Paul Cook

Cook was born in Liverpool, Lancashire. He began his career in 1983 at local non-league side Marine but made no appearances. In 1984, Cook was signed by Wigan Athletic, where he featured in 83 league games in a four-year spell. Cook then had a brief and unsuccessful spell at Norwich City before moving to the Midlands to sign for Wolverhampton Wanderers for £250,000. He was a very popular player during his time at Wolves, both with the fans and his teammates and became known for his deadly and accurate left foot. After 193 league appearances for Wolves over five seasons in the second tier, Cook left to sign for Premier League side Coventry City. Cook played the majority of his games at Coventry in his first season (1994/95) but fell out of favour during the following campaign, where he made only three appearances. In February 1996, Cook was sold to Tranmere Rovers for £250,000. Whilst at Tranmere, he became a key member of the side, playing 60 league games in just eighteen months. In October 1997, Tranmere accepted a bid of £250,000 from Stockport County and regained the fee initially paid for Cook. After twelve months at County, Cook began to be regarded as 'too old', despite only being 32. This led to Cook making a loan move to Burnley before making the move permanent in July 1999. After a falling out with Burnley manager Stan Ternent, Cook went on loan to his former club Wigan Athletic, but made just six appearances before he was re-called to again take his place in the…

Southport

Cook was appointed manager of Conference side Southport on 13 June 2006, a post he was sacked from in January 2007 following defeat at Northwich Victoria.

Sligo Rovers

On 27 April 2007, Cook was appointed manager of Sligo Rovers taking over from Rob McDonald, who resigned before the start of the season. During Cook's unveiling, he stated that he was from Liverpool and that he will not have anything to do with any journalist from the Irish Sun, (due to the articles printed about Liverpool supporters during the Hillsborough disaster). He led Rovers to a 6th place league finish in his first season in charge. Cook's second season saw him guide the bit o' red to fourth in the league and thus secure a UEFA Cup place. Cook departed in January 2009 by mutual consent, but soon returned to Sligo a few weeks later after his initial departure. In his third season, under severe financial constraints, Cook managed a sixth place finish in the league. In addition, Cook guided Rovers to the final of the FAI Cup which took place on 22 November 2009. Cook's Sligo Rovers side lost 2–1 to Sporting Fingal, despite holding a one-goal lead with seven minutes remaining, a huge disappointment for Cook, Rovers and the people of Sligo. Cook would soon redeem himself from the cup shortcomings of 2009, with his first piece of silverware as Sligo Rovers manager coming in September 2010, after a 1–0 win over Monaghan United in the final of the League Cup. In November 2010, he…

Cook has appeared on RTÉ coverage of League of Ireland matches.

His son, Connor, also plays professional football.