Andy Cole retires

m@cc@

I don't give a s*** if he wants to be known as 'Andrew' Cole

[html]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/7721528.stm
[/html]

Former Manchester United, Newcastle United and England striker Andrew Cole has retired from playing.
Cole, who won 15 England caps in a glittering career, left Nottingham Forest in October after failing to make an impact at the Championship club.
The 37-year-old scored a total of 289 career goals and won five Premier League titles, the Champions League and two FA Cups while at Manchester United.
In his 19-year professional career he played for a total of 13 clubs.
"It's not an ideal ending but I wouldn't change a thing, I've lived the dream," Cole told The Times newspaper.

Cole failed to score in 11 games for Forest after joining the club in July and his contract was cancelled by mutual consent after only three months.
The 37-year-old will now look to pursue a career in coaching or management.
"I've all this experience and I don't want to keep it to myself," said Cole.
"I want to give something back, I don't think this is the end of the Andrew Cole story. Hopefully it's a new chapter."
Cole started his career at Arsenal but only made one appearance before moving to Bristol City in 1992, and it was there he made his name, scoring 20-times in only 41 league appearances.
His time at Bristol secured him a £1.75m move to Newcastle United in 1993 where he became a fans favourite and established himself as one of the best strikers in English football.
Controversially, Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan sold Cole to Manchester United after just two and a half seasons at St James' Park and it was at Old Trafford where he enjoyed the most successful period of his career.
Scoring 93 league goals for the Red Devils his partnership with Dwight Yorke was a key factor of United's treble-winning season in 1998-99.
But despite his success at club level, Cole struggled to establish himself in the England team scoring just once in 15 appearances.


After leaving United in 2001, Cole went on to play for Blackburn, Fulham, Manchester City, Portsmouth, Birmingham, Sunderland and Burnley before joining his hometown club Nottingham Forest in July, 2008.
But after finding his first-team appearances limited, Cole decided to call time on his 19-year playing career. Cole's Premier League scoring record of 187 goals is bettered only by Alan Shearer who has 260.

Mr. Presentable

Andy Cole illustrates what Alex Ferguson can do for a player. Cole was an icon at OT, but a ghost at England. Ferguson, and to a degree Keegan, understood better than most how to get the best from a player with limited talents. This remains true of Ferguson; how often a player leaves him and is suddenly ordinary at another club.

Boots09

TBH I thought Cole did a pretty decent job at Blackburn while he was there too! Isn't there talks of him being wanted there as a strikers coach?

The Sparrow

He was my fav player when I was growing up. I even read his autobiography!

A great player for Utd. Wish him the best in coaching/ management although not sure he seems like the management type.

Although a career in music has probably been ruled out already.

Xavi6

He was great at City too til he got injured.

m@cc@

woooo232 wrote: »

He was my fav player when I was growing up. I even read his autobiography!

A great player for Utd. Wish him the best in coaching/ management although not sure he seems like the management type.

Although a career in music has probably been ruled out already.

Outstanding!

stovelid

I really hope he said Andrew Cole is retiring.

ROCKMAN

Good player , very decent career ,

There was something about the partnership he formed with Yorke, and the way they played with smiles on their faces that was special , like two kids in the park . The way football was meant to be played.

Nalz

One of my favourite players, loved Andrew Cole!

anonymous_joe

Who remembers the Ipswich Town game?

mirwillbeback

ROCKMAN wrote: »

Good player , very decent career ,

There was something about the partnership he formed with Yorke, and the way they played with smiles on their faces that was special , like two kids in the park . The way football was meant to be played.

Could have been the threesomes they were having on their nights out. I remember one bird sold her story to NOTW ( must be true ) and then the following week her fella was in it, saying " it was bad enough my girlfriend going behind my back, but I was devastated who it was when she told me as i'm a City fan " - no lie.:eek:

roryc

Not many players still in the game at 37, congrats on a lengthy and successful career.

Wouldn't have thought he had the mentality for coaching/ managing though

Hobart

I remember his transfer from Newcastle to Manu, and thinking that there is no way that he would be the same player at "the enemy" that he was at Newcastle. How wrong was I?

I heard a story (probably untrue) that it was his mother who requested that he be refereed to as Andrew and not Andy?...and hence the change.

Anyhow, a great player, great great goal scorer. I wish him the best.

