Lee Cook (born 3 August 1982) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

Career

Born in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

, London, Cook began his career at Southampton before moving on to

non-League Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

club

Aylesbury United Aylesbury United Football Club is a football club based in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England. They are currently members of Division One Central of the Southern League and play at Chesham United's Meadow ground, having been evicted from their ...

where he made 19 appearances, of which 14 were in the league, scoring twice, having progressed from the club's youth team.

Watford

In 1999, after impressing in a trial period, Cook moved on to

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

. His transfer was the subject of an unsuccessful lawsuit from his former club. Cook made his debut against

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

on 14 April 2001 as a substitute. In his fourth game for Watford he injured his knee, which kept him out of football until the end of the 2001–02 season. Cook spent most of the 2002–03 season on loan. He joined

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

on a month's loan in October 2002, which was extended for another month in late October. For York, he made a total of seven appearances and scored twice, with goals against Exeter in the league and Lincoln City in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

. He was subsequently loaned to

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

in December 2002. Cook returned to Watford in March 2003, after QPR manager

Ian Holloway Ian Scott Holloway (born 12 March 1963) is an English professional football manager, former player, media personality and television pundit who was most recently the manager of Grimsby Town. A midfielder, he notably played in the Premier League ...

had been hoping to sign him permanently. He scored once during 13 starts at

Loftus Road Loftus Road is a football stadium in White City, London, England, which is home to Queens Park Rangers. In 1981, it became the first stadium in British professional football to have an artificial pitch of Omniturf installed. This remained in ...

. Cook made most his appearances for Watford during the 2003–04 season, playing 45 times.

Queens Park Rangers

Cook made no secret of the fact he was a fan of QPR, and he elected to leave Watford to join them at the end of his contract in July 2004. As Cook was under the age of 24 when he moved, and the two clubs failed to agree a fee, a tribunal ordered QPR to pay a fee of £125,000 to Watford. During his five-year spell at Watford he made 64 appearances and scored seven goals. Cook's QPR debut came against

Vicarage Road Vicarage Road is a stadium in Watford, England, and is the home stadium of championship club Watford. An all-seater stadium, its current capacity is 22,200. History It has been the home of Watford since 1922, when the club moved from Cassi ...

on 9 August 2004 as a second-half substitute. Cook played poorly in the 3–0 defeat and was jeered by the Watford crowd. He was ruled out for six weeks in August 2005 after tearing his lateral knee ligament against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

. Cook played a significant role in QPR's battle to avoid relegation in the 2006–07 season, and he formed a great partnership with striker Dexter Blackstock. QPR rejected a bid from

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

for Cook in June 2007, but he eventually joined them for £2.5 million on 19 July 2007, signing a four-year contract. Cook gave his £250,000 signing-on fee to QPR as a parting gift to the club. He joined

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

on loan until the end of the 2007–08 season in January 2008. He rejoined former club Queens Park Rangers on loan for the 2008–09 season in July 2008, with a view to a permanent move. Fulham manager

Roy Hodgson Roy Hodgson (born 9 August 1947) is a former English football manager and player. He managed 22 different teams in eight countries, beginning in Sweden with Halmstads BK in the 1976 season. He later guided the Switzerland national team to th ...

confirmed on 5 December that Cook would sign a permanent contract with Queens Park Rangers for a fee of £850,000, which could rise to £1.2 million. He completed the move on 8 January 2009, signing a three-year contract, for an undisclosed fee. On 19 March 2012, Cook rejoined

on loan until the end of the season.

Leyton Orient

On 24 August 2012, Cook joined

Football League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

on a five-month contract, after his release from QPR. After 54 appearances and six goals in all competitions (including his loan spell), he rejected a contract extension at the end of the 2012–13 season. On 6 January 2014 he signed a six-month contract with

Apollon Smyrni Apollon Smyrnis Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Απόλλων Σμύρνης), or in its full name Gymnasticos Syllogos Apollon Smyrnis ( el, links=no, Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Απόλλων Σμύρνης, ''Gymnastics Club Apollon o ...

in the

Greek Super League The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

. He played four times for the club, once in the league, before leaving at the end of the season after their relegation to the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

Barnet

Cook signed for

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

on a one-year deal on 5 August 2014. He scored twice on his debut in a 5–0 away win at

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

. He scored his first career hattrick in a 4–0 win over Dartford on 25 August, after coming on as a second-half substitute. He scored his sixth goal of the season in a 2–0 away victory against Southport a week later, with a chip from an extremely wide angle. Cook scored six goals in his first six games for the Bees, but did not score at all after October and later lost his place in the team. He was released at the end of the season.

Eastleigh

On 29 June 2015, Cook signed for

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

side

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, o ...

. He was released at the end of the season after 36 league appearances.

Personal life

Lee is a second cousin of Olympic gold medal boxer

James DeGale James Frederick DeGale (born 3 February 1986) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2019. He held the IBF super-middleweight title twice between 2015 and 2018, and regionally the European and British super-middleweig ...

. Lee also co commentates for local radio as well as QPR's in-house media outlet.

Honours

;Barnet *

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

**Champions: 2014–15

References

External links

*
Lee Cook player profile
at qpr.co.uk
Lee Cook Official Website
at officialplayerwebsites.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Lee 1982 births Living people Footballers from Hammersmith English footballers British expatriates in Greece Association football wingers Aylesbury United F.C. players Watford F.C. players York City F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Apollon Smyrnis F.C. players Barnet F.C. players Eastleigh F.C. players Isthmian League players English Football League players Super League Greece players National League (English football) players English expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece