, if he wanted to sell him, then it should of been made clear instead of clandestine dealings!
Hughes too can take blame, but he isnt responsible for transfer- commings and goings..He probably could of done more to keep dunne.
Dunne has every right to feel aggreived!
honestly think hes done a great job since taking over as CEO, bit sad the way it all ended with dunne but hes the past now and we have to look to the future, keep up the good work garry
He's a ponce - I have awesome gossip to back it up....
How's the window tinting business Garry?
I would say the only error Cook made was to not include a gagging order with the 1.8M that Dunne screwed the club for (when we add the 1.2M we reduced his value to Aston Villa with the 600k he got in his hand from us).
Not bad for a limited player who let us down last season displaying no form or leadership skills whatsoever which culminated in mistakes that cost us around 18 points and our UEFA chances.
His most damning comments for me are the ones where he said that the team would fall apart after a few bad results (this from a man who was our captain 2 days previous). He couldn't be shown the door fast enough if that is an example of his true attitude to our club. As the first chap above so elonquently states shouting his mouth off and spreading negative press just further proves Cook was right about him in my opinion too. He has lost his place at City because he failed miserably last year, not because he is not a star signing. Maybe his form and season would have been better if he had spent the pre-season losing that fat rear of his with Stephen Ireland and gaining some pace and leap rather than negotiating with Portsmouth and then telling the Mail about it. He should have lost the captaincy for that as he was under contract to us then and as such had no right to do that. So much for his loyalty! Maybe Cook remembered that too or possibly it was his laughter when he gave away that penalty at Middlesborough after stirring up trouble for months. Cook is delivering on what he has to do which is more than can be said of Dunne last year. Respect? He was given 1.8M of it and still he has to bad mouth the club spreading negative press when we are in our happiest period since I have been a supporter. Good riddance, at least he will cost Villa points now! I support Cook as we are finally a well run professional outfit off the pitch. It is now up to Hughes to get it right on it. It is a delusion to believe that Dunne has been unfairly treated with a massive pay-off and nearly 20M in pay from his period at City. His words (in their entirety) are a disgrace and no City fan should be defending his public maligning of our club at this time.
Dunne in a democratic society has every right to express his opinion of what was a shabbily handled situation.
Dunne has nothing to prove to the club or us after 9 years service and player of the season 4 times.
Cooks handling of the situation shows a lack of managerial expertise in sensative negogiation and unwanted media repercussion.
Dunnes comments expose a side to Cooke at odd's with the image projected.
Perhaps Cooke will learn but I doubt it, my guess is that his arguement would be you dont make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.
Dunne's exit reflected badly on Cooke and the club to the media and the fan's.
Cookes brief is to over see the club's growth into a major European power and to be fair its difficult to critisise the developments so far apart from these foot in mouth moments.
News of the blues it seems your very anticook which coming from a city website is pretty unhealthy.Why does Dunne deserve all this respect? did he work for nothing?In his 9 years he let the club down many times,for me the Hamburg game was indefensible he showed his leadership qualities that night big time,do us all a big favour now and move on bringing him up all the time is pointless and causes inhouse fighting
Cook has handled this one badly. Lets hope he learns from the experience and begins to understand that fans are not just customers buying a final product.
I don't care what Cooke has done or not done, I'm just glad that we actually got money for Dunne, who let's be honest, was a total liability. I mean, how many times did you screw up and cost us? Too many times!! He's stuck the knife in sure, but he's history now. All we need now is to finally get rid of the "City, Manchester City" song from god knows how many years ago, and things may start to look up!!
clearly your feelings for dunne are not favourable, and you feel by him reciving a fee for leaving the club is sinful act against the club. The player felt within his right to ask for a fee he would of recived had he been allowed to stay at the club. Dunne's form is irrelivant, he was ready to fight for his spot. The facts still stands, Cook should of dealt with the deal more respectfully for the sake of the club. There shouldnt be an opportunity for an ex-player to bad mouth the club. We should conduct our selves correctly and so far we have done that, untill now!
This article address that, simply cook made an error of judgment, as for being anti cook, i dont think you read the entire article at all. Unhealthy to criticise the club, oh well, i didnt realise we all had to have the same opinion! I stated in the article that Cook is building the club in a certian manner and has so far done some great things, but as a marketing man, he should at least know how to treat and not treat players to retain a good image for the club! Regardless what they may or may not have done in the past! It's an entirely fair and valid opinion.
'the team would fall apart after a few bad results ' i didnt read these comments so i cant comment!
AS i finished in the article , cook wont let this happen again, yes a gagging order perhaps! ...But let him continue to build the MCFC brand!
City, Manchester City" haha, yes it all a bit hackneyed and over played now! Well cook has esembled a hughyl skilled marketing team, i'm sure they can replace it with something new!
Is Cooke having a Larry Grayson moment in the photo ? "Shut that door "!
It is always dangerous jumping on the bandwagon of the character asassination of Garry Cooke. Realistically he cannot defend himself without dragging this saga on and giving the Press ammunition to criticise the Club even more like Dunne has. You are being very unfair to take the words of a bitter ex-employee with a very patchy work record and attitude like Dunne as gospel truth.