Xavi6

Great and all as he was he did shaft us majorly and he isn't too liked by most at City for it.

Hobart

Xavi6 wrote: »

Great and all as he was he did shaft us majorly and he isn't too liked by most at City for it.

I'm lost Xavi. I thought he went on a free to your guys and was injured later in the season?

Xavi6

Hobart wrote: »

I'm lost Xavi. I thought he went on a free to your guys and was injured later in the season?

He got injured, waited til he was pretty much back to full fitness then said he would retire unless he was granted a move to Portsmouth.

Hobart

Xavi6 wrote: »

He got injured, waited til he was pretty much back to full fitness then said he would retire unless he was granted a move to Portsmouth.

Fair enough, but I would have thought at 34 and with 22 apps and 9 goals that you guys got as much out of him that ye were going to get. I know SFA about the Portsmouth thing tbh.

Xavi6

Hobart wrote: »

Fair enough, but I would have thought at 34 and with 22 apps and 9 goals that you guys got as much out of him that ye were going to get. I know SFA about the Portsmouth thing tbh.

Oh we were most definitely chuffed with him, but when you are loathed enough for being a leading player for the club's biggest rivals the last thing you can expect to get away with is that sort of carry on. It really was unacceptable.

roryc

Never heard anything about that, where did you hear about it?

Xavi6

roryc wrote: »

Never heard anything about that, where did you hear about it?

It's common knowledge amongst City fans from the time it happened.

Here's a reaction from one fan to news of his retirement today -

Did well for a while. Everyone started kissing his red shitty arse. Then "injured" himself and started causing problems inside squad for example encouraging Barton to go on strike. Then after we had payed his wages for ages and he was finally fit he fooked us right up the arse by leaving without real chance to get a replacement.

Charlie

I'll never forget the piece on Sky news the day he left Newcastle about some bloke who ran a memorabilia shop on Tyneside, and had literally just finished hand painting over 100 Andy Cole mugs.

Also, Keegan on the steps of the Milburn reception explaining to the fans to wait and see, that he had an ace up his sleeve. Sir Les!!! So long Andy.

In all seriousness though, he was a very important player for our early years in the prem, and helped us establish ourselves as a top table side, far sooner then we should have. For that, he will always have my gratitude.

Hobart

Xavi6 wrote: »

Oh we were most definitely chuffed with him, but when you are loathed enough for being a leading player for the club's biggest rivals the last thing you can expect to get away with is that sort of carry on. It really was unacceptable.

In all honesty Xavi, if it was that much of a deal, don't f**king sign the guy.

Anyhow, without derailing the the=read any further, I have to say that he was a brilliant player. A great goal scorer for Manu...even though they tried to off-load him for Shearer :-;!!!

Aidric

As a United fan I'll always have respect and time for Cole in all that he done whilst at the club.
The whole wanting to be referred to as Andrew thing was just annoying but he simply cannot be forgiven for this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ixT63nBqao

Xavi6

Hobart wrote: »

In all honesty Xavi, if it was that much of a deal, don't f**king sign the guy.

We signed Schmeichel. Zero problems there because he never fucked with us. Fans still hold him in high regard. Cole shafted us so that's why his United connections come to the fore more. Only natural really.

Anyhow, without derailing the the=read any further, I have to say that he was a brilliant player. A great goal scorer for Manu...even though they tried to off-load him for Shearer :-;!!!

And even if his chances to goals ratio was massive!

iregk

Am I the only one that thought he was very over rated?

Any striker worth any sort of money would have been great in the United side he played in. They used to create 20+ chances a game and cole would need at least 16 of those to hit the target twice. I remember once on match of the day (when it was worth watching) they displayed his changes to goals ratio and it was amongst the lowest in the premiership of all the recognised strikers.

neacy69

Nice Yorke and Cole video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRevDohu4FM

Really was one of the best partnerships around

premierstone

iregk wrote: »

Am I the only one that thought he was very over rated?

Any striker worth any sort of money would have been great in the United side he played in. They used to create 20+ chances a game and cole would need at least 16 of those to hit the target twice. I remember once on match of the day (when it was worth watching) they displayed his changes to goals ratio and it was amongst the lowest in the premiership of all the recognised strikers.

