Latest news with #AndyCook
BBC News
4 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
'No point to prove' for Cook as he nears Bradford return
Andy Cook has insisted he has no point to prove as he closes on a return to League One football with Bradford 34-year-old striker admitted he has gone through some "tough times" since sustaining a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury on New Year's Day at Barrow last with the Bantams going on to gain promotion from League Two in his absence his return will come at a higher level to the one he who has played 48 games in the third tier with Walsall and Tranmere, insisted he was confident he can make an impact despite the bigger test."We've finally got it done, we're back in League One," he told BBC Radio Leeds. "But I haven't got a point to prove because I know I can do it. "I've played League One before so I'm just looking forward to being back in League One and back with Bradford City." Cook's rehabilitation has gone well but the forward has refused to put a date on his return."When I first came into training obviously I was worried about getting a knock but at the end of the day my knee is strong enough now," he said."If that wasn't the case I wouldn't be back involved."It's good for me mentally to be back involved because I had some very tough times throughout it but now I'm in a good place and I know I'm going to be back sooner rather than later."You've got to take each day as it comes. I'm eager as anything, I always have been, but I just have to take each step, each day, each week. But once I'm back, hopefully I stay back."
BBC News
7 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
'Cook closing in on return but patience key'
Barrow away on New Year's Day feels like a lifetime ago. English football has a habit of moving on quickly, positive results are at a the referee got things underway in Cumbria, little did Bradford City know that 2025 would go on to be their year. It might have taken until the final kick of their season to confirm their six-year-long wait for promotion back to League One was over – but with six minutes gone at Holker Street, hopes of achieving that feat were significantly in the balance.I'll never forget our BBC Radio Leeds co-commentator that day, former City winger Andy Kiwomya, instantly exclaim with fear that Andy Cook had "done his ACL". You could hear the gasps from West Yorkshire. The 34-year-old has been this club's go-to man for goals since his arrival in January 2021, at times single-handedly grinding them towards results. 85 goals later, his title of talisman is not Bradford City and manager Graham Alexander's credit, they found a way to cope without their number nine through the second-half of last season, but it speaks volumes that Cook still ended the campaign as the club's leading marksman with 15 such a significant injury came the questions from some: "Will he come back the same?"As Cook told BBC Radio Leeds in March, that doubt feeds his motivation. The experienced forward has built a career on proving others is why it's key that all concerned with Bradford City, including Cook himself, must be patient. His importance to this squad should not be understated, even if football does move quickly. Alexander revealed this week that Cook had intermittently returned to full training, but with hurdles still to stringent rehab schedule has led to a day-by-day routine that has been carried through into the off-season - with plenty of hours spent in the gym at the club's Woodhouse Grove training base. It's clear from the footage put out by the club's in-house media that Cook has been disciplined with his recovery plan, now more than eight months we all await the moment Cook steps back out on the Valley Parade turf, it must be done with the utmost care and consideration. If it means another month or two to wait, then so be it. He still has so much more to show in the colours of Bradford City.
BBC News
06-08-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Alexander on injury updates and talks with Leigh
Bradford City manager Graham Alexander has been speaking to the press ahead of the side's League One match against Northampton Town on Saturday (15:00 BST).Here are the main talking points:Alexander revealed forward Andy Cook is back in full training with the group, but on a "one day on, one day off" basis. They remain cautious about the 34-year-old's return, who hasn't featured since New Year's Day when he suffered a season-ending ACL injury to his left knee. The club are not putting a timescale on when he will be back Alex Pattison (Achilles) and Clarke Oduor (concussion) are back in full training after missing Saturday's opening day win against Wycombe, along with defender Ciaran Kelly (groin).Defender Aden Baldwin is back from suspension following his red card at Doncaster Rovers in the penultimate game of last season. The offence was not violent conduct, so the 28-year-old has served a two-match Tommy Leigh's impressive showing in central midfield against Wycombe, Alexander spoke of a frank conversation he had with the 25-year-old at the end of last season. In that conversation, Alexander and Leigh discussed where the player needed to improve and what specific position he would play moving forward. Centre midfield was the agreed praised how receptive the club's new signings have been to instruction and feels there's a growing trust within the group. So far, the club have made nine additions during the summer to Alexander's full pre-match press conference and more on BBC Sounds.
