Young man, loads of money and his missus at the time was one of the hottest women in the world. Its easy to see how his ego got the better of him and he was without doubt a bit of a twat.
Sounds like he's matured a lot, so good on him.
Plus he's the best left back this country has ever produced and also one of the most consistent players to ever pull on an England shirt.
Young man, loads of money and his missus at the time was one of the hottest women in the world. Its easy to see how his ego got the better of him and he was without doubt a bit of a twat.
Sounds like he's matured a lot, so good on him.
Plus he's the best left back this country has ever produced and also one of the most consistent players to ever pull on an England shirt.
Agreed. As long as he buys trousers that dont keep falling down, he will be fine.
It's not just how good Cole was, it's how long he was good for.
Brilliant player, don't know him personally and don't think we've ever heard his side of the story so can't really comment on any of the off the field stuff.
Big deal, so he helped the kit man on a occasion, probably left a Rolex in his sock or something. He was a good player but a bit of a knob, and probably realising with his record he needs to get some good publicity for when he has to scratch a living when his playing career is over.
The secret footballer had a bit to say about Cole, but then you probably can't judge someone based on their conduct on a football pitch. At least I hope you can't for my sake.
Always seemed like a bloke who just wanted to be left alone to be honest. He got abused for his badly judged wage comment when he was at Arsenal and he never really recovered from it. I feel bad for him that Steven Gerrard can lump a DJ in the face for not playing Phil Collins and Wayne Rooney can run a train on a retirement home but Ashley Cole is still somehow the one everyone hates. Great left back
Always seemed like a bloke who just wanted to be left alone to be honest. He got abused for his badly judged wage comment when he was at Arsenal and he never really recovered from it. I feel bad for him that Steven Gerrard can lump a DJ in the face for not playing Phil Collins and Wayne Rooney can run a train on a retirement home but Ashley Cole is still somehow the one everyone hates. Great left back
I work with a very close family friend of Ashley. I've heard several stories that would warm your heart which paint a completely different story to the one painted of him in the press.
The impression I get from Cole is that he was a mouthy, possessed, sometimes dirty, but always committed footballer and off the field .. as nice a man as you could wish to meet. Cheryl Tuten-Kamooooon or what ever she's calling herself nowadays made good use of him as 'Posh' to Coles' 'Becks' .. he also did very well from the deal/marriage .. who says that romance is dead ?
Young man, loads of money and his missus at the time was one of the hottest women in the world. Its easy to see how his ego got the better of him and he was without doubt a bit of a twat.
Sounds like he's matured a lot, so good on him.
Plus he's the best left back this country has ever produced and also one of the most consistent players to ever pull on an England shirt.
Agreed. As long as he buys trousers that dont keep falling down, he will be fine.
Cole was very good, but in my life time Kenny Sansom and Stuart Pearce were just as good if not better.
Now that's a tough call, I'd say Cole was the better footballer and all round defender, Pearce was my idol as a kid playing there but was not on the same ball park as Cole
Imo Cole should still be there now, and is the best I saw play there
Thing with Stuart Pearce is he is the type of footballer we would all have loved to be. Hard as nails, sledgehammer of a shot, man of the people. But he was a totally different player to Ashley Cole, in the modern full back position he made it his own over 100 times for his country
I make Carter and NLA right. Pearce is the sort of bloke you have man love for. Hard as nails, could take it as well as dish it out - worked his way up from non league and had a 'proper' job before he was a pro. Could also play - not just a hard man. Even had the redemption story with his penalty at the Euros.
However, Cole is the best, most consistent left back of the modern era (possibly with the exception of Philipp Lahm) - others have had purple patches (like Jordi Alba a couple of years ago) but none of them matched Cole for consistency. I can remember him having maybe three bad games for England - and those were in exceptionally poor sides. He's quick, tackles well, can beat a man, has 'unteachable' positional sense, a good cross and a pretty good disciplinary record. I remember the year we romped to the championship when we beat Palarce at Sellout - Cole was on loan to them and anyone could see he was already a fantastic player even at a very young age - he was their best player on the pitch that day.
I've also heard some things about Cole that would literally stun most people. Suffice it to say that if even half of those are true, then the public at large's image of him is so far removed from reality it borders on criminal. He does so much work for charity that gets literally no publicity - and I'm not just talking about money here, but genuinely giving up a large amount of his spare time for people.
If we're going with reasons like "man of the people" and "had a proper job". I'd like to add that Pearce was lover of punk and , I understand, a big fan of The Stranglers. I've no idea what sort of music Cashley likes, but I imagine it would be the sort of shit that Cheryl Cole might sing. For this reason, it's Pearce all the way.
Have to disagree with some posters, who have Cole over Pearce.
