"My record speaks for itself and when I have finished it will all be down there in black and white for people to see." —Andy Cole
Andrew Alexander Cole, or Andy as he was known during his heyday in the early years of the Premier League, bowed out of professional football this week, closing the book on one of the true modern footballing greats.
Cole helped carve out the current reputations of both the English game and Manchester United as a result of his incredible playing career.
Cole’s career fizzled out on a whimper undeserving of the goal-scoring machine, having made just 11 appearances for Championship side Nottingham Forest, six of those coming from the bench, Cole failed to score a single goal.
Sensitive to his predicament, Cole took the bold step to bite the bullet, but in doing so he focused minds back to a time when Cole was one of the most feared strikers in club football.
I say club football, as Cole never made the impact on the international stage which his talent demanded. For England, Cole registered just one goal in 15 appearances, finding the net in a forgettable World Cup qualifier against Albania in 2001.
At a time when Shearer and Sheringham were the main men for the Three Lions, before Michael Owen made himself undroppable for England, Cole was painted as the fall guy. A striker who needed five chances to score a goal, as Glenn Hoddle famously explained when omitting the striker from the 1998 World Cup squad.
But on reviewing the annals of Premier League history, Cole’s career burns brightly. Only Alan Shearer scored more goals (260 to Cole’s 187), if you exclude penalties (Shearer 56, Cole 1), Cole’s goals-per-league games ratio was actually higher than the Match of the Day pundit.
Tucked away in the fine print is the stat that, despite rarely being credited for his approach play, Cole chalked up a sizable 127 career assists in the top flight.
An inspection of Cole’s trophy cabinet reveals just how successful the, often maligned, striker was. The treble will always stand as the crowning achievement in a career that amassed two FA Cup winners’ medals, one League Cup medal, to add to his five Premier League titles and his 1999 Champions League triumph.
The Andy Cole scrapbook is also bursting with amazing personal achievements. Beginning with his incredible record of 43 goals in 58 games at Newcastle.
Cole netted five times in Man Utd's memorable 9-nil pounding of Ipswich, before creating one of the most feared partnerships in world football alongside Dwight Yorke, epitomised by that goal, scored in the Nou Camp, that suggested the front-two were telepathically connected.
Yet it wasn’t all good. Cole was a confidence player and, when it went, he could be absolutely awful. When the storm-clouds were hovering overhead, Cole often retreated into a surly and stand-offish mode that failed to endear him to most of the footballing public.
Such was the negativity sent in his direction, over time the fear is that Cole’s legacy will be forgotten, despite that fact that he was truly one of the greats of his generation.
***
As a tribute to celebrate goal-king Cole’s fabulous career, below are some of the highlights of a glittering 19 years’ service to the beautiful game:
1. Yorke and Cole take the Nou Camp by storm (watch here)
2. Highlights of the Yorke/Cole partnership for Manchester United (watch here)
3. Andy Cole his five against Ipswich (watch here)
7 comments Last one added about 1 month ago — Leave a Comment
Ismail Ayub 7 months ago
nice videosss
Edit Comment Cancel
Anthony Sanchez 7 months ago
Yorke and cole were phenomenal. That goals against Barcelona reminds me of the 1970 brazil team.
Edit Comment Cancel
Yoosof Farah 7 months ago
he was a truly great player. shame he wanted to retire, he could've still cut it at a good championship side and score a few goals for them.
Edit Comment Cancel
illya mclellan 7 months ago
Forest have been struggling and would not have done his talent in front of the sticks justice really. Great striker. Interesting about the statistical comparison with Shearer minus the penalties, impressive assist count as well!
Edit Comment Cancel
Nikki Edyvane 7 months ago
LEGEND!!
Edit Comment Cancel
Willie Gannon 7 months ago
Nice piece Ron,
But as someone who has witnessed Cole first hand, I've got to say he was never a great player. He had a superb goal-scoring record but even with the reduction of Shearer's penalties there is no comparison between the two.
Shearer is the best striker England has produced in 50 years, Cole doesn't even come close.
Edit Comment Cancel
SuperMe field about 1 month ago
Cole was a really good penalty box striker. He always made good runs.
Cole needed 3 chances to score one goal, Shearer was a one in two striker like Wright, Torres,Lineker etc.
Still Andrew had a great career and won more trophies than shearer.
Edit Comment Cancel
Leave a Comment
You must register to post a comment.