He was under 23 and therefore inelligible to move on a bosman free transfer. The fee and clauses were set by a Football League tribunal.
Wiki says: Cook made no secret of the fact he was a fan of Q.P.R., and he elected to leave Watford at the end of his contract in July 2004 to join them. As Cook was under the age of 24 when he moved, and the two clubs failed to agree a fee, it went to a tribunal where Q.P.R. were ordered to pay a fee of £125,000 to Watford. During his five year spell at Watford he made 64 appearances and scoring 7 goals. Must be true - it's on Wiki:confused1:
Spot on Sexy >>> the Pros and Cons of Lee Cook are a well trodden path (though fortunately not quite an contentious as the Invasion of Cyprus) and there will never be agreement among WFC fans about him. I work with his uncle and can only say that at the time of his move some comments were ill advised and perhaps he was influenced too much by his agent ... like many others before and after him. That doesn't stop him being a cracking player who would walk into any CCC team and a few Prem sides.
Very good player but Lewington never seemed to play him until the last few months for some reason and well you can hardly say Cook went to QPR for the money unlike some of our other free transfer 'sales' mob. Generally I didn't think Ray was too keen to play many of the young players unless there was no option (Yes I know Richard Lee had a spell in 2004/05) whereas Aidy gives them a chance.
And rightly so IMO. We were on the verge of administration, and he got in a squad of solid pros in the aftermath of the V***** incident. And, to boot, we got a Semi Final or two. He laid the groundwork for all this to happen. Don't be mean to him
There is no argument that bar ****** Lewington is the worst Watford manager I've ever seen. (Obviously I wasn't around with Harry in charge). Cook = Great Lewington = Godawful
Much as I think Lewington was sacked at the right time, as he had taken the club as far as he could, i think you are being a little harsh. Basically, when he took over, the very existence of our club was in jeapardy as we were financially screwed. Whilst the board made cutbacks, Lewington steered a path with a jobbing squad of journeymen that were never going to set the world on fire, but still managed to not get relegated (an acheivment in itself). One of my main gripes against Ray, was that he never really seemed to give the youngsters a fair crack, even publicly criticising them, unfairly IMHO. I don't beleive that Young, for example, would have been given the chance he was given, had Lewington stayed. He did allow the young players into the team, but would never allow them a decent run. In conclusion, he was what was needed at the time, but not what we need anymore.
How can you say that? We had no money at all, no transfer budget and players who when they left all went down 2 divisions! Without him, the club would have gone into administration and we wouldn't be talking now. Yes, he was dull, yes he was uninspired. But he secured the future of my club, and huge respect for that. Of course, he ran his course and had to go as he had gone as far as he could, but that fact remains he did, practically, save the club.
Mate, that is seriously out of order. Are you too young to remember Lee or Perryman? You said you don't remember Bassett so you won't remember the Keen or Kirby years, but all of these were far worse than Lewington. This club would probably not exist if it wasn't for Ray - FACT. He had to cope with no transfer budget, the best players being sold from under him (Robbo anyone?) without a sniff of the money in return, he had the third lowest wage budget in the division (the two lower teams, Crewe and Brighton, both got relegated), he had NO support from the board, had to make constant wage cuts, he inherited ******s awful players with next to no chance of replacing them, had to cope with a player dying on the first day of the season - and he STILL kept us up. Yes it was boring - it bloody well had to be. Didn't give youth a chance? He played Young, Macca, Cook, Doyley, Blizzard, Lee, Bouazza and Jack Smith. Don't forget that he signed and played Danny Webber. By the way Cook played in 45 games in his last season with us, 22 of which were in the starting line-up. Most of his sub appearances were during the first half of the season - hardly a case of not used. He also started the last 8 games. Oh, and guess what? Most of his subs were swaps with Vernazza (promising young player), Young (promising young player), Macca (promising young player) or Ardley (leagues leading assist maker that year).
Agree wholeheartedly! Yellowandproud, you did say the Lewington was the worst manager in your memory, and I am assuming its your youth rather than amnesia. Ray Lewington was a very sound and honest man who was treated really badly by the club. Now if you want bad managers just go and check the Watford history books.
I agree. Ray Lewington was not the man to take us up in the world. He was however the man who managed to steady our rocky ship and lay the foundations for Aidy to come in and turn us around. I would have preferred it if Ray had given some younger players a chance but I suppose I just had to be glad that we were still in the First Division when he was sacked. If it wasn't for him we certainly wouldn't be here now and if we somehow were, it would not have been via the Premiership.
