eliiiiza
24 Jun 2008, 19:05
Costa aims to retain chief Cook
Caroline Wilson | June 24, 2008
GEELONG president Frank Costa has urged his long-time lieutenant Brian Cook not to quit the Cats for the new Gold Coast team, despite strong entreaties from the AFL, and revealed last night he would take his case to the league should Cook choose to take over the 17th club.
Costa said that the Geelong board had summoned Cook to a special meeting at Skilled Stadium after the round 12 Port Adelaide game nine days ago in a bid to convince the respected club chief executive to commit to the club for a further three years.
"I love the AFL but I worship the Geelong Football Club," Costa said.
"Brian asked for my permission to speak to the AFL and I didn't stand in his way. I would have been disappointed if they had ignored him but I don't want them to get him either.
"I've given Brian up until mid-July to make up his mind, I didn't want to step across Cookie's path but if he did talk about leaving I will go to the AFL because they face great challenges with this new Gold Coast team, but we have got an equally big challenge down here."
The Cats' board will meet again tomorrow night to discuss its strategy to retain Cook, which Costa described as "probably the club's No. 1 priority in 2008".
Cook, who has been attending his grandfather's funeral in Scotland, returns home on Thursday and will meet Costa and his directors before the weekend.
Cook is understood to have been approached by the AFL to consider the chief executive's role on the Gold Coast and he is a leading candidate on a list of potential chief executives the AFL wants to take over the team by the end of 2008.
Although the club will not make its AFL debut until 2011, a teenage team is expected to play in the TAC competition next year. Costa, who is serving the final term of his presidency, employed Cook from West Coast in the early days of rebuilding the club and took Cook aboard in early 1999.
Despite having eradicated a $5 million debt, overseeing a historic premiership last year and placed Geelong as a regional force in the expanded league with an enviable stadium deal, Costa said the Cats' future was far from secure.
The president pointed to the $30 million construction of the second stage of the Skilled Stadium redevelopment, scheduled to start in October and not completed until April 2010.
This is in addition to the Cats' soon-to-be-built convention centre at Point Cook, which begins construction at the end of July and is due to be finished by May 2009.
The Point Cook project will cost an estimated $13 million and once those two jobs have been completed, Costa has asked Cook to stay on to oversee the rebuilding of the northern side of Skilled Stadium, starting in 2011, which will increase the ground's capacity to 36,000.
"He's been with us for 10 years and I'm quietly confident we'll keep him," Costa said. "I say this in the best interests of the Geelong Football Club and in the best interests of Brian. As I explained to Cookie, we've got the right team and we need to keep it together."
Costa also stressed he was fighting to retain Cook's No. 2 Stuart Fox who was recently promoted by the club after missing out on the chief executive's position with Melbourne.
"I don't want to put any pressure on Brian and if it were not to go the way that we want we would accept it because we owe this man so much," Costa said.
"Everyone at the club has made Brian aware of how we feel. All I can say is that may the best organisation win and I've got a funny feeling it might just be the pussycats."
Credit to forrrest for tipping me off about the article last night - he (or she - is that you Caro?) can't start threads because he's been yellow carded.
Caroline Wilson | June 24, 2008
GEELONG president Frank Costa has urged his long-time lieutenant Brian Cook not to quit the Cats for the new Gold Coast team, despite strong entreaties from the AFL, and revealed last night he would take his case to the league should Cook choose to take over the 17th club.
Costa said that the Geelong board had summoned Cook to a special meeting at Skilled Stadium after the round 12 Port Adelaide game nine days ago in a bid to convince the respected club chief executive to commit to the club for a further three years.
"I love the AFL but I worship the Geelong Football Club," Costa said.
"Brian asked for my permission to speak to the AFL and I didn't stand in his way. I would have been disappointed if they had ignored him but I don't want them to get him either.
"I've given Brian up until mid-July to make up his mind, I didn't want to step across Cookie's path but if he did talk about leaving I will go to the AFL because they face great challenges with this new Gold Coast team, but we have got an equally big challenge down here."
The Cats' board will meet again tomorrow night to discuss its strategy to retain Cook, which Costa described as "probably the club's No. 1 priority in 2008".
Cook, who has been attending his grandfather's funeral in Scotland, returns home on Thursday and will meet Costa and his directors before the weekend.
Cook is understood to have been approached by the AFL to consider the chief executive's role on the Gold Coast and he is a leading candidate on a list of potential chief executives the AFL wants to take over the team by the end of 2008.
Although the club will not make its AFL debut until 2011, a teenage team is expected to play in the TAC competition next year. Costa, who is serving the final term of his presidency, employed Cook from West Coast in the early days of rebuilding the club and took Cook aboard in early 1999.
Despite having eradicated a $5 million debt, overseeing a historic premiership last year and placed Geelong as a regional force in the expanded league with an enviable stadium deal, Costa said the Cats' future was far from secure.
The president pointed to the $30 million construction of the second stage of the Skilled Stadium redevelopment, scheduled to start in October and not completed until April 2010.
This is in addition to the Cats' soon-to-be-built convention centre at Point Cook, which begins construction at the end of July and is due to be finished by May 2009.
The Point Cook project will cost an estimated $13 million and once those two jobs have been completed, Costa has asked Cook to stay on to oversee the rebuilding of the northern side of Skilled Stadium, starting in 2011, which will increase the ground's capacity to 36,000.
"He's been with us for 10 years and I'm quietly confident we'll keep him," Costa said. "I say this in the best interests of the Geelong Football Club and in the best interests of Brian. As I explained to Cookie, we've got the right team and we need to keep it together."
Costa also stressed he was fighting to retain Cook's No. 2 Stuart Fox who was recently promoted by the club after missing out on the chief executive's position with Melbourne.
"I don't want to put any pressure on Brian and if it were not to go the way that we want we would accept it because we owe this man so much," Costa said.
"Everyone at the club has made Brian aware of how we feel. All I can say is that may the best organisation win and I've got a funny feeling it might just be the pussycats."
Credit to forrrest for tipping me off about the article last night - he (or she - is that you Caro?) can't start threads because he's been yellow carded.