Manchester City chief executive Garry Cook has resigned from his post following the email scandal that has overshadowed his role at the Etihad stadium.
A controversial email was sent to Nedum Onuoha’s mother who has cancer, however Cook has denied the claims he sent it and said he was away on holidays.
In a statement released to the club’s official website, Cook admitted he had made an “error of judgement” after an email was sent from his account to Nedum Onuoha’s cancer-stricken mother, Anthonia, which appeared to mock her illness.
Dr Anthonia Onuoha is her son’s agent and the allegations first came about when she released a statement to the Sun newspaper.
“When I opened my emails and saw the message, it was the worst day of my life, even worse than being diagnosed with cancer. I couldn’t understand how anybody could behave like that. I just cried and cried for hours.”
It all started when she sent an email to Cook telling him that despite being diagnosed with cancer she would continue to be her son’s agent. In a reply, which was addressed to Brian Marwood who is City’s football administrator, he mocked Dr Onuoha.
“Ravaged with it!! I don’t know how you sleep at night. You used to be such a nice man when I worked with you at Nike. G”
It is not the first time that Garry Cook has been caught up in controversy and apparently City’s chiefs were furious with him following the latest allegations. He apparently called AC Milan ‘bottlers’ after they wouldn’t sell Kaka to City and in 2010 he guaranteed that the club would beat Man United in the Carling Cup semi final.
Despite the controversies surrounding Cook, he has done a lot of good work at Eastlands and has turned them into one of the leading clubs in the world. Chairman Al Mubarak praised Cook for what he described as a ‘remarkable contribution’ to the club.
Al Mubarak has written to Dr Onuoha to apologise following the email and the board will now look for a new Chief executive. For the time being though John McBeath will fulfil the role of temporary CEO.
