Unfortunately, he keeps undermining himself by putting his foot in his mouth.
So perhaps the best thing City's chief executive can do right now is to reign in the bullish talk for a while.
There's no doubt he had the best intentions when he told Blues fans in New York that they would beat United in the Carling Cup semi-final and then become `the biggest and best club in the world'.
Commendable ambitions, certainly but the sort of statement that can come back to bite you on the backside?
It's not the first time Cook's words have generated more headlines than he would have liked.
He admitted to feeling dreadful about describing former owner Thaksin Shinawatra as `a good guy to play golf with' when the ex-Thai Prime Minister was facing corruption charges in his homeland.
And he was quick to apologise for the slip-up at a fans' evening which saw him say Uwe Rosler was being inducted into the Manchester United Hall of Fame.
He also came in for plenty of criticism after accusing AC Milan of "bottling it" over City's audacious bid to sign Kaka.
And, perhaps unfairly, he had to take most of the stick for the manner in which Mark Hughes was sacked last month.
City's owners are astute and, according to club insiders they feel Cook is doing a good job, spearheading the corporate development that is crucial to the club's long-term sustainability.
But it's probably best that he keeps the public pronouncements a little more on the bland side - at least until the trophies start rolling in. Tweet
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How come other clubs staff,fans, banners and so on can gourd and poke fun at CITY but its all ok. Only CITY can do wrong eh. CITY needs to be careful of them lot accross the road because they are the most underhanded club in football, they will backstab whenever they get the chance, they have a lot of clowns n their side.
As I said, you don't hear anything from the CEO's of the big four or virtually anybody else except for bland and the banal. If he carries on doing the good work he has done behind the scenes and stays very much behind the scenes and avoids foot in mouth situations, then the Press won't have anything to write about will they. And besides, if any of those clubs go for a player and then don't get him, is it the CEO who wades in and starts having a go or giving explanations etc? No, never. It's Raf, Wenger or Fergie. ANy comments about players being signed or released and about the team's performances on the pitch are the sole domain of the manager, not Gary Cooke. If he can keep his mouth shut he can keep his job but as part of the job is to portray City in as good a light as possible, continuing to make us look like complete Charlies would make his job untenable. I would keep him for the time being with the warning to keep up the good work behind the scenes and stay behind the scenes! A good CEO should be seen and not heard very much.
Don't listen to them Garry, keep on doing what you're doing, I think you're brilliant!
COOK OUT!!! HE DOES NOT CARE ABOUT US HE IS WORSE THAN MIKE ASHLEY.GET SOMEONE WHO KNOWS A LOT ABOUT FOOTBALL AND THE CLUB
COOK OUT!!!
If he is so well regarded for his marketing and sponsorship deals, which don't require football knowledge but rather a specific business knowledge, he should be moved sideways into a non-football role; something sexy sounding like international marketing director would suit his strngths and put him out of harm's way. We need a dignified CEO, somebody respected within the football world, whose reputation can open doors in the corridors of power and build bridges between City and FIFA, UEFA and the FA. We are considered outsiders, nouveau riche and gauche; we are hated by the press and feared by the established top teams and the institutions; in reality, we have very classy and understated Arab owners but are a family club with a heart and have the best fans anywhere; we are the antithesis of ManU and their glory seeking fans and obnoxious win at all costs mentality; but we need PR that isn't ruined by Cook. He is neither part of the classy UAE dynsaty nor is he a football man; it isn't his fault, he tries too hard because he knows that he is in neither camp and his gaffes are because he is a duck out of water.
Nothing wrong with Gary Cook saying to his own supporters, at a private function, that we are gong to be the biggest and the best. I would have hoped for nothing less.
Every blue on here should say the same. Show some ambition. Why not.
How the heck did Sky Sports know that GC would be at the Mad Hatter anyway
I find it a little odd that Thaksin is mentioned so often and at the same time insinuations are made as to his probity. Thaksin was the elected Prime Minister of Thailand. Elected in free votes again and again. Then overthrown by a military who are unelected by anyone. Since then they have fixed the constitution to ensure that Thaksin was banned from standing and his party banned too. Despite that his successors almost won and the people who are now in a talking of changing the rules to stop the illiterate and mainly working class farmers from voting. Funny that they vote for Thaksin in the main.
