Remove this Banner Ad

Toast Brian Cook

  • Thread starter Thread starter AM
  • Start date Start date
  • Tagged users Tagged users None

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Spazz Cat said:
Where would we be if he never came?
Instead of discussing the shape of the roof that joins our two latest stands we'd be whinging about our poor deal at our home ground Docklands and about playing 2 games in Cairns to try and keep the club afloat.
Click to expand...

I thought Costa was the billionaire setting the Dangerfields up with a property trust and making us a destination club without the attraction of the million dollar salary.

Cook however is awesome :thumbsu:
 

Log in to remove this Banner Ad

Benny78 said:
I thought Costa was the billionaire setting the Dangerfields up with a property trust and making us a destination club without the attraction of the million dollar salary.

Cook however is awesome :thumbsu:
Click to expand...
We were very close to relocating early naughties. Costa was brilliant and had the money and contacts.
Cook however decided to find the true financial position of the club and decided the strategies and people that were needed to keep the club solvent going forward.
Then had the vision and did the lobbying to keep the club not only solvent but strong financially for the next 20 years.
 
That's definitely not Rudolf Hess.
 
Benny78 said:
I thought Costa was the billionaire setting the Dangerfields up with a property trust and making us a destination club without the attraction of the million dollar salary.

Cook however is awesome :thumbsu:
Click to expand...
It should be remembered that it was Brian and helpers who had to do all the work to rescue the club. Unlike today when clubs in difficulty get handouts and other support from the AFL when they are in survival mode.
 
https://www.sen.com.au/programs/crunch-time/

Based on Cookie comments here, it looks as though SH and Greeves departure will take a year or so to replace fully. Tehy have interim people in place but both were in line for CEO position.

And thats probably reasonable. Huddo joked that Cookie might need another 10 years in the CEO gig - and he killed that pretty fast.

My guess is Cookie might have 1-2 years at the modt left in him - these next appointments could be very crucial in the GFC FO going forward.

UP to now, Cookie has been the anchor and brought those around him up. With his time slight, there needs to be some good picks now.

GO Catters
 
dazbroncos said:
https://www.sen.com.au/programs/crunch-time/

Based on Cookie comments here, it looks as though SH and Greeves departure will take a year or so to replace fully. Tehy have interim people in place but both were in line for CEO position.

And thats probably reasonable. Huddo joked that Cookie might need another 10 years in the CEO gig - and he killed that pretty fast.

My guess is Cookie might have 1-2 years at the modt left in him - these next appointments could be very crucial in the GFC FO going forward.

UP to now, Cookie has been the anchor and brought those around him up. With his time slight, there needs to be some good picks now.

GO Catters
Click to expand...
Must be dissapointing for Cook, as Hocking and Greeves were part of his transition. He obviously isn't staying on 10 years, but I wonder if he now stays on a year or two longer than planned.

He has achieved so much at the club. It was fuct when he arrived; every Geelong fan owes him. I imagine he would want to leave feeling very confident about those he's handed the reins to.
 
Last edited:
Nankervis brothers said:
He has achieved so much at the club. It was fuct when he arrived; every Geelong fan owes him. I imagine he would want to leave feeling very confident about those he's handed the reins to.
Click to expand...
Yeah, we don't want a Jeff Kennet situation.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

dazbroncos said:
ME LIKEY!!!!!

Link?

GO Catters
Click to expand...

http://m.geelongcats.com.au/news/2017-10-24/cook-extends-tenure-at-the-cats-

Brian Cook will continue as CEO of the Geelong Football Club until the end of 2020 after agreeing to a new contract with the club.

Cook, who served West Coast as its CEO before joining the Cats, will become the first person in VFL/AFL history to serve as CEO/secretary for 30 years when the calendar tips into 2019, surpassing the 29-year tenures of Bill Cookson and Frank Reid.
 
30 years in total....

Thats beyond impressive in a game that has changed and evolved so much each year, let alone over that time.

Get the statue makers in the phone now.

GO Catters
 

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Mr_Bojangles said:
????
Click to expand...
"
Cook, who served West Coast as its CEO before joining the Cats, will become the first person in VFL/AFL history to serve as CEO/secretary for 30 years when the calendar tips into 2019, surpassing the 29-year tenures of Bill Cookson and Frank Reid.

GO Catters
 
catswhiskers said:
I expect he will be head hunted. He might resist most offers but there is one out there he should consider.

I would love him to replace Vlad.

He has left far too big a legacy at catland for it to hurt us now (unless stupidity is allowed to return [see late 90's]) and it would be a big positive for all AFL fans.
Click to expand...
Do you mean Putin or the Impaler or have I tots missed it?
 
Fantastic news! I suspect it's related to his two most likely successors having been poached as I recall him saying not so long ago that the end of 2018 was his likely swansong as he wanted to spend more time with his grand kids.

Would have preferred the re-signing to have been until 2030 though.:)
 
Bounce said:
I know who he is and what his role is but can someone give me an actual summary of how he turned the club around in more than one way
Click to expand...

This is an atricle from 2012.

PERCHED in his office with an eagle-eye view of the stadium that houses Australia's best footballers, Brian Cook will have nothing of the suggestion Geelong has reached "greatness".
"We've gone from being poor to fair to average to good ... and now we're a very good club," Cook said.

"I have this view we will not know whether we are great until we go through some really adverse times again and are able to see how the whole Geelong community reacts and how we come through."

One doubts the Cats wouldn't have come through, let alone become all-conquering, if it hadn't been for Cook, described by former president Frank Costa as "our greatest-ever recruit". Costa has publicly credited Cook with financially saving the club.