Its not really a true reflection of a player though iregk, part of been a good striker is anticipating where the chances will come and been in the right place at the right time, something similar to Adebayor really, does miss a large amount of chances but still scores more than most.

event

iregk wrote: »

Am I the only one that thought he was very over rated?

Any striker worth any sort of money would have been great in the United side he played in. They used to create 20+ chances a game and cole would need at least 16 of those to hit the target twice. I remember once on match of the day (when it was worth watching) they displayed his changes to goals ratio and it was amongst the lowest in the premiership of all the recognised strikers.

thats a common misconception

in the 99-2000 season he had a better goals to shots ratio than alan shearer and was 4th best in the permiership

it tough to find other statistics but that was glenn hoddles excuse when he wasnt picking him for england and it stuck.
but he was very good at scoring the chances he got

iregk

premierstone wrote: »

Its not really a true reflection of a player though iregk, part of been a good striker is anticipating where the chances will come and been in the right place at the right time, something similar to Adebayor really, does miss a large amount of chances but still scores more than most.

I do kind of agree with you. There are many aspects to being a good striker, positioning, timing runs, anticipation etc... Now Cole had all of these but crucially his finishing was that of a championship level striker.

Crespo for example didn't have great anticipation or positioning really but he was a lethal finisher. Batistuta being another example had amazing everything. Ultimately he was a striker and his task is finishing. He did score more than most but its more of a brute force thing. Throw 50 darts at a board and at least 5 will stick. At international level where he only got those 5 darts he never hit the target. Well he did, once.

Hobart

iregk wrote: »

Am I the only one that thought he was very over rated?

Any striker worth any sort of money would have been great in the United side he played in. They used to create 20+ chances a game and cole would need at least 16 of those to hit the target twice. I remember once on match of the day (when it was worth watching) they displayed his changes to goals ratio and it was amongst the lowest in the premiership of all the recognised strikers.

Can't believe I'm defending a Utd legend but from Wiki:

Cole holds the record of being ranked second in the all time scoring charts of the FA Premier League. In his career, Cole has scored a total of 187 Premier League goals, placing him behind Alan Shearer who has 261 goals. Cole has the distinction of being one of the few players in England to have swept all possible honours in the English game, including the PFA Young Player of the Year award, as well as the coveted UEFA Champions League title.

You're right, he was totally overrated...:rolleyes:

stovelid

Hobart wrote: »

You're right, he was totally overrated...:rolleyes:

+1

Kind of like a Gary Neville thing. An orthodox opinion (that flies in the face of statistics and evidence) is established, and that's that.

I used to laugh at the missed chances ratio guff. It's like saying Ronaldo scoring 42 last season was shit, because he missed 15 additional chances.

With England. He would not score 4 goals when given a chance, and there was a chorus of told-you-so's. I'm not sure about the any striker could score in that united team line either. It's essentially nonsense. The guy is a striker. He's paid to score goals. Which, statistically, he did.

Basically, the public cement an idea about a player and that's that. When Cole had a slow start at United, he was 'overrated'. When he scored loads, he then was deficient in the missed-chances-ratio.

The supporters knew his worth, and that's all that matters.

Boggles

Hobart wrote: »

Can't believe I'm defending a Utd legend but from Wiki:

Cole holds the record of being ranked second in the all time scoring charts of the FA Premier League. In his career, Cole has scored a total of 187 Premier League goals, placing him behind Alan Shearer who has 261 goals. Cole has the distinction of being one of the few players in England to have swept all possible honours in the English game, including the PFA Young Player of the Year award, as well as the coveted UEFA Champions League title.

You're right, he was totally overrated...:rolleyes:

Plus Cole didn't take penos.

RichTea

Andy Cole,
Andy, Andy, Andy Cole...........


Class act. Scored so many important and great goals for United. The link-up he had with Yorke is best remembered but he also played some great stuff with Teddy Sheringham (who didn't get on with him off the pitch if I remember correctly).

leninbenjamin

heh, he did rob a good few chances off Cantona's toes though in those early days.

I have some vague memory of a Cantona strike, a looping half volley I think that floated over the keeper and heading straight for the net, only for Cole to pop up at the last minute and take a touch to claim it for himself. anyone else remember that? I've a feeling it was in a cup game but i can hardly remember it at the time. I do remember being an 8 year old kid raging at Cole though because Cantona was my favourite player in those days.

ziggy

This post has been deleted.