Maurice Cook (10 December 1931 – 31 December 2006) was an English professional

association 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 ...

, and also an amateur

cricketer Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

for

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

. Capable of playing in any outfield position, Cook spent the majority of his career as a

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

. He was best known for his spells at

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 ...

clubs Watford and

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 ...

. He also played for Berkhamsted Town and Reading, and finished his playing career with a season as player-coach of Banbury United, in the Southern League. In 1960, Cook scored the first ever goal in the

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

Early career and Watford

Born and raised in Hemel Hempstead, Cook played for

as a schoolboy, and later for local sides Potten End and Berkhamsted Town. Cook joined

Third Division South side Watford as an amateur in 1952, turning professional at the end of the 1952–53 season. He made his debut in Watford's first game of the following campaign, away to Southampton on 19 August 1953. His first professional goal came exactly one month later, giving Watford a 1–0 win at

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

. Playing 45 of a possible 47 games, Cook finished 1953–54 with nine goals as Watford ended the season fourth in the division. Although Cook's strike rate was poor compared with other forwards in the team, manager

Len Goulden Leonard Arthur Goulden (16 July 1912 – 14 February 1995) was an English footballer who played as an inside-left. His son Roy was also a footballer. Club career Goulden was born at Homerton, in Hackney, London, and raised in nearby Plaisto ...

kept faith with him for the following campaign. One of three players to play in all 50 of Watford's fixtures, he finished as the club's top scorer with 31 goals in all competitions, more than twice as many as his nearest competitor—and the previous season's top scorer— Roy Brown. Cook scored 15 and 16 goals in 1955–56 and 1956–57 respectively, and amassed 10 goals in 30 Watford games in the first half of 1957–58.''Watford Season by Season'' pp. 118–125 Between his debut and his final appearance, Cook made 218 appearances in the Football League and FA Cup, scoring 77 goals and missing only four games.

Fulham and later life

Widely regarded by fans as Watford's best player at the time, Cook was sold to Second Division side

in January 1958 for £15,000, which at the time was the highest fee Watford had ever received. He played regularly for the rest of the season, but having played for Watford in the FA Cup, was unable to contribute to Fulham's run to the semi finals. Nonetheless, Cook played a central part in 1958–59, scoring 17 of Fulham's 96 goals as they gained promotion to the First Division for only the second time in their history. Fulham survived the following season, and on 26 September 1960, Cook became the first player ever to score a goal in the

. Cook remained a First Division Fulham player until 1965, with a goalscoring record of 89 goals in 229 league games. Among his teammates during this period were England internationals

George Cohen George Reginald Cohen (22 October 1939 – 23 December 2022) was an English professional footballer who played as a right-back. He spent his entire professional career with Fulham, and won the 1966 World Cup with England. He was inducted int ...

and Johnny Haynes. Shortly after the departure of manager

Bedford Jezzard Bedford Alfred George Jezzard (19 October 1927 – 21 May 2005) was an English footballer. Jezzard's teenage years coincided with the Second World War, and he began football as an amateur with Croxley Boys and later Watford, for whom he made th ...

in December 1964, Cook transferred to Reading in the Third Division. After playing only 12 league games for them, he took up a post as player-coach at Banbury United. Under the management of his former Watford boss

, Cook helped Banbury reach the Southern League for the first time in their history. Cook died on 31 December 2006, aged 75. Coincidentally, the following day Fulham hosted Watford in a league match at

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against M ...

, where both sets of supporters observed a minute's silence in his honour.

References

;General * ;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Maurice 1931 births 2006 deaths Banbury United F.C. players English cricketers of 1946 to 1968 English footballers Footballers from Hertfordshire Sportspeople from Hemel Hempstead Fulham F.C. players Reading F.C. players Southern Football League players English Football League players Watford F.C. players Association football forwards