The feeling of respect is mutual.

"I loved him from the day I met him ... and of course I still love him now," Cook said of Costa.

Cook doubted whether

he wanted to stay involved

in football when he met Costa, because he was disillusioned.

He had been appointed chief executive of the West Coast Eagles two weeks after Mick Malthouse was announced as coach for the 1990 season - the appointments being made by different boards.

After almost a decade in the role, Cook resigned just before he knew he would have been sacked. The divide between him and the Eagles board was becoming greater. The party was over.

"Character first, talent second", was written on a wall at the western suburbs headquarters of Costa's fruit produce company when Cook answered the call of a consulting company to meet with Costa.

"The company had a list of 52 values, one for every week of the year," Cook said. "It was too many, more akin to a religion, but it was fantastic, I knew it was going to be no ordinary football interview."

Cook beat a classy field for the CEO position, but soon after starting found the financial position the Cats were in resembled a dog's dinner.

Shocked at the revelations, Costa and a new board offered Cook a "get-out". He pondered such, but it's history he stayed, thus beginning one of the great turnaround stories in Australian sport.

When Cook started at Geelong, the Cats had an annual turnover of $16 million, but had liabilities of $10 million to a range of stakeholders, the bank and the Australian Taxation Office at the top of the list.

"We negotiated a deal with the bank to pay back 55c in the dollar, which we didn't have," Cook said.

"We got a $3m loan from another bank and paid off nearly $6 million of interest-bearing debt. We worked out a five-year deal with the ATO, who we owed nearly $1m, and merged the football and social clubs, the former owing the latter over $1m.

"We got one year of sponsorship money up front from our major sponsor (Ford) and gave the management of the ground back to Geelong City Council in exchange for a larger rent and a better lease.

"I had learnt that Geelong was bloody good at being average. I was in foreign territory, as I experienced excellence at the Eagles."

In Cook's time in Perth, the Eagles made a profit of more than $26 million, won two premierships and didn't miss the finals.

In Cook's time in Perth, the Eagles made a profit of more than $26 million, won two premierships and didn't miss the finals.

"It was just an amazing era and I loved it, but the problem of success is that you become intoxicated by it and you start letting things go through that you shouldn't, whether it be board behaviour, management behaviour or player behaviour," Cook said. "Talent, hard work and good revenue led to our (Eagles) success."

The Cats - already heavily in the red - lost $1 million in 1999, Cook's first year.

By the end of the next year, they had also lost 80 per cent of their staff, and half of their players, from when Cook first walked into Kardinia Park.

"Some of those decisions were based on finance; some on values," Cook said.

But the gains - in every part of the club - have since far outweighed the losses.

"We are now in the top four clubs in many categories that measure success, eg. football (on field), sponsorship, membership and merchandise," Cook said.

"We have won 105 of our past 125 games and more people have watched us play games than any other AFL club since 2007. In that time, we have had 15 individual players selected in All-Australian teams.

"Our on-field success was planned years ago when we drafted kids. In recent seasons, we have had experienced players who are still young.

"In the last 13 years, our highest first pick has been No.7 and our lowest was 26. In that time, there have been 140 players who have been picked up by other clubs before we have had a selection."

And then there's the money side of things.

Regularly in the red, the Cats have put together 12 consecutive seasons in the black.

"We are unique in that much of our profits is ploughed into playing facilities," Cook said, while surveying vacant space behind the goals.

The ground capacity this season will be only 24,000 as a massive third-stage $40 million state-of-the-art grandstand is built.

"When this stage is finished, the capacity will be 33,500 and when stage four of the redevelopment is complete, the ground will hold either 37,000 or 42,000. We're still working on what are the right numbers," Cook said.

Lights costing $10 million will also be erected for the 2013 season.

"They're needed, we've got seven games here this year and only two different starting times, without lights we are limited to games at Simonds Stadium," Cook said.

"We are very big into social media, and a lot of our members follow our games on digital media.

"We've recently entered an agreement with a property group (Keystone), where they will give us an $11 million training facility and property at Armstrong Creek (between Geelong, Torquay and Barwon Heads and projected to have 50,000 people by 2025) and they get 11 years of sponsorship."

For now, things seemingly couldn't be brighter at Geelong. However, their day-to-day leader has his feet firmly embedded on the ground.

In his office hangs a framed two-page newspaper article, headed "Double Standards and Inflated Egos".

It was written in the first week of May 2007, questioning the Cats and their immediate future after a shock home turf loss to North Melbourne.

A stack of emails from fans - some vitriolic, but all with stern messages, demanding answers - sit next to the article.

"We had won two games, lost three and knives were being thrown at us. We won the premiership that year. Footy can change so quickly," Cook said.

Driven by challenges, Brian Cook, who recorded a personal best time of 7 hours 37 minutes in his sixth Cottesloe-Rottnest solo swim last month ("I miss the beaches, the lifestyle of Perth") claims the fire is "still in the belly".

"There is still much to be done," Cook said.

"I once spent at least an hour a day worrying what I would do next, but not any more. I'm happy where I am and where I'm at. I've got two grandkids, I've got great friends, I'm OK."

And one thinks that with Cook in the chair, the Cats are also OK.
 
dazbroncos said:
"
Cook, who served West Coast as its CEO before joining the Cats, will become the first person in VFL/AFL history to serve as CEO/secretary for 30 years when the calendar tips into 2019, surpassing the 29-year tenures of Bill Cookson and Frank Reid.

GO Catters
Click to expand...

Ahhhh for that lot too. Was going to say.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Remove this Banner Ad

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Back
Top Bottom