Flashback: Lee Cook Joins Fulham...And Gives Back Money to QPR

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Just over a year ago:

July 19, 2007 FULHAM OFFICIAL SITE - Lee Cook Joins

Fulham Football Club can confirm that Lee Cook has joined the Club from Queens Park Rangers on a four year deal that will see the 24 year-old player at the Club until 2011.
Lee Cook joined his boyhood Club Queens Park Rangers from Watford in the summer of 2004, after an impressive loan spell with The R’s secured a permanent deal. Cook made some impressive performances during his time at Loftus Road which earned the midfielder the Young Player of the Year award in his first season, followed by both the Supporters’ Player and Players’ Player of the Year awards.
The highly-rated left sided midfielder helped Queens Park Rangers secure safety in the Championship during the last campaign.
Fulham Manager, Lawrie Sanchez said:
"I am pleased to have added Lee to our summer signings and am confident that he has the ability to play at this level, I know that he is hungry and ambitious and will do everything he can to impress in this league. Lee’s addition gives us much needed left sided options and I am now approaching the first game of our season, confident that we have a squad of players that will do well." Fulham

QPR OFFICIAL SITE COOK DEPARTS
Lee Cook has joined Premiership Club Fulham for a fee of £2.5million, which could potentially rise to as much as £4.5million.
The 24 year-old midfielder, who joined the R's from Watford in July 2004 for £150,000, has put pen to paper on a four-year deal at Craven Cottage.
Cook was named both Player's Player and Supporter's Player of the Year last season, despite missing five of the R's last six Championship fixtures, owing to a knee injury.
In his two spells with the Club - he initially joined on loan during the 2002/03 season - Cook made 140 appearances in all competitions, scoring 11 goals.
Manager John Gregory told www.qpr.co.uk: "I was kind of hoping that this day would never come but, unfortunately for me and QPR, it has.
"I, along with everyone at the Club, will be sad to lose a player of Lee's ability. Ultimately, the decision to let him go to Fulham was down to me.
"Both the Chairman and I had long discussions over the financial offer that Fulham made to us. The offer was increased three times before we decided to accept the transfer fee and allow Lee to go and sign a four-year deal with our neighbours, which will secure his own personal financial future.
"It just remains for me to thank him for the massive contribution he has made to QPR, and to wish him every success for the future.
"And, as he is a QPR fan, we look forward to welcoming him back to Loftus Road to cheer on his old Club."
The Club would like to thank Lee for his contribution to QPR and wish him all the best in the future. QPR

QPR OFFICIAL SITE - EXCLUSIVE: LURE OF THE PREM
Lee Cook has revealed exclusively to www.qpr.co.uk why he's making the short trip down the road to Premier ship neighbours Fulham.
Speaking moments after putting pen to paper on a four-year deal at Craven Cottage, Cook was keen to set the record straight on why he's leaving the Club he supported as a boy.
"As well as being a very exciting day for Lee Cook, it is also a very sad one. I have had three great years at QPR and have met many great people,'' he told www.qpr.co.uk.
"Being a QPR fan, it is very difficult to leave this all behind, but I hope everyone understands that this is something I have to do.
"I move across West London to a team which is becoming a real force and is really looking forward to push on. It seems a really friendly Club and the Chairman is really supporting the Manager to make Fulham one of the top Premier League Club's and to be asked to be part of that means everything to me as a footballer.
"I have a lot of respect for teams in West London. Many players have played for QPR, as well as Fulham, and I'm really looking forward to working with Lawrie Sanchez.
"It is an exciting time for me and Fulham and I can't wait to get started and test myself against the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool.''
The 24 year-old left-sided midfielder expressed his thanks and gratitude to the QPR faithful, who made his stay in W12 such a memorable one.
"It is hard to explain the feeling you get when you wear the shirt of a football team that you have supported all your life. My first game - a full house against Brentford - was such a special and proud day for me and my family, and it has only got better since.
"I hope I have excited and entertained the fans over the last three years, and it has been an absolute honour to play in front of everyone at Loftus Road.
"I will miss the fans; they have been great to me. Thank you so much for your support and voting for me as last season's Player of the Year - that really was a dream come true.
"You do not realise how important you are to the team. The noise Loftus Road can make really gives the players a buzz and makes it very difficult for teams to play here.
"I will miss many friends I have made here at QPR. They are a great set of lads and deserve every success. I know I will be keeping contact with the lads and will be coming to Loftus Road many times to give my support to the team.
"I would also like to thank the Management staff and especially John Gregory. He is a great man and Manager, and I am so glad to have played under him and hopefully, will do so again in the future.
"Thank you once again for your outstanding support - I will miss you all and cannot wait to see you again on my birthday, Friday 3rd August.'' QPR Report


July 19, 2007 BBC on QPR Sale: "Fulham close in on Cook signing"-

SPORTING LIFE - COTTAGERS CLOSING IN ON COOK CAPTURE
QPR midfielder Lee Cook is close to completing his long-awaited switch to Fulham after the two clubs agreed a £2.5million fee.
Lawrie Sanchez has been chasing the 24-year-old all summer and saw a £1.5million bid rejected by the Championship side last week.
Rangers chairman Gianni Paladini previously insisted he would not his side's prized asset leave on the cheap but he has finally relented after the Cottagers upped their last offer by £1million.
Cook will become Sanchez' seventh signing of the summer once he agrees personal terms, joining Aaron Hughes, Steven Davis, Diomansy Kamara, Chris Baird, Paul Konchesky and David Healy at Craven Cottage.
Cook has made 119 appearances for Rangers since moving on a permanent deal from Watford. The winger perviously enjoyed a successful 13-game loan spell at Loftus Road. Sporting Life

BBC - Fulham close in on Cook signing - By Chris Bevan
Fulham are close to completing the signing of QPR winger Lee Cook for around £2.5m, BBC Sport understands.
The Cottagers have been pursuing Cook , 24, all summer and had a £1.5m bid for him rejected on 11 July.
Cook started his career in non-league football with Aylesbury before joining Watford and then QPR, where he has made more than 100 appearances.
He first moved to Loftus Road in a loan deal from the Hornets in December 2002 and joined permanently in July 2004.
Cook has long been linked with a move away from QPR but chairman Gianni Paladini was adamant he would not leave Loftus Road on the cheap.
Paladini told BBC London 94.9 last week: "I think he would be a bit offended if someone valued him at £1.5m. He's a QPR player and unless we get a decent deal he's going nowhere and he knows that."
"There's no way he's going for £1.5m. I just want to assure the fans." BBC
See the other press reports this morning on Cook Sale QPR Report


Lee Cook Gives QPR £250,000 and Talks about QPR and Fulham
Daily Mail - Fulham's Cook hands QPR a £250,000 lifeline

New Fulham signing Lee Cook revealed today he has donated £250,000 to his former club Queens Park Rangers to help steer them through their financial troubles.

Cook — one of eight players to join Lawrie Sanchez's Craven Cottage revolution this summer — decided to give the sum, which equates to 10 per cent of his £2.5million transfer fee, when he left Loftus Road last month.

“Rangers are struggling for money and, as everyone knows, I'm a boyhood Rangers fan,” explained Cook.

“The club were saying that not enough money had been paid for me. I said, 'I'll give you 10 per cent of the sale'.

“It was totally my decision — there was no pressure from anyone. The transfer had been agreed but I love Rangers and I don't want to see them hard up.”

Even allowing for the leap in Cook's wages from £4,000-a-week to £18,000-aweek following his move, it is a gesture that will be hugely appreciated by all those at Loftus Road and challenges the assumption that all Premier League footballers are mercenaries.

Cook admits the off-field controversies during his three years at QPR was unsettling for the players.

He said: “Whenever you picked up the paper there was something bad going on a QPR, whether it was the fight against the Chinese or the financial problems. I've heard [chairman] Gianni Paladini saying there are new investors coming. If they are, hopefully everything will be sorted out.

“At times it was difficult. When you are a player, you just want to play football. But it goes through your mind the club might go into administration and that you might not get paid next month.

“But to be fair to the club, they never asked us to take a wage cut and our wages were always paid on the first day of every month.”

The 24-year-old recognises he has joined a whole new world at Fulham, where chairman Mohammed Fayed has reversed his trend of recent seasons by allowing new manager Sanchez to spend heavily in the transfer market.

“I heard Lawrie wanted me in April or May and, then it was just a matter of the clubs agreeing a deal,” said Cook.

“A couple of northern Premiership clubs were also interested but to be honest it was an easy decision. My family are all from the local area and I didn't want to uproot them and my fiancee by moving up north.

“These are exciting times at Fulham. They had a strong squad but they have spent more than £20million in the summer, which shows the ambition.

“To be honest, the money that has been spent this summer has been outrageous. Your Manchester Uniteds and Liverpools will always spend £50m but when you see clubs like West Ham spending fortunes as well, it shows how desperate everyone is not to go down. The clubs have the extra TV money this year and it has had a massive effect.”

Like most of the new Fulham players, Cook will have to make the leap from the Championship to the top tier but, as an orthodox left-winger, he believes he offers something different.

“There aren't that many English leftwingers around,” he said. “My game is all about attacking defenders and putting in crosses.

“In the last three seasons, I provided 47 assists — 18 last season and 14 and 15 in the previous years — which was more than anyone else in the division. I have done it consistently and I'm not worried that I can't make the step up.”

Cook is unlikely to make Fulham's first game — Sunday's visit to Arsenal — as Friday's 2-1 defeat at QPR was his first outing since sustaining a knee injury at the end of last season.

“I was out for three months so I have missed a lot of pre-season,” he said. “I'm a month behind some of the players but I've been training hard the last couple of weeks. Arsenal might be a bit soon, although I hope I can be involved.” Daily Mail - QPR Report


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