Cook Gone. I'm mad as hell and Gus is to blame.

[Rugrat]

£175,000 for someone with two starts under their belt is pretty staggering business.

plus 8 at B'muff .. they had seen more than enough to justify the fee

 

[colinz]

Being a fan from afar, I'm just a bit curious how a 38 year old, can get a game ahead of a promising talented 20 year old.

 

[JBizzle]

Realistically we got £170k+ for our FIFTH choice CB. Pretty good deal I'd say.

 

[algie]

£175,000 for someone with two starts under their belt is pretty staggering business.

But there again Gareth Barry raked in nearly a million for us without even playing.

 

[SULLY COULDNT SHOOT]

Its very good business and good for Cook BUT a bird in the hand...... we are now awfully short on cover for CB... would have preferred postponing the sale until we had someone in.... perhaps we tried and Bournemouth refused.

 

[CheeseRolls]

What was it Cook was offered a three and a half year contract plus a big pay rise ? Of course he wanted to go. Realistically given his place in the pecking order, he would have been looking at a one year deal in the summer, possibly two years if he played plenty of games and really made an impression. If we had kept him until the summer, we would have been entitled to a fee, but this would have been set by a tribunal and it may well have been less than we received now.

So Gus is an idiot for not offering a promising squad player a lucrative three year deal ? Much as I liked cook, I don't think so.

 

[brunswick]

the lad WANTED to go, wants guaranteed 1st team football - cant blame him. gus looks after careers too ya know.

 

[Craig4004]

Let me get this straight. You have seen the lad play, what, twice? And Gus, who was a world class footballer with a long career playing for top level clubs, has seen him play every day in training for the last two years, and countless development squad games. Yet you think you are better qualified to make a decision on whether he will become a good enough player to be a regular first teamer in a team with serious Premier League aspirations in the next few years than he is?

There's one person here who is 'damned stupid', and I'll give you a clue- it's not Gus.

This!

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Until the Liv game and the recent Saints game I had forgotten all about Cook.

 

[BensGrandad]

Some 4 or 5 years ago we had a central defender in the same situation as Steve Cook except that much as many on here said he would soon be worth a fortune nobody actually offered any money for him. He is now injured but is probably 4th or 5th choice central defender when fit..................Tommy Elphick. It is good deal for all concerned so lets stop bleating about it.

 

[Acker79]

[yt]WINDtlPXmmE[/yt]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WINDtlPXmmE

 

[The Large One]

The thread title is in three parts.

The first part is a statement of fact.

Are the second and third statements linked? If so, assuming they completely separate from the first, how is Gus to blame for your madness?

 

[drew]

Out of interest, have the rules changed yet? His contract might be up in June but provided we offered him the same deal then if he chose to leave in the summer we would get compensation because he is under 24? Thought he had been at the club for 9 years so that's more than Barry was, not that we would get that amount these days. However, assuming there is no sell on clause (none have been mentioned as yet), I would have thought the club could have settled compensation at a lower initial fee with add ons and sell on clause.

 

[Simster]

Let me get this straight. You have seen the lad play, what, twice? And Gus, who was a world class footballer with a long career playing for top level clubs, has seen him play every day in training for the last two years, and countless development squad games. Yet you think you are better qualified to make a decision on whether he will become a good enough player to be a regular first teamer in a team with serious Premier League aspirations in the next few years than he is?

There's one person here who is 'damned stupid', and I'll give you a clue- it's not Gus.

If Cook hadn't played against Southampton, would [MENTION=144]goldstone[/MENTION] even have cared?

All I'll say is that El Abd was considered a liability by well over half our support until Gus rocked up and told everyone he was the best defender at the club (this was pre-Greer and Calderon). Then last season, he was absolute quality and has been dependable pretty much ever since. So personally, I'll trust Gus's judgement when it comes to defending, that's for sure.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I am led to believe that there IS a sell-on element to the Cook deal. A fairly significant one.

 

[Southy]

Why should we stand in the way of a player who wants first team football? He's clearly not 1st choice here so as an ex player Gus isnt going to stand in his way is he? As someone else said 175k for a player with 2 first team appearances is v good business. Good luck to him.

 

[seagullondon]

 

[mona]

I am led to believe that there IS a sell-on element to the Cook deal. A fairly significant one.

Source please?

I'm disappointed to see him go but can understand the reasons. What would "madden" me is if we sell Dunk and spend money on a new defender who is not as good as Cook. Anybody who saw the Sussex Senior Cup Final will have realised that Steve Cook was an excellent prospect.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Source please?

.

Won't be sharing that I'm afraid.

 

[goldstone]

I'm mad as hell because we should be developing and holding on to our own home-grown talent (and I believe Cook falls into that category) rather than signing don't-give-a-feck-about-brighton-but-I'll-take-the-money Chileans, Paraguayans, Spaniards and various other nationalities ... some of whom spend all their time in the treatment room.