Will Darren Royle back Paul Cook? Photo courtesy of Wigan Athletic FC.
Another 3-0 home defeat and the social media and notice boards are laden with the comments of fans concerned that Wigan Athletic could suffer relegation once again unless something changes. They have won only once in their last 13 league games and are now dangerously close to the drop zone.
Paul Cook’s post-match interview was a sad thing to witness. Some managers might shy away from a post match media conference after such a heavy defeat, but Cook once again stepped up to the plate. Things just have not been going well for the manager since mid-September.
Injuries have deprived him of his first-choice front four, the team subsequently lacking the cutting edge and creativity that we saw in the early weeks of the season. Michael Jacobs has been out since October 6, Nick Powell has not played since November 28 and in the weeks prior to that did not look to be one hundred percent fit. Will Grigg was unavailable for six weeks in October/November. Gavin Massey came back from a three-month absence on December 22, but suffered a serious recurrence of his hamstring injury on Saturday. Defensive lynchpin Chey Dunkley missed two months before returning to the team for the visit to West Bromwich on Boxing Day.
The takeover by IEC seemed to take for ever until it was eventually announced on November 7th. We hoped that, following the takeover, extended contracts would be finalised for key players whose current ones run out in June. But of those nine players in that situation only Sam Morsy’s case has been resolved.
Nick Powell is the most high-profile of those players:
The injuries and uncertainty surrounding the takeover surely have had an impact on the manager and his staff. Cook is not one to complain, but his situation over the past months has been less than satisfactory. What is happening at the club?
Whether the current situation is solely down to Cook is open to debate. But the standard of football has plummeted, and the manager has frustrated fans by rigidly sticking to certain players, sometimes playing them out of position, whilst snubbing others. But despite these issues we at this site do not advocate sacking Paul Cook.
In mid-November 2014 Uwe Rosler was sacked with Latics in 22nd place in the Championship at the time with three wins from 17 games. Gary Caldwell suffered a similar fate in late October 2016 with Latics in 23rd place with two wins from 14 games. Their successors, Malky Mackay and Warren Joyce, were unable to stop the rot and relegation was the consequence. Although there are fans calling for Cook to be removed there are many who will cite the lessons of the past, fearing what might happen if that were to unfold.
Chairman Darren Royle is faced with a difficult decision regarding Cook’s position. It is compounded by the fact that the transfer window has reopened. If Royle backs Cook, giving him more time to turn things around, how will it affect player recruitment this coming month? If Cook were to be moved on some weeks from now any new manager would be saddled with his recruits.
Uwe Rosler’s downfall was largely brought about by his recruiting over the summer of 2014. So many of his new recruits just did not perform up to the standard expected. The German had done a wonderful job the previous season, after taking over from Owen Coyle in December 2013. He guided Latics to both the FA Cup semi-final and the Championship play-offs.
There are some parallels between Rosler and Cook. Cook too enjoyed considerable success in his first season, winning League 1 and going on an epic FA Cup run, with that stunning win over Manchester City. But his signings have met with mixed success. Bringing in players who played under him at Portsmouth has not been particularly well received by fans.
Reports suggest that IEC made funds available to Latics for summer signings. Although the club does not usually disclose transfer fees the summer incomings probably amounted to around £6 m, whereas the fee received for Dan Burn’s transfer to Brighton was around £3 m. Cook spent most on Josh Windass (around £2m), Joe Garner (£1.2 m), Cedric Kipre (£1 m), Leonardo da Silva Lopes (£800,000) with Lee Evans being signed on January 1 (£800,000) after playing on a loan-to-buy agreement. £6 m may be a small outgoing on transfers for most clubs in the Championship, but it is sizeable by Wigan standards. Critics say that Cook paid above market value for those players, some of whom have not impressed to date. It remains to be seen whether how much further cash will be speculated in January and if the Royles, Darren and Joe, will be the prime drivers in the recruitment process even if Cook stays.
Royle might well decide that he must sack Cook. If so, he will need a replacement to step in promptly before further recruitment is effected. A new manager would not only need to look at bringing in new players, but also at moving on others within the club to make space for the newcomers.
If Cook is given the backing of Royle and IEC we can only hope that he will select lineups with more positive intent, giving his players the chance to show their skills, not resorting to the hoofball that we have seen on too many occasions. It is the manager’s first season in charge of a Championship side and he is finding it tough. With adjustments due to be made to the squad during January he will have different options. In the meantime we have to assume that Cook has been reflecting on what he could have done better over these past months, despite the unavailability of players through injury and the uncertainties involved in a long and drawn-out takeover.
Thanks to all whose tweets are included above.
LOS THREE AMIGOS 
Your advocacy for NOT sacking Paul Cook is duly noted, and well appreciated, given your always incisive and thoughtful analysis. I too am not for sacking Cook, but with each horrible result I am finding it increasingly difficult to stick to this opinion. I expected there would be growing pains this season, because very few players in the squad had ever made much of an impact at Championship level. The season started so well, then injuries wiped out our core attacking group of Grigg/Powell/Jacobs/Massey, and come to find out Cook did a piss poor job over the summer of bringing in attacking reinforcements, as exactly NONE of them has made any positive impact, barring an odd game here or there. This resulted in Cook abandoning the “Wigan style” of play in apparent favour of a Warren Joycean “attack”, which has put added pressure on a defence that has completely fallen apart, probably because the development of the Kipre/Dunkley partnership was halted by Dunkley’s injury, and there has been no satisfactory left back since Robinson went out. The supporters have been crying out for Grigg and McManaman to get more playing time, and why they sit on the bench in favour of nonentities like Garner and Connolly is beyond me. Cook has been persisting with the same tactics and the same personnel in every match, with no apparent adjustments, and his postmatch interviews, particularly after the recent Sheffield United match, suggest he is nearing the end of his rope. This month will be VERY CRUCIAL to bring in reinforcements AND replacements. Given Cook’s poor summer business, it may be questioned whether he is capable of identifying and bringing in said reinforcements and replacements. I hope Royle and IEC make the correct decision for the current and long-term future of the club, whatever it may be.