Paul Cook (footballer)

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Personal information
Paul Cook
Full name	Paul Cook
Date of birth	22/02/1967
Place of birth	Liverpool, England
Playing position	Left/Central Midfield
Club information
Current club	Retired
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1983-1984 1984-1988 1988-1989 1989-1994 1994-1996 1996-1997 1997-1999 1999 1999-2003 2001-2002 2003-2006	Marine Wigan Athletic Norwich City Wolves Coventry City Tranmere Rovers Stockport County Burnley (Loan) Burnley Wigan Athletic (Loan) Accrington Stanley	Unknown 83 (14) 6 (0) 193 (19) 37 (3) 60 (4) 49 (3) 12 (1) 134 (11) 6 (0) 62 (1)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 01/06/2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Paul Cook (born Liverpool February 22, 1967) is a retired English professional football player who, during his lengthy career, played for; Burnley, Wolves, Wigan Athletic and Tranmere Rovers. He retired from the game at the end of the 2005/06 season and played as a left sided or central midfielder.

Cook began his career at his local non-league team Marine before being quickly signed up by Wigan Athletic, where he featured in almost one hundred games in a four-year spell. Cook then had a brief and unsuccessful spell at Norwich City before moving to the midlands to play for Wolves.

He was a very popular player during his time at Wolves, both with the fans and his team mates and became known for his deadly and accurate left foot. After over 190 appearances for Wolves he made the short journey to Coventry City, where he stayed for two seasons before Tranmere Rovers paid £250,000 to take him to Prenton Park.

Whilst at Tranmere he became a key member of the team, playing sixty games in just eighteen months, showing his high levels of professionalism and fitness. In 1997 Tranmere would accept a bid of £250,000 from Stockport County and so regained the fee they had paid for Cook in the first place. After twelve months at County, Cook began to be regarded as 'too old', despite being just 32. This led to his move to Burnley, initially on loan but fully signing in July 1999 to play under Stan Ternent.

Cook's signing was a masterstroke, and the experienced midfielder was a vital cog in maintaining Burnley's first division status and was so important that many fans still regard Cook as the best signing that Ternent ever made.^{[citation needed]} Cook experienced an 'Indian summer' to his career, making 130 league appearances over a four year spell. During this period he established excellent understandings with many players, especially Lee Briscoe and the two often devised new free-kick routines to catch Division One defences off-guard.

After a falling out with the manager, Cook went on loan to one of his old clubs - Wigan Athletic, but made just six appearances before he was re-called to again take his place in the starting line up at Turf Moor. Cook left Burnley at the end of the 2003 season, at the same time as Andy Payton. The two players got a standing ovation from the fans for their contributions to the club.

Defying doubts about his fitness and age, Cook signed for non-league team Accrington Stanley and went on to become a first team regular in their push for promotion to the Football League. This target was finally achieved in the 2005/06 season when Stanley were crowned Champions. Having achieved this aim, Cook finally retired after almost 600 league appearances for nine different teams.

After the end of the 2005/06 season, Cook was granted a testimontial by Accrington as a thank-you for his hard work. It was played on the 2nd May 2006 at the Interlink Express (now the Fraser Eagle) Stadium, Accrington against a Burnley Select XI featuring old team-mates Dean West, Lenny Johnrose, Ian Cox and Kevin Ball.

Paul Cook was appointed manager of Conference side Southport on 13th June 2006.