Stuart Pearce was one of the very few players that I have seen boss top level games from left full back - the other being Paolo Maldini, who is the finest defender I have ever seen.
That period when Forest had Keane, Clough, Walker, Hodge etc, was when Pearce was at his best, and he would often be the main fulcrum of attack, as well as defence.
If my memory serves me correctly poor old Ralph Milne made his debut against Forest in 1987 at Selhurst, and I remember Pearce literally running over the top of him so often, that Ralph must have wished he was back in Dundee United Reserves!
Ashley Cole has perhaps had a better career, but IHMO was a level below Pearce, and that is in no way a reflection of Cole's social/personal life, which I have no interest in.
It's not even close to debatable for me. Cole all the way. Pearce was no-nonsense and scored a few more goals, but his all-round game was nowhere near the level of Cole. I remember Cole breaking his neck to get back and block a shot in a world cup game, deflecting it onto the bar. That was one of the greatest pieces of defending I've ever seen. I still think Cole's more worthy of a place in the England team than Shaw, Baines or whoever else right now!
I don't think i'm really old enough to comment on Pearce at his prime, but he would have to be something special to be better than Cole.
Some of the performances AC put in against Ronaldo were outrageous. Think it was WC '06 against Portugal...one of the best performances i ever seen from a defender.
Pearce was good and had been a great role model to many of us growing up because of his heart and passion, but if we honestly think he's better that Cole then it's got to be nostalgia kicking in. Cole has been the best Left Back in the world for part of his career, alongside Lahm I can't think of a better left back since Maldini.
Cole marking out Ronaldo on more than one occasions was immense!
Pearce was good and had been a great role model to many of us growing up because of his heart and passion, but if we honestly think he's better that Cole then it's got to be nostalgia kicking in. Cole has been the best Left Back in the world for part of his career, alongside Lahm I can't think of a better left back since Maldini.
Cole marking out Ronaldo on more than one occasions was immense!
I was going to say about Ronaldo. I remember Ferguson switching him to the other wing because Cole was so completely dominating him. You couldn't fluster Ashley Cole. He'd go up against any player in world football and calmly go about doing what was required to keep the opposition player quiet. He got forward and supported the winger but somehow managed to never be out of position. As complete players go you'd struggle to find anyone who knew their role and carried it out so thoroughly
I thought Lahm was a right back? or am i going mad?
Lahm started out as left back for Bayern and even Germany, he gets switched between Left or Right back, and then under Pep Centre Mid. All depends on who's in the first 11 too.
Comments
Sounds like he's matured a lot, so good on him.
Plus he's the best left back this country has ever produced and also one of the most consistent players to ever pull on an England shirt.
Brilliant player, don't know him personally and don't think we've ever heard his side of the story so can't really comment on any of the off the field stuff.
Look at her past history (cough cough Titus cough cough)
Cheryl Tuten-Kamooooon or what ever she's calling herself nowadays made good use of him as 'Posh' to Coles' 'Becks' .. he also did very well from the deal/marriage .. who says that romance is dead ?
Imo Cole should still be there now, and is the best I saw play there
However, Cole is the best, most consistent left back of the modern era (possibly with the exception of Philipp Lahm) - others have had purple patches (like Jordi Alba a couple of years ago) but none of them matched Cole for consistency. I can remember him having maybe three bad games for England - and those were in exceptionally poor sides. He's quick, tackles well, can beat a man, has 'unteachable' positional sense, a good cross and a pretty good disciplinary record. I remember the year we romped to the championship when we beat Palarce at Sellout - Cole was on loan to them and anyone could see he was already a fantastic player even at a very young age - he was their best player on the pitch that day.
I've also heard some things about Cole that would literally stun most people. Suffice it to say that if even half of those are true, then the public at large's image of him is so far removed from reality it borders on criminal. He does so much work for charity that gets literally no publicity - and I'm not just talking about money here, but genuinely giving up a large amount of his spare time for people.
Stuart Pearce was one of the very few players that I have seen boss top level games from left full back - the other being Paolo Maldini, who is the finest defender I have ever seen.
That period when Forest had Keane, Clough, Walker, Hodge etc, was when Pearce was at his best, and he would often be the main fulcrum of attack, as well as defence.
If my memory serves me correctly poor old Ralph Milne made his debut against Forest in 1987 at Selhurst, and I remember Pearce literally running over the top of him so often, that Ralph must have wished he was back in Dundee United Reserves!
Ashley Cole has perhaps had a better career, but IHMO was a level below Pearce, and that is in no way a reflection of Cole's social/personal life, which I have no interest in.
Some of the performances AC put in against Ronaldo were outrageous. Think it was WC '06 against Portugal...one of the best performances i ever seen from a defender.
Cole marking out Ronaldo on more than one occasions was immense!