By David Gold
September 7 – Under fire Manchester City chief executive Garry Cook will not attend the club’s match with Wigan Athletic on Saturday (September 9) as an investigation is carried out into his conduct for allegedly sending an email mocking the mother of defender Nedum Onuoha’s cancer condition.
Cook will remain with his family in the United States as the club’s owners carry out an investigation and consider whether to remove him from his post.
The defender was in dispute with the club over a new contract at the time the e-mail was sent, as his mother was negotiating with the club on his behalf despite, as she explained, being “ravaged with cancer.”
A message sent by mistake to Dr Anthonia Onuoha instead of Brian Marwood is reported to have read: “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”
Anthonia Onuoha spoke to The Sun to explain her distress at having received the email.
“When I opened up my emails and saw the message, it was the worst day of my life, even worse than being diagnosed with cancer,” she said.
“I couldn’t understand how anyone could behave like that.
“I’m critically ill.
“I cried and cried for hours.”
Cook denies sending the message, and says someone hacked into his account as a joke, despite Anthonia Onuoha receiving another email relaying this argument afterwards.
The club will wait until the outcome of the internal investigation is revealed before making a decision on the administrator’s future.
It is not the first time Cook has courted controversy, having made a series of gaffes during his time at Manchester City.
In 2009, after failing to negotiate the transfer of Brazilian star and 2007 World Player of the Year Kaka, Cook labelled the then AC Milan star a “bottler”.
Also that year he mistakenly said at a supporter’s gala evening that former City striker Uwe Rösler had played for Manchester United, forcing him to apologise to their fans.
The previous year he risked the wrath of the club’s fans when he said “Richard Dunne doesn’t roll off the tongue in Beijing,” of the Irish defender who had been voted City’s player of the season four years in a row.
City’s legal team are now working on the investigation to see whether they can corroborate Cook’s version of events.
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