Bradford City have confirmed that there is going to be a number of outgoings this January, and one of them looks to be a long-serving player, Andy Cook.
The 35-year-old is out of contract this summer. Cook spent most of last season on the sidelines following an injury.
However, in previous seasons, the number nine has been arguably crucial for the Bantams.
This article aims to give you an insight into the striker’s Bradford City career, why he is possibly leaving and has he cemented his place as a club legend.
Andy Cook, who joined Bradford City in January 2021 on loan from Mansfield Town, scored 8 goals in 21 appearances under caretaker managers Mark Trueman and Connor Sellars.
After signing for the Bantams permanently in July 2021, the striker went on to score 12 goals in 42 appearances.
The following season under Mark Hughes, Cook scored 31 goals in 52 appearances, which led the Bantams to the playoffs, but they lost to Carlisle in the semi-final.
Furthermore, in the 2023/24 season, the former Mansfield man netted 19 goals in 48 appearances.
Last season in 29 appearances, Cook scored 15 goals prior to his ACL injury that he picked up at Barrow on New Year’s Day last year.
This still contributed to Graham Alexander’s side being automatically promoted to League One.
Meanwhile, Bradford City fans argued that Andy Cook was one of the players who most deserved this promotion after the events that occurred in the past.
However, since Graham Alexander’s side made the step up to League One and the return of Cook from his ACL injury, the striker has struggled for game time.
With the striker only made 13 appearances and scoring three goals, as well as not starting a league match so far this campaign.
Furthermore, some people could argue that the 35-year-old doesn’t suit the play style that the Bantams adopted when Cook was out with a long-term injury.
As a result of this, in previous weeks, Andy Cook has been linked to Barrow AFC, with Sports Boom reporting on the side’s interest last month.
However, questions could arise about his ability to supply a different outlet when in need of a goal, which Bradford has arguably lacked so far this season.
This can be seen through City only scoring 32 goals, which includes Will Swan and Stephen Humphrys scoring eight goals combined.
Graham Alexander: “If people want to look into it, I get it because it’s football.
“It happens at every single club, and this is no different. I’m just picking teams to win games of football, and that’s all it is.
“We won’t pick up the results if I was picking teams on agendas or anything like that.
“I’m picking teams to win games of football, and that’s what we’re doing. I’d rather us concentrate on that.
“If we’ve got the squad that we believe we need, we’re always going to have good players not involved.
“It’s a difficult scenario for those individuals concerned if they’re not getting game time that they believe they should or they’re used to getting.
“I get that. I was the exact same guy, so we’ll see what the future brings.
“Patto obviously is not in the squad at the moment. I think there’s about six players not in the squad.
“Neill Byrne has just come out of the stand to be on the bench.
“I’ve spoken about this loads of times, about having difficult decisions to make, which I do. But I’d prefer to be in this position than scratching around for a team.
“They’ve all played, they’ve all had opportunities. But I can only pick 11 players and then lads for the bench.
“We’ve changed the squad in each of the last three games through choice. And we’ll do it again in two days’ time because we want to keep everyone as fresh as we can.
“Once we got out of the cup scenarios, the time in between the games became a bit bigger. We didn’t have to make as many changes as we needed.
“If there’s any changes with any players in their scenarios, they’ll be the first guys to know.
“The actual individual will be the first guy to know. I haven’t had any of those conversations with any players at this point.
“I won’t do it because the window’s not open.
“Everybody that’s signed for the club is available for us to pick from. That won’t change until, obviously, people do move on.
“But the time for conversations are only when they’re real – and at the minute they’re not.”
Throughout the number nine’s Bradford City career, he has scored 88 goals in 205 appearances.
This slots Andy Cook, the fans’ favourite, into the club’s outright fourth-highest goal scorer of all time.
Along his journey at the Bantams so far, he has experienced highs and lows, which include automatic promotion last season and missing out on promotion in the playoffs under Mark Hughes.
Some fans could argue that he has heavily been heavily relied on in previous seasons for a number of reasons.
Therefore, perhaps when considering these factors and Cook’s Bradford City career, he will arguably go down in the history books.
Thanks for reading this article. Do you think Andy Cook is a Bradford City legend? Let us know in the comments below.
