AHEAD of a return to action for women’s football this month, Nottingham Forest Women head coach, Andrew Cook, is getting back into a routine of travelling between the North-East and the East Midlands.

As a married father-of-two, Cook, a former student of Teesside University, graduating in 2010 with a BSc Hons in Sports and Exercise Sports Studies, took up the position with the FA Women’s National League side shy of 18 months ago.

It’s been somewhat of a rollercoaster ride for him.

At the time of his three years at University, Cook was a football coach with the Middlesbrough Foundation, prior to posts at Darlington (youth development coach, 2009-11), Durham Women (head coach, 2013-14), and Sunderland (youth development coach, 2018-19), in his native North-East, alongside spells with Arsenal, Oxford, and twice at the Football Association.

It’s been pretty much a career of chance and opportunity, those which he is very grateful to receive, and which have led him to Robin Hood country.

“I love it here and it’s an absolutely brilliant club to work for,” began Cook. “Everything is fantastic and all they sold me, when I had the interview, has come to fruition, both on, and off the pitch.

“We continue to go from strength-to-strength, constantly building, whilst being aware that it’s also a marathon and not a sprint.”

By chance, the Teessider, having enjoyed two years at Darlington alongside then academy manager, Craig Liddle, applied for and was interviewed by the Gunners, heading to the capital to take on the role of elite development coach for the 2011-12 campaign.

A great position to have, but these also come at a cost, one way or another, and so it proved with Cook, heading home after a season, eventually taking on the role of head coach with Durham.

“I didn’t want to leave Arsenal but, being down there on my own, it was tough,” continued Cook. “Coming back home therefore was more a personal than professional choice but when I first applied for the post, and was interviewed, it was exciting.

“Funnily enough, when I got there, I already knew some of the players and I guess you could say I had three roles (head coach U17s, reserves team manager, and overseeing the Hertfordshire University programme).

“Their first team was a whole other level, and I was grateful to work alongside people like Laura Harvey.

“When I left, and came home, Lee Sanders got in touch asking if I’d be interested in coming to Durham, whilst they were applying for professional status (the club was known as Durham Cestria ahead of the WSL expansion in 2014).

“I was very keen and really enjoyed my time there, both with the club, and the whole building process they were going through – they’ve done really great since as well.”

However, in the late spring of 2019, the opportunity arose to help guide an East Midlands side into a bright, new future, one which sees the women’s set-up safely housed under the main Nottingham Forest umbrella.

Still residing on the North-East coast, the Forest Women head coach splits his time between home and work, heading to Nottingham to lead training sessions twice-a-week, Tuesday and Thursday, and match-day, a Sunday afternoon.

“After applying (for the Forest job) I went down and met up with a few people at the club,” he added. “It was all part of their sounding me out and, although it seemed like it was a lengthy process, it was only about four-to-six weeks and came at the time of Martin O’Neill’s sacking.”

Now, with 2020 being the year of a global pandemic, it’s been a trying time for Cook, his coaching staff of Daniel Corlett, Aston Dyer, Marcus Ward and Amy Page, and captain Lyndsey Harkin. Last season was concluded early, finishing via a points-per-game scenario, while the current 2020-21 campaign has already been halted.

“We’ve been kind of making things up as we go along and working out what is, and isn’t, best for us all,” he explained of the current climate. “I didn’t even know Zoom existed until this year but, as a club, we’ve just had to make sure we were in the best position possible to move forward.”

Now, with not appearing in the Vitality Women’s FA Cup until early next year, their league campaign gets back under way this weekend as Cook takes his Nottingham Forest side to Burnley in the Women’s National League.