Football is seldom an industry that catches you by surprise, but even after a shock exit Andy Cook says he can only look back on his spell in charge of Norwich City Women with pride.
The former Canaries chief delivered the brief of promotion, ensuring tier three football will be played at the Nest - helping City to realise a long-held ambition since the women's team was reintegrated into the club back in 2022.
A dramatic play-off final penalty shoot-out win over Moneyfields caused celebrations long into the night, but for Cook they were halted less than 48 hours later.
Cook returned to City's training base on Tuesday before being delivered the news that he would be departing the club. That was met with plenty of external shock and surprise, but the man himself was more measured in his response.
“I think for me, it was a shock in the sense that I felt I had done a good job. But it did not surprise me, given how football and the industry work," he told the Pink Un. "I know what I have produced. Norwich is the lowest tier I have ever worked at.
"I have worked with England internationals at Arsenal. I have worked in the WSL with Oxford. I have been involved in different parts of my career: obviously winning the league with Forest over four years, straight away with Newcastle, helping them achieve WSL recognition, and, obviously, coming to Norwich.
“That is the thing for me that I probably take personally, but that is because I have so much pride in what I do, and I want to be as good as I can be in the work that I want to produce. I think that is hopefully seen in a lot of the things, that I can be pragmatic. I can take an approach of, we need to try and do this to win a football game, but I have worked in lots of different clubs and with different structures and different ways of working where we have to make sure that we are aesthetically pleasing on the eye as well.
“As a football coach, I know I can deliver it all, really, and it is one that is very hard to take.”
But acceptance of the decision doesn't mean it hasn't been a bruising month of reflection for Cook, who quickly had to contend with the reality of losing a job he adored and letting go of a group of players he had helped taste success.
Cook departed alongside his assistant, Ethan Scott, who was recently named head coach of Cambridge United Women, and has found the questions surrounding why he was quickly dispensed with after such a big achievement the most challenging to contend with.
“I think from a personal point of view, for me, the problem that I have probably had to deal with, which is no fault of anyone to a certain extent, is ultimately the questions that you get posed and asked in job interviews that you have or when people see you," he said.
"I was at the FA Cup final the other day, and people see you and straight away they say, 'What happened?' or 'What did you do?'. Things like that. They are the bits that I find tough because everybody that was involved in the club, the players, the staff and everybody, knows what we gave, myself and Ethan, to the club."
Cook has already held positive conversations with clubs about what could come next as he seeks a fresh challenge following the abrupt ending of his spell in Norfolk, with the news delivered in a brief meeting.
Yet if the manner of his exit stung his professional pride, Cook’s belief in his own work and coaching pedigree remains utterly intact.
“I was only there for two years. Ethan is a lifelong fan, and he is from the area. The level of work was, as I have just outlined, as good as anything," Cook reflected.
“So there are those little bits personally, but in terms of the actual meeting itself, it was very straightforward and clinical, very much like a scene from Moneyball to a certain extent. If you have ever seen that movie, where this is the information, this is what you need to do, and then you move on. That is the industry at times, and it is the harsh reality of it.
“Ultimately, it is not really for me to say. I know what I did, I know what I can produce, I know how I can coach, and I am bloody good at it because I have got the trophies and I have got the medals downstairs, and my children wear the medals and show them off to their mates when they come round.
"That is the solace I have. I know I am good at my job, and something will come around at some point, where that is and what tracksuit I am wearing, I am not sure, but I know I am good at my job and I would have been good if I was allowed the opportunity, but it is not to be.”
Cook was involved in meetings about what a campaign in tier three could look like, with City Women being placed in the Northern Division, which is considered to be an open league. The question is whether they can become contenders again.
So is there any sense of disappointment that Cook won't be the person in the dug-out at the start of the new campaign?
“I will get back to you on the first game of the season when I see the result come through," he answered.
“From my experience in the past, when this has happened before, I was at Durham and something similar happened. There were a lot of negative emotions attached to those things, but I think the thing for me is that several of the players who are still involved there worked so hard for me and with me to try and get the club up. So there will be a certain level of pride that I hope they do well and that I hope they are successful with it.
“Obviously the people that are still involved in the football club, I have such a high regard for everyone in the football club, really, in regards to the day-to-day people that were in the offices with us every day and seeing the work we did and actually the work they do within the academy and across the club. It is a fantastic football club. I think that is another side of it.
“I loved working there. I loved working for the club. I loved the area. I loved the people. Like I said, I think that is part of the other side of it. Unfortunately, I will probably never be there again.”
