Paul Cook - Portsmouth manager

[Saddlerrad]

Officially announced a few minutes ago on the Pompey Facebook feed. Doesn't give a length of contract. Is this finally the appointment that will send Pompey back through the lower league ranks? Did well on a relative budget at Chesterfield and had his best forward taken in January.

http://www.portsmouthfc.co.uk/news/article/portsmouth-appoint-paul-cook-as-manager-2451265.aspx

 

[Shrimpurh]

Sort of expecting Portsmouth to do something this season

 

[Walkley_Owl]

Hope they fail miserably.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Be interesting to see what goes on here. Demanding fanbase that expect Top 7 at the bare minimum. Cook's never had a pressure job, he had an easy ride at Accrington where expectation was low and then at Chesterfield he was hardly under any significant pressure and overachieved significantly. Portsmouth squad looks in dire need of recruitment too.

Think he's a great manager with a great philosophy unlike our own boring dull bastard, but this will be the defining move of his managerial career no doubt about it.

 

[wilsontown]

This is probably the toughest gig in the lower divisions right now. Well, except for Blackpool.

 

[LordJord]

Whoever the manager is, with the sort of budget Pompey will likely have next season anything other than automatics should be failure in my eyes. Its not like you have to spend loads on transfer fees, they should be able to play players to drop down from league 1.

 

[Bromo18]

Looks like Portsmouth are really going to go for it next season. Wouldn't be surprised to see a load of changes made on the pitch.

 

[Dinge]

A great appointment. As a Pompey fan I'm pretty happy with it, although would've preferred a higher profile manager, but harder to attract and we don't have the budget to afford one.
Cook has done a brilliant job at Chesterfield and it sounds like he's likely to bring some of his backroom staff with him as well.
He's got a tough job and a lot of dead weight in the squad to shift and recruit new players in, but first job is to keep hold of Jed Wallace - he's pivotal to Pompey's success next season!

 

[Murphy]

Probably couldn't have gotten a better manager for the job really. Think I said it in another thread but he knows the league and what it takes to get out of it, although if they have a tonne of new signings it'll probably take a bit to get going.

 

[CFC91]

You're giving us 150k and paying him nigh on 300k a year in salary. Don't talk about not having a budget please.

Madness for the lower leagues.

 

[Don Tonberry]

I suppose the £2.5 million wage budget tempted him...

It should be known, before more Chesterfield fans "hope we go bust" it was Cook who applied for the job a few weeks ago despite their position in the play-offs. Our board then unanimously picked Cook as the best candidate available and then made the approach, which the Chesterfield manager then decided to make public.

Cook was always going to leave to come down here no matter what he said. They've got some fairly decent compo for him and I think this is an excellent appointment, though he has plenty of work to do.

 

[AdamStag]

His sides never score against mansfield.

Whoop

 

[T.A]

2.5 million wage budget?? Surely not

 

[Richard Cranium]

You just know Chesterfield and Pompey will draw each other in the Cup next season.

 

[AdamStag]

2.5 million wage budget?? Surely not

Really?

 

[Don Tonberry]

Apparently so.

 

[AdamStag]

Not a dig - (seriously) but was there local companies who lost out when you went into your agreement? Or went under?

Literally I genuinely ask - if there was any - I remember St. John ambulance (where I work) losing £40k did these ever get their whole money back? If not would it be good to reimburse those?

I appreciate it isn't as simple as that, but still, you do wonder

 

[spireite]

Paul Cook will get his players working hard on and off the pitch. He takes training very seriously and our squad was always very fit (especially considering he inherited an unfit, lazy squad from John Sheridan). He will encourage players to keep the ball down and play it, from the keeper forward. Your keeper will be encouraged to roll it out to a defender and work from there rather than boot it. He likes to get goals from his midfielders and the 2 or 3 behind the striker (for us, Roberts, O'Shea, AN Other) basically have free roles.

I expect him to take one or two players with him from here to help with that, mainly Jimmy Ryan. Ryan is a superb ball retainer, ball winner and get himself about. If Darikwa didn't have such a superb season Ryan would have been POTY for me. PC is a great people manager and a good community manager. You can also expect Cook to frequent to local boozers with alarming regularity!

I'm very disappointed in him if the rumours of him applying for the Portsmouth job whilst we were making the play-offs are true, but still, he's done a fantastic job here and I wish him the best I just hope we don't end up losing 5-6 first teamers as people are projecting. We'll be facing a relegation battle and no doubts about it if that happens

 

[Don Tonberry]

@Adam: I'm not sure about a full reimbursement but they did get what they were owed following the second CVA (20% of 20%). Those full debts should be repaid by Chainrai and co. anyway as it was their fault, not the new regime. Unfortunately, they'll never see that money again.

spireite_uk: The fact that virtually every Chesterfield fan is gutted to lose him fills me with confidence. Crawley fans didn't give a damn when Barker left them for us. I think Cook will be an excellent appointment, but he definitely applied for the job once Awford was sacked.

 

[Walkley_Owl]

Have Pompey had more stints in admin than trophies they've won?

 

[Flaxman's Alibi]

This is a no brainer decision for Cook in my opinion. I think that he clearly thinks that he's probably taken the spireites as far as he can, before they start shedding important players. If they have a poor season next year (which is always possible) then Chesterfield FC are just as fickle as any other club when it comes to turning on a manager.

The potential at Pompey is so obvious, the whole of a big city is behind them; they just need a leader to steer them in the right direction, as the club is clearly now on far firmer foundations.

If I were Cook I'd look at Portsmouth and think to myself:
I'm upping my wages.
I can take my backroom staff with me.
I'll have a better budget and the name of the club to attract talent.
I have the potential to be successful for the best set of fans in the lower divisions.
I have the chance to live in a great part of the country.

Okay, he is dropping a division, which could be classed as showing a lack of ambition, but if you put the clubs side by side (and Chesterfield have done great over the last couple of years) there really is no comparision in size or possibilities.

 

[Cashis]

He's gonna get absolutely rendered in every boozer in town. Get used to 'leaks'.

 

[CFC91]

And various other goings off by all accounts. Not that i'm knocking him, most of what I heard was pretty normal behavior for some people I know.

 

[Don Tonberry]

Have Pompey had more stints in admin than trophies they've won?

No we've won four major trophies and "only" been in admin three times!

 

[EricSabin]

Couldn't put up with his voice!

Fantastic appointment though, should win the league with the money behind them and the new manager coming in. A good successful team, if they're flying then no one will fancy going to Fratton Park. Shame for Chesterfield but Pompey are a huge proposition at this level.

 

[hardinge_7]

Not a dig - (seriously) but was there local companies who lost out when you went into your agreement? Or went under?

Literally I genuinely ask - if there was any - I remember St. John ambulance (where I work) losing £40k did these ever get their whole money back? If not would it be good to reimburse those?

I appreciate it isn't as simple as that, but still, you do wonder

I believe all that is picked up by the CVA and part of the creditors agreement when the club came out of administration. As far as I'm aware companies don't receive all of what they were owed but quite a lot of it, whereas smaller companies and charities like St John's Ambulance receive or have received the money owed in full. But that's only my take on it.


Always seems to be brought up by everyone though, this wasn't the fault of the fans, but the owners, board and managers previously in charge. The fans of Portsmouth FC have now raised the money to own the club themselves to point them back in the right direction.