Dunne is probably angry because he blew his chance to be part of our exciting future and has lashed out like a child rather than look closer to home as to why he was let go.
You are being naive to think that if you treat someone correctly they won't turn around and call you fit to burn if it suits their agenda to do so. Dunnes reaction is a reflection of his own attitude and not necessarilly an indicator that Cook has done anything wrong. I don't know what went on between Cook and Dunne but I am not prepared to pass professional judgement on a man based on Richard Dunnes negative monologue.
My feelings for dunne were favourable until he felt obliged to slate the club,he may of mentioned Cook as his main grudge but what he said,gave the press yet more fuel to write their vitriol what we certainly dont need.
Cook obviously saw something in dunne character which he felt necessary to offload,this happens in every business be it right or wrong through respect for city and especially the fans he should of kept quiet especially after his loyalty bonus,which kept him loyal for what 24 hours?
i have nothing but respect for dunney but i agree with one of the earlier posts that the game against hamburg really summed up his last seasons form and really signalled to me that it was time city and dunne made a fresh start so that only leaves us to say good luck to dunney but i think we may just be able to manage without you
I have a clause in my contract of employment, which states that as long as my employer are not in breach bof the contract (ie. receiving a goodbye payment), then I am duty bound to not refer to my previous employer in a derogatory fashion.
In fact it specifies personal slanderous attacks.
Why is Dunne so different, he gets paid of with loads more than I earn in ten years, but gets the right to go to the press.
newsoftheblues said:
"Well it showed a complete lack of respect for Dunne, who, as stated spoke with cook and asked him to discuss any problems."
and Dunne went on to say that when Cook came round Dunne refused to speak to him, so how is he going to discuss any problems?
Dunne has acted unbelievably immaturely and I'm not surprised he's been given the boot.
The club and Cook have behaved respectfully in all this with his payoff, tribute on the official website.....not to mention the inflated wages he was already being paid.
Don't forget, both Erikson and Hughes had to persuade Dunne to stay by renewing his contract. That's twice in the last three years. Loyal servant? *Tch*
Then he goes to the press with this rubbish, he's no idea, good riddance!
Whatever one might think of Cooke i don't like the snide insinuations of anonymous - "I've got lots of gossip on Cooke" etc. The man cannot defend himself on these sites and posts such as that should not be given space. The suggestion being that he is homosexual. So what if he is ? We didn't hire him for his shagging abilities. I am not saying he is or isn't just that those sort of irrelevant comments should not be aired on blogs.
Concentrate on the issues. Cooke has come in and it coincides with City having the best time we have ever had. There have been a few mistakes. I don't think the Dunne saga covers us in glory, but we only have Dunne's version of events. The Kaka comments i think he was probably right about Milan but he should have kept his mouth shut.
I am not fully in agreement about his comments re City "old" fans and attitudes, but i confess i cannot understand the singing of "We're not really here." I understand it historically, but now ???
I think Dunne did want to leave and is being a little disingenuous with his comments. Of course the press take them out of context too, but why say anything. Hendry kept his mouth shut when he returned to Blackburn and didn't have the track record of mistakes that Dunne has. That first game at Ewood he got a bigger reception from us than from the Blackburn fans. I doubt Dunne will get the same now.
Good article though and puts Mr Cooke into good context.
Cook keeps screwing up. Not in the way he is trying to take the club forwards but in his PR and people skills and therefore communicating the message. In this area he has been found seriously wanting. To call Dunne, a bitter ex employee (as one poster has done) is not only bizarre but wrong. Dunne stated he was told he didn't have to leave and that MH had indicated to him that he could and should stay and fight for his place. Dunne implied he had intended to do that until accident prown Cook intervened.
The Kaka fall out,the thinly veiled attack on City fans for not being "on message" and the Dunne incident are all examples of Cook doing more damage than good. All we need now is the Chairman's vote of confidence in him and he will be toast. I think one more "Cook-up" and he will be on his Nike.
"In fact it specifies personal slanderous attacks.
Why is Dunne so different, he gets paid of with loads more than I earn in ten years, but gets the right to go to the press".
Its NOT slander if its true and if it is true would that change your opinion?
Don't confuse Cook with the Club or the Team. He is just an employee,like the humblest employee of the Club.
You don't have to defend them right or wrong to prove your loyalty to City. Behaving decently is the least we should expect to maintain the fine traditions of OUR Club, not Cooks notional view of how he thinks the BUSINESS should behave.
Don't confuse the two concepts.
I have just returned from Turkey and I was amazed to see the amount of 'new' City shirts being worn by waiters, bar staff and locals. For the first time; Man City 'copy' kits are outselling Liverpool, Man U, Arsenal & Chelsea on the markets - I wore my 'original' with pride. There's certainly a lot of hype about City 'worldwide' and this is only the beggining. Thank you Richard Dunne for your services, you have utmost respect from the majority of City fans, but every fruit has a 'sell by' date and unfortunately for everyone your date arrived... very best of luck at Villa and thank you.
He was involved big time in the signings of tevez, adebayor, barry etc but definately done a bad job hahahahha
and people are right about dunne a big liability
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