He was convicted in Thailand in his absence and by a Court that was appointed essentially by the military junta.
Kuhn Thaksin was welcomed by many people and widely respected before his money was even more restricted by the military junta. And don't forget that he made his money as a business man long before he went into politics. Far more than the amounts they are talking about him corruptly obtaining whilst in power.
So lets give Mr Cook a little leeway for thinking he is a good golf partner.
Stick to his more football related gaffs as they are far more culpable than the one about a bit of golf.
Sam Haggar-Lowestoft-Carlos Tevez once a red always a blue, 30/01/2010 at 14:01
Cook worse than Mike Ashley????
In the immortal words of that Andy Millman merchandise doll in Extras that wouldn't shut up...
You're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff, you're 'aving a laff...
So some people don't like some of the things he has said. So what. Cook is largely responsible for significantly enhancing City's profile in world football over the past 12 months. Right now all publicity is good publicity for City. I've lived in the south of England for 23 years now and, until relatively recently, you had to search the back pages of the southern editions to find anything about City. This season City have dominated these pages predominately because of all the positve news about our club. We should not be surprised if there are many out there in the football world who have not heard of its richest club.
Over time Cook will develop the corporate strategy to reflect how we want it to be. In the meantime the odd gaffe here or there really does us no harm whatsoever.
100% agree - I'm sure Cook is working miracles off the field; Just look at the Our marketing campaigns (genius in my opinion), Sponsorship deals, Superstore; Website and I have the pleasure to go into Hospitality for my birthday recently...all seemed to have been improved beyond recognition since Cook joined...I'm sure there are plenty of more examples that we are not privvy too
BUT
Footballing wise the man is naive at best, a liability at worse.... his comments (of which we can name several examples) are embarrassing and only serves to alienate opposition fans and teams against us detracting the teams job on the field...You are not telling me that Fergie didn't ram those comments to his team before kickoff on Wednesday
Mr Cook please keep doing what your good at and leave the Media Soundbites to someone more experienced
Cook, stay out of the limelight and keep doing a good job behind the scenes. I'm sure the business knowledge will be beneficial for our club, but this needs to be done in the background and it is best Cook forgets the camera's and media and continues utilising his skills in developing worldwide business for City.
CTID
Andrew Shaw
30/01/2010 at 13:56
Remember we were the England's second favourite team playing average football and finishing in a mediocre position. We were bombarded with repeated Pearce drivel telling us after each defeat that his team will roll their sleeves up and work harder. Give me Garry Cook and a few gaffes anytime.
Why should City's CEO, when talking to a group of City fans, NOT give a rousing positive confirmation of what City's ambitions are?
Keep on making a noise Garry, we should not have to feel like we have to apologise for having a very bright future, and if other fans and clubs don't like it, TOUGH!!
Let's all hang Gary Cook out to dry because...well, he actually tried to bring one of the best players in the world to City, he said we'd beat Utd and he has real ambition for the club. Call me simple, but I thought these were all the kind of things he's paid to try to do. I would add that the truth of the matter about his New York utterings appears to be that he had the permission of the club hierarchy to deliver a stirring speech to City supporters resident in New York. This he did - to find that a reporter videoed it on a mobile! It was a much more comfortable world when our club let Bacon face pour out contempt for us and said nothing in reply. Or even worse let him set one of his thugs on one of our players, finish his career and then do nothing - until we meekly complied with his demand to do something when Princess Ron got trodden on. Sorry, I prefer Cook.
Cook is and has been good for this club. He promotes the interests of the fans so don't berate him if he acts a little like one of us now and again!
Thaksin was good for this club too and introduced our new owners. You can't judge Dr. T. by western standards; as far as Asian politics is concerned he did a good job for his country and people.
Going back to Cook's comments Kaka did bottle it, and I think his decision to let Hughes go, having supported him for far too long in my opinion, has been vindicated.
Don't fall for the lies, spins and mischief making of the media vultures!
