Why Cook's recipe is off the menu now

ANOTHER sacking, another Championship vacancy, another snub for Paul Cook. Or is there more to it than simple rejection?

- Chris Dunlavy

Since Cook left Wigan on the first day of August, 13 second-tier clubs have either sacked, lost or otherwise dispensed with a first-team manager.

None of them saw fit to employ the 54-year-old, despite his broad popularity with supporters, a cast-iron CV and, in several cases, prohibitively short odds at Ladbrokes.

Admittedly, some of them were inside jobs; Wayne Rooney at Derby, Jason Tindall at Bournemouth. But most weren’t.

In the past month alone, Cardiff and Bristol City have appointed external candidates without even inviting Cook to interview.

Fizzled

In the case of the latter, that is understandable. Cook was interviewed for the post when Lee Johnson was sacked in the summer, his sudden availability following Wigan’s shock relegation convincing the Robins to extend a recruitment process that had already taken four weeks.

Like an icy blind date, though, any chemistry quickly fizzled. Cook, City briefed reporters, did not fit the club’s culture.

Was this a euphemistic way of saying the former Chesterfield and Portsmouth boss wanted to pull more strings at Ashton Gate than the hierarchy were willing to cede?