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Toast Brian Cook

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Cook's the man - deserves something named after him at Kardinia Park I reckon- something business or administration wise.
 
WeAreGeelong said:
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.
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Funny how the Bulldogs turned over about three CEOs in 4 years but still managed to win a premiership. Think that the link between the CEO and on field success is a bit tenuous.
 
ATSAM said:
Funny how the Bulldogs turned over about three CEOs in 4 years but still managed to win a premiership. Think that the link between the CEO and on field success is a bit tenuous.
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I'm not sure anyone is making that link to be honest. For me anyway, I think he is largely responsible for getting our club out of the shit and keeping us at KP. We were in a pretty bad way when he took over. For that I will always congratulate the man.
 
ATSAM said:
Funny how the Bulldogs turned over about three CEOs in 4 years but still managed to win a premiership. Think that the link between the CEO and on field success is a bit tenuous.
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I get the point you are making - it’s hard or impossible even to link one categorically to the other.

However, I’d suggest that FO success and stability breed better overall success as an entity than tulmolt and frequent change.
And while I would suggest it’s hard to suggest that thr presence of a new stadium brings success - it clearly does not - I also think it’s fair to acknowledge that he game is no longer just a game and that off field success, direction and stability clearly helps lead the on field activity in the right direction.

Having world class facilities to attract players and staff to the club, being debt free moving forward to ensure the financial independence of the club, being able to employ footy support staff and bring in new talent and ideals.

Not to mention the VFL, AFLW and the VFL women’s programme - all things added by a quality CEO.

And of course his and Franks work to ensure there still is a GFC - small point not to be forgotten.

Go Catters
 

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Cookie admitted to coming close to taking-up the North offer some time back. My feeling - nothing more - is an important part of his continued commitment to us is the very close relationship he had with another Geelong saviour, the late Alex Popescu, who he admired enormously and who was very good to him. I suspect Cookie believes his very close friend and confidant and devoted 'Cat' would turn over in his grave if he defected to another AFL club.
 
AM said:
Cookie admitted to coming close to taking-up the North offer some time back. My feeling - nothing more - is an important part of his continued commitment to us is the very close relationship he had with another Geelong saviour, the late Alex Popescu, who he admired enormously and who was very good to him. I suspect Cookie believes his very close friend and confidant and devoted 'Cat' would turn over in his grave if he defected to another AFL club.
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Alex Popescu,doesn't get the recognition he deserves outside the club.
 
Cook has said previously he was closer to the end than the start.... and maybe he was looking outside the 4 walls....

Id suggest however that once SH and Reeves left, there was no way that BC would do the same.

IMO the worst thing for him would be doing all that work to then see it undone but a rudderless ship over the next 3-5 years.

Keeping him until 2020 is great - but the more important thing is to get, and keep, good people under him to take over going forward.

Go Catters
 

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AM said:
Cookie admitted to coming close to taking-up the North offer some time back. My feeling - nothing more - is an important part of his continued commitment to us is the very close relationship he had with another Geelong saviour, the late Alex Popescu, who he admired enormously and who was very good to him. I suspect Cookie believes his very close friend and confidant and devoted 'Cat' would turn over in his grave if he defected to another AFL club.
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Plus, if he looks back and thinks to himself the Geelong job was a tough gig, then North would seem impossible. A club that just clings on to survival. Ordinary facilities, no community surrounding it, small membership, and now cannot attract decent players
 
Sttew said:
Plus, if he looks back and thinks to himself the Geelong job was a tough gig, then North would seem impossible. A club that just clings on to survival. Ordinary facilities, no community surrounding it, small membership, and now cannot attract decent players
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At least they havent got those stinking obscene poker machines propping up their financial statements

Poker Machine revenue morally speaking is about one small level above drugs and prostitution

Id love to know the financial position of all the clubs without their poker machine assets and the revenue they raise - i think it would be like the mid 80s -with at least half of them under water
 
Sttew said:
Plus, if he looks back and thinks to himself the Geelong job was a tough gig, then North would seem impossible. A club that just clings on to survival. Ordinary facilities, no community surrounding it, small membership, and now cannot attract decent players
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Agree with everything except the ordinary facilities. They're now actually very good.
 
AM said:
Agree with everything except the ordinary facilities. They're now actually very good.
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My bad. I wouldn't really know what facilities they have. Just a vibe!
 
Goggin Our Best said:
At least they havent got those stinking obscene poker machines propping up their financial statements

Poker Machine revenue morally speaking is about one small level above drugs and prostitution

Id love to know the financial position of all the clubs without their poker machine assets and the revenue they raise - i think it would be like the mid 80s -with at least half of them under water
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Agree. I thought I read or heard that Geelong was going to follow NM's lead on this issue.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/geelon...-mission-to-be-pokiefree-20170518-gw7xh4.html
 
AM said:
Agree with everything except the ordinary facilities. They're now actually very good.
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Sttew said:
My bad. I wouldn't really know what facilities they have. Just a vibe!
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Arden Street has been beautifully transformed, a bit like Victoria Park. Both are in very trendy areas too.
 

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Mad_Hatter said:
Lets be honest though, anyone looking for a CEO would be negligent in their duties if they didn't atleast go after Cook is some capacity.
Even just ask the question un-officially, there isn't any doubt he's the best in the business.
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Exactly. The best people are never going to be unemployed, they're always already engaged elsewhere.
 

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