Lucy Ward was Leeds United’s head of education and welfare at the boys academy while Lewis Cook was at the club.
Former Leeds United women’s star Lucy Ward took to Twitter to express her delight at seeing Lewis Cook named among the England substitutes against Brazil on Tuesday night.
Former Leeds academy product Cook failed to make it off the bench but his development and call-up by Gareth Southgate shows just how far the box-to-box midfielder has come, after first signing for Leeds aged seven.
Cook, 20, told The Times earlier this week that he owed a lot to Ward and former Leeds manager Neil Redfearn for his progression at Elland Road, before joining Premier League side Bournemouth in 2016.
“Lucy was like a player liaison officer and really helped me through my scholarship — trying to get that balance between school and playing,” Cook said.
“Neil was my manager at the start and he played me in the under-18s, under-21s and then the first team. He was a great coach and a great person as well.”
Ward, 43, played for Leeds United’s women’s team for six years between 1996 and 2002 and then rejoined in 2003 when the women’s side was renamed Leeds Carnegie until 2009.
Ward then became the head of education and welfare before being sacked by former owner Massimo Cellino. She left the club in 2015, amid winning a high-profile legal battle in June 2016 against Cellino.
Now retired, the former England Under-21 international took to her Twitter account by posting a photo of Cook’s name lighting up Wembley Stadium on Tuesday night, with the two-word caption “not bad”.
Midfielder Cook left Leeds in the summer of 2016 after making 85 appearances in all competitions for the Yorkshire giants, and has since broken into Eddie Howe’s first team this season.
The highlight of Cook’s short career so far, which is perhaps what earned him the senior England call-up, was holding aloft the Under-20 World Cup trophy in South Korea this summer.
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