The Sun
07-05-2025
- Sport
- The Sun
‘Celebrating with someone's nan's dinner plate' – Bradford trolled over trophy for finishing third in League Two
BRADF0RD CITY sealed a remarkable final-day promotion last weekend, but they have found themselves on the end of social media ridicule for their 'trophy' lift. The Bantams sealed promotion back to League One with a 1-0 win over Fleetwood Town on the last day of the campaign. 4 4 They pipped Walsall to third spot, with the Saddlers needing to better the Yorkshire outfit's result to have any chance of going up automatically. However, Graham Alexander's men emerged victorious in the dying embers, with Antoni Sarcevic's 96th-minute winner sending them up and Valley Parade into raptures. Bradford join champions Doncaster Rovers and Port Vale in League One next term. They will be joined by one of Walsall, AFC Wimbledon, Notts County, and Chesterfield, who make up the play-off contenders. Despite the sheer delirium that washed across the city, fans on social media decided to poke fun at the "trophy" the Bantams were given to celebrate their third place finish. One Doncaster fan tweeted: "Congrats #BCAFC after all the banter I'd much rather have you in league 1 than Walsall. "Great scenes. Not sure why you're celebrating with someone's nan's dinner plate though". A Port Vale supporter wrote: "Celebrating a season and a job well done, you're trying to banter a 2nd place trophy in a season where Bradford got someone's nan's plate for coming 3rd." Another said: " Bradford City won a dog bowl trophy." Andy Cook, the longest-serving player in the Bradford squad, sported a personalised shirt with his face on at the promotion parade. Cook, who scored 12 goals this season, said that going up "means everything" as the players and a sea of Bantams fans celebrated in Centenary Square in the city. Bradford have spent six season in the basement division - a far cry from their Premier League glory days of the early 2000s. It is the first time the Yorkshire side have achieved automatic promotion since 1999 - when a 3-2 win away at Wolves saw them reach the promised land of the top flight. But the 24 years that followed have been populated with despair and relegations. 4
BBC News
24-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Injured Bradford striker Cook determined to return
Bradford City striker Andy Cook has said he has no doubts about making a return from a serious knee 34-year-old suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in a League Two game at Barrow on 1 has scored 77 goals in 169 league games for the Bantams since initially joining them on loan from Mansfield in January 2021."I will be putting that number nine shirt back on, that is for definite. I will be back, that is a fact," he told BBC Radio Leeds."I can't wait because there is nothing better than playing in front of this crowd here at Valley Parade."He added: "The day I found out I had done my ACL I was straight on to Google and searching players who had done it because I was 34 years old and I'd never had a serious injury before."I was looking at Zlatan [Ibrahimovic], did it at 38 and 40 and he came back and played but people are saying Andy Cook will be done? No, that's not going to be the case. I've got it in me to come back from this."[Alan] Shearer, my idol, did it in when he was younger and came back and scored 30-odd goals in a season. I'm not saying I'm going to do that but why can't I come back and play on until I'm 40 like Zlatan?"Cook has not put a timeframe on his return to playing but is looking to get back running at the training ground in the the next three said he has been "grateful" for the support he has had from the club and fans."I can imagine some places you get injured and you get forgotten about a bit but that's not the case here and that keeps me in a good place," he added."I've put a lot into it when I've been fit. I've put everything into it when I've played, even if I've not had a good game I've tried and grafted. I'm grateful for the support I get and I think that just shows what I've done out on the pitch. It helps as well." Promotion would be 'unreal' In the absence of their top scorer, Graham Alexander's men have climbed up to second in the who is the club's longest-serving player, has said his own outlook has been helped by the team's on-pitch success."I found it difficult at first, obviously I want the lads to win and go in the right direction which we have been but it's hard sitting in the crowd," he said."You go from playing week in and week out scoring goals to now my season done. But it makes my life easier rehabbing and coming to games when the lads are doing well. I'm coming to work and doing what I can do and the lads are doing what they can do and that makes me happy."I'm the longest-serving player so obviously that makes it harder because I've been through it all since I've been here."The last thing I want to be doing is sitting here, I want to be out there and helping the lads out. But if I can help them out around the training ground then that's how I want to be."Saturday's thumping 4-1 win over play-off chasing Colchester means the Bantams go into the final eight games of the season one point off leaders Walsall and five points clear of third-placed Port is their sixth season in the bottom tier of the EFL and Cook has said winning promotion would be "unreal"."It's good where the team are and we've just got to keep going," he said."It's obviously sad I can't be involved but at the same time I'm over the moon because we all want the same thing."If the team could get promoted it would be class, it would be unreal."My main thing is getting out of this league. It's something I've had my eyes set on since I walked in the door, even on loan. It is what we have wanted every single year."
