Cooke expresses interest in Cork and Derry jobs

Drogheda United manager Mick Cooke has expressed strong interest in the vacant positions at Cork City and Derry City.

Following a breakdown in his relations with the board, Cooke finds himself in the strange position of preparing his Drogheda team for Sunday’s FAI Cup final against Sligo Rovers in the knowledge that, barring an unlikely twist, it will be his last game at the club.

Asked if he would be interested in the jobs at Turner’s Cross and the Brandywell, Cooke said yesterday: “Certainly. Two massive clubs. I’d love to get a big club to manage. I think with my experience and all I’ve done in the league I’d be well capable of managing any club in the league.”

He also confirmed he would be prepared to move to either city.

“Yeah, I’ve nothing to hold me down,” he said. “My children are grown up and my wife will give me the full backing anywhere I go.”

Cooke professed himself to be still in the dark about what lies behind Drogheda’s decision to dispense with his services at the end of this season.

“It’s a mystery to me,” he claimed. “The goal posts just kept moving in different queries by board members. Certainly there’s no legal problem. No disciplinary problem – I’m too old to be getting into trouble [laughs].”

Asked if there were competing visions between him and the board about the future of the club, the 62-year-old said: “Well, my vision is to go forward. Whatever they plan for the future that’s there business. But I’ve always thought that, in any walk of life, you’re judged by your results. Come next Sunday, please God, the players will have got five medals in the space of 14 months. Not a bad achievement.”

Cooke described the experience as the most disillusioning he’s had in League of Ireland football.

“Very much so. Very hurt. Family were hurt about it. When you’ve been offered a deal and it’s been taken from under your feet — it’s my job — and you’re planning for the future and you know that 2014 is sorted out for you financially in your head, and then for it to be taken away from you. It was very hurtful.”

However, he denied Sunday’s game would be about score-settling for him.

“I’m not looking for revenge on anyone, I’m too long in the game,” he said. “I’ll talk to anybody. If they don’t want talk to me, that’s their problem. But certainly it’s given me and the players that little bit of extra gist to go out and prove people wrong. We’re not going out with that in mind but I think at a quarter past five on Sunday, if we have the cup it will be a bonus.”