Garry Cook's time at Birmingham City was about more than Wayne Rooney and 'no fear'
Birmingham City have announced Garry Cook is stepping down as chief executive, a move that seemingly came out of the blue.
Cook, who arrived at the club with Knighthead's buy-out in July 2023, has been the man at the helm for the last 18 months, and has overseen huge change during that period.
The club confirmed the move in a statement, citing 'personal reasons' and revealing Jeremy Dale has stepped into the role while commencing the search for a permanent replacement.
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The news broke when we were recording the latest episode of the Keep Right On podcast and Brian Dick gave us his instant reaction.
Brian says...
"It's the similar adage to a football manager - if they leave the club in a better position than they found it, then they've probably done a good job. And undoubtedly Blues are in a better position now than when Garry and his Knighthead paymasters came in.
"If you want to be devil's advocate, you're always going to point to the Rooney appointment and the ‘no fear’ stuff, and that was undoubtedly a mis-step. Is it fair to just point to that and ignore the rest of the progress that's been made away from the pitch? It's certainly not.
"It was a mistake. I think we have to file it under mistake and move on and also consider the other variables. You go to St Andrew's now, it's a pleasure to be there, isn't it? It's a fantastic football stadium.
"You look at the improvements that have been made in the non-footballing areas of the club, some of the commercial deals that have been struck, the purchase of the land at Wheels for the new stadium, the development of the Henley in Arden training centre. Garry Cook has been involved in all of this.
"I think we have to say the club is unrecognisable. Yes, it helps that Knighthead have been putting their money in but putting money in - we've seen many times with other football clubs, we've seen it at this football club - doesn't guarantee all the improvements and the advancements we've seen at Birmingham City in the last year.
"I was a massive critic of the Rooney appointment, it didn't feel right at the time and I think subsequent events at Plymouth Argyle have proven it that it wasn't right, but Garry Cook’s tenure was about so much more than that."
