CAPTAIN COOK’S AMAZING VOYAGE

From poverty to the Premier League

Neil Moxley

STEVE COOK’S route to the Premier League is a tale of fine lines, selfbelief, embarrassment and dogged perseverance.

Bournemouth’s skipper is now in his prime. At the age of 28 and now into his fifth season as Eddie Howe’s on-field lieutenant, life is pretty good.

But it wasn’t always that way – so let’s talk about those fine lines.

In Cook’s case, those red ones on the petrol gauge in your car, which signify when your fuel is running low.

He had been loaned from Brighton, then an aspiring League One club, to the Conference, with Mansfield Town.

He said: “I was 19 and the aim was to ‘make me a man’, so Gus Poyet, my manager at the time, sent me out.

Freezing

“Mansfield were in turmoil. The players had been locked out of the club. I’d been used to playing football under Gus. It wasn’t like that at Mansfield – they were in a bad place.

“So I was travelling back and forth, more than I was meant to. I was in a B&B, it was freezing and I wasn’t on much money at either.

“I called Luke Williams, our Under-21 manager at Brighton and asked if I could go back.

“Straightaway, he said, ‘No, you’ve got to stick it out’.

“I remember thinking to myself, ‘What am I doing? Where is this going?’ I thought I’d actually got worse as a player.

“I drove home and was running out of fuel. I had £7 in the bank. That wasn’t going to get me back. My mum and dad ended up bailing me out.

“No one thinks that kind of thing happens to professional footballers, do they?”

So, what about the self-belief and embarrassment? Well, Cook returned to Brighton, who couldn’t make their minds up as to what sort of defender he was.

He added: “Gus had given me a chance as a right-back.

“We played Hastings in a Sussex Senior Cup game. I played my hometown team – and I was horrific.

“I was so embarrassed. I was playing against mates of mine.

“They were in the Ryman League and I was a professional. I couldn’t look them in the eyes afterwards. I was awful.

“Something had to change.

Shocked

“I told Gus that I didn’t think I was a right-back and he was shocked – but he listened.

“Deep down, I backed myself that I was better than the Under-21s or non-league. I’d come up against players and I didn’t think I looked out of place.”

And the perseverance?

Cook said: “Lee Bradbury brought me to Bournemouth, initially on loan. His successor, Paul Groves, didn’t see me starting.

“I’d trained pretty well, but we were struggling in League One.

dogged We were second bottom. I found myself back in the team because of an injury. Since then, I’ve not been out of it.”

There is also confusion at Bournemouth as to why their skipper has been overlooked for international recognition.

Brighton’s Lewis Dunk, Burnley’s James Tarkowski and Aston Villa’s Tyrone Mings – released by Eddie Howe – have