Farewell to A Legend… with Highlights

By: Taylor Rockwell | November 10th, 2008

It was announced today that Andrew Cole has retired from the game at the age of 37. From the Times Online:

When Cole signed for Nottingham Forest, he dreamt of going out in a blaze of glory, of shooting his home-town club back into the Premier League.

Instead there were tears. Cole, 37, made an acrimonious departure from Forest 11 days ago and yesterday spoke for the first time. Cole voiced regrets at his lack of opportunities at the City Ground, at the mixed messages from Colin Calderwood, the club’s manager, and at the inevitable whispering campaign that followed his exit – but he came across like a man who had been relieved of a burden.

Characterised, by his own admission, as “narky, sullen and unapproachable”, the former Newcastle United, Manchester United and England forward was at peace with himself, if not with Calderwood, as he contemplated his first steps as a coach or manager.

“It’s not the ideal ending,” Cole said of his exit from Forest, his contract having been cancelled by mutual consent after he failed to score in 11 appearances. “It just wasn’t working out. I told them from the outset that I didn’t want to go there to sit on the bench because I didn’t want to be perceived as sitting back and making easy money. I wanted to go there and offer something, but it was a strange one from the start. I never knew what my role was. Was it to lend a hand, use my experience, or was it a PR thing, to sell a few more season tickets? I still don’t know. I felt like the manager wouldn’t have a conversation with me. I don’t know if it’s the right word, but he seemed kind of intimidated by me.

“I wanted it to work out, but I was playing for 60 minutes and then getting taken off. Or sometimes I wasn’t getting picked at all. After a game at Preston, I said to myself: ‘You don’t play, then they give you an hour, then you get taken off. Is it really worth it?’ That was in September. I told him [Calderwood] then that I wanted to go and that I would serve three months’ notice if they wanted me to, which was in my contract. He said ‘no, give it another month’, which I was prepared to do, and then suddenly, a few weeks later, the club start putting it around that they’ve sacked me or that I’ve walked out.

“People will look at it and say this is how they expected me to go, in a huff or in some kind of controversy, but it wasn’t like that. I just wish Forest could have been honest. I’ve always been honest in my career, maybe too honest for my own good.”

That honesty extends to an admission that he was too hasty in leaving Manchester United for Blackburn Rovers in December 2001 – “probably the biggest mistake I’ve ever made” – but, reflecting on a career that brought five Premier League winner’s medals, two FA