Its great to see that most of the comments here so far haven't followed the mainstream pressline that Cook is a liability. Basically if you back City in the Rag tops then you vilified. Cook might seem a bit brash but do we really want someone who doesn't feel that City can move forward with confidence? I don't. I'm sorry if this upsets some, but those people have fallen for the same old slag-off-City tactics of the press. DON'T BUY INTO INTO IT!! And currently one of the only people in the media talking sense & giving City a fair hearing is John Motson on Radio 5.
Maybe this one will get posted, about time we had some one who had a pair at this club, he never actually mentioned nited, he said not if when we get to wembly, never mentioned spacificaly the carling cup, & was being posotive about us in front of our own fans, but its ok for arsen, bacon, moyes etc to crucifie other clubs in public, keep up the good work Garry !!! CTID BELIEVE.
It's a pity that the press don't concentrate more on what happens on the pitch rather than in the boardroom at Eastlands. The majority of TV commentators these days are ex professional players and I don't hear City getting the same sort of negative comments from them as I see in the written press. ex players know what goes on inside a football club, journalists only know what they are told by people who have their own agendas. You only have to watch Sky Sports "Sunday Supplement" to realise how little journalists actually know about the game.
I suppose he should have said our ambition is to be about the third or fourth best team. That really would have socked it to the Yanks wouldn't it.
I like the things he says, but he should turn it down just a notch, not try so hard. take a step back and have a good laugh at some of the things he said, and the reaction he got.
He's very very good for this club behind the scenes. no way would I swap him for a Kenyon or Parry. Cook understands that the fans are at the centre of this club. That's why he goes out to OSC meetings and the like, he's not politicking, he wants their to be real communication and understanding between the fans and the clubs. No other big club acts in this way, not even the people's republic of Everton will listed to their fans and react. No other club has such an innovative and fresh approach to marketing and communications.
He just needs to take his profile down a notch, because he is not the bland and silent type, he will always be in danger of upsetting some fans, and because the press will use anything and everything that he says against him.
Garry Cook is alright with me! Vilified by the rag biased media and I can't believe how many City fans fall for it.
We are on the right track. Good Luck to you mate!
I'm of a mind to lay off him. He does say some daft things but he seems to do so out of enthusiasm rather than arrogance. Anyone that annoys the media and the scuzzers can't be all that bad...
Best chief exec we've had for years. Obviously committed, ambitious and doesnt suffer fools. And he's absolutely right to come out with bullish statements that reflect our new found ambition- it comes from the top down. Why shouldnt he say we will beat United? Damn right we'll take their crown at some point.
Keep up the good work Gary. We love your confident statements. Maybe it'll filter through to some of the players. And Kaka DID bottle it. We handled ourselves with bags of class. Milan were the muppets running to the press all the time.
I think it would be a really bad call to lose Garry Cook. He clearly knows his job in terms of all of the marketing, branding etc. However, as he is learning his way around the job of being CEO of a football club and being in the spotlight, he is obviously going to make an error or two along the way. If the owners do decide to find an alternative public face to take some of the heat off Garry, how about Shaun Goater or Mike Summerbee. It would be foolish to take any behind the scenes work off Garry Cook, but merely to take over his public duties such as hosting inductions into the hall of fame and talking at fan club meetings, then bring in a popular and very likable face. Let Garry concentrate on the most important parts of his job rather than the public. Just a thought.
It must be something in the name "Gary"....Neville talks drivel and encourages all neutrals to turn against him and his graceless thuggish club and I am afraid so does Gary Cook. The guy is a complete liability. The best chief execs are the ones that are seen but rarely heard from. Kenyon was another clown, have to say Gill at the swamp does a much better, more dignified job. A good man always knows his limitations, why does Cook keep speaking about football, he clearly knows very very little.Kenyon came out with the famous "it will be a one horse race this year" when he was at Chelsea, it was United walked it. Private meeting or not, you dont say things that clearly you cannot guarantee. No one can guarantee to beat United, no one can guarantee that we will be the biggest and best. Anyway, we will 99% certain never be the biggest and that doesnt matter. We just want to be the best, we will try to be the best but for gods sake do not say we definately will, because you just end up looking stupid. Cook is one of those, that if you have been to Tenerife, he is going to Elevenarife. He craves publicity but ends up making himself look foolish. A little humility wouldnt go amiss. My vote is get rid, he is a liability....