“I miss it terribly”: What contender for the Sheffield Wednesday job Paul Cook has said about his future

Following the sacking of Garry Monk on Monday, Cook was installed as the early bookies favourite for the vacant Sheffield Wednesday manager’s job, having left the cash-strapped Latics following their narrow relegation from the second tier last season.

Cook is among a raft of names to have been linked with the job, including those of Nigel Pearson, Tony Pulis and Danny Cowley.

Wednesday’s players return to training on Friday and it is understood the club are hoping to get a new manager signed in time for their next match, a trip to Preston on November 21.

Speaking last month to the The Full-Time Whittle Podcast, unattached Cook, also formerly of Portsmouth and Chesterfield, said he was looking for a quick route back into management.

“I’m looking to get back into it now,” he said. “I miss it terribly.

“I really miss the day-to-day involvement, I’ve never been out of work in my life really, from playing into management.

“I want to manage again, I’m desperate to get back into it, I just want to manage at a club where I’m going into work at a club with good owners, with good people and hopefully to take over a football club where if I take over today I can make them better tomorrow, so I’ll see where that goes.”

Cook, eventually succeeded at the DW Stadium by Owls legend John Sheridan this summer, has kept his face in football with a string of media appearances. He has experience of managing both Chey Dunkley and Josh Windass, who he initially loaned to Wednesday after a high-profile falling out.

Asked what sort of club he would be looking for, he said: “I’d like to manage in the Championship.

“When you’ve been in the Championship for two years it’s waters that you’ve enjoyed and you feel it’s a level you can manage at.

“For myself now the future will bring what it will bring. Hopefully I can get into a job now and get back into it as quickly as I can.

“Like every football fan, I love football and I do miss it so much.”

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