TT BLOG

Clive Hayward – @Byehorse

Clive discusses Cody Cooke

If you haven’t yet listened to this, I implore you to get it into your lugholes soon! Our friends at Talking Torquay have pulled off a lovely scoop, and been kind enough to let me give a few reflections.

You can listen to the podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7wiv6lqmizE8CjY9hbPEhg?si=p6i10PTnTpSuJlwNy0BjUw

It is 1 hour and 39 minutes of thoughtful reflection from our Centre Forward, talking to Matty Hayward & Joe Uglow about his life in football and out.

The Cornishman started his career at Truro and played there for several seasons as a midfielder before being asked to fill in when the normal striker went on holiday in pre-season. He’s never looked back (or moved back). A prolific start led to him being in demand quickly, and in 2018 he decided to explore opportunities further up the leagues by signing on at Jamie Vardy’s football academy.

Quite how far that got him must have come as a surprise, because after attracting an offer from Stevenage almost before he got his boots on, others followed and ultimately when Alan Stubbs got the manager’s job at St Mirren he asked Cody to sign there.

There won’t be many who have made such a huge leap so suddenly, and Cody talked about his debut at Celtic Park and also playing at Ibrox in Steven Gerrard’s first game in charge there.

Although he picked up some injuries, his crowning moment was a hat- trick in a win against Dundee.

Cody has clearly been keen to base himself in the South West since his time in Paisley ended, and for some time he juggled part time football with teacher training at Marjons. Having had the pleasure of listening to his thoughtful opinions, I think that teaching’s loss has been football’s gain.

Whilst playing at Bath, he shared driving duties from the Exeter area with Jordan Dyer and Dan Hayfield. This trio, of course, were all tempted

by the Plainmoor Project last summer, and look likely to continue to form the spine of a team looking to go one better after last year’s close call.

Cody explained very clearly that the squad feel promotion is vital, and not unnaturally said that his hat-trick at Hemel was the highlight of his time in Yellow so far. Although, as we know, he leads the line with stamina and skill, it’s clear he is very much a team man: if he feels someone else might be better to take a penalty he will give them the chance, and it’s much more about team achievements than the individual glory for him.

Talking about penalties though, he is very deliberate with them. He refuses to be rushed, and makes keeper and fans wait until he is ready. Although he clearly has a good sense of humour, this calmness under pressure comes as no surprise. He obviously thinks about the game a lot, and analyses it carefully. He’s definitely management material, although I would imagine he may have more than one arrow in his bow when the time comes. He gave great insights into how he fits his work in with scoring 20 goals a season: he isn’t required to train on Mondays or Fridays, and whilst most of the other lads will be enjoying a day off on Wednesday he is hard at it as a Mortgage Consultant.

If I’m honest though, I really tuned in because of the rabbits.

Matty and Joe showed tremendous restraint in waiting for 1 hour and 23 minutes before asking.

This is the content you need:

Cody might have preferred to get a dog when he moved in with his “Mrs.” That might not have fitted in with their busy lifestyles though, and it is clear there were some heart-to-heart conversations:

“She’s always had rabbits in the family, so when I first met her 10 years ago and was going round to her family home they had a rabbit. Fast forward to when we got our own place together and moved up to Exeter, I’ve always had dogs in my family, she’s always had rabbits so we came to a mutual agreement that we’d get a rabbit.”

Sensible lad. A diplomat as well as a goalscorer.

1. Marley, their first, was a Rescue Rabbit. Despite his quite magnificent ears, he is slightly deaf. Bless him, he needed a soulmate -rabbits being nothing if not sociable animals- and initially he was a little depressed chez Cooke.

2. That changed with the appearance of Bam Bam, an altogether more feisty bunny, with a habit of growling at Sam Dreyer (I may have made that bit up). She perked Marley up.

3. The two of them have lived in the house for 4 years, and Cody has clearly been won over. “They’re just class to have around.” He has quite rightly given them love on social media- as well as some hat-trick balls- and his little boy loves crawling around them: Bam Bam holds her own and Marley takes cover

4. Cody hilariously describes them as: “Probably up there with the most famous rabbits in Europe” and many friends have caught the bug since meeting them- there is a huge rabbit-owning community in his social circle now.

5. Jordan Dyer and his Mum are excellent rabbit baby-sitters. Dan Hayfield can also do a job.

6. There MIGHT be a rabbit celebration when Cody scores this season!

I know Matty and Joe from our Torquay Talk collaborations (as well as for other reasons!), and I asked them what they had made of the conversation.

Matty: “Cody was the perfect interviewee. He turned our mundane questions into interesting, detailed answers which made us think and laugh a lot. I really enjoyed the chat about Scottish football but will never forget the way he spoe about his dear rabbits as if they were footballers. “He’s been a great addition” and “he’s class to have about the place” were brilliant. If we can’t come up with a Bam Bam and Marley song by August we’re not trying hard enough.”

Joe: “It was great to have the opportunity to chat with Cody. We planned for 45 minnutes, did an hour and a half and could probably have gone on all night. I love that he shares almost the same enthusiasm and passion for his rabbits as he does for football. It was really interesting to hear about his time in Scotland but he clearly loves playing in front of the Yellow Army.”

That is very clear: Cody remembered that his first game for the Gulls was the pre season dehydration derby against Plymouth. He described seeing the ground packed with yellow and green when he ran out and thinking: “this is a proper game”.

Cody: you’re a proper player, and a proper bloke.

Good luck for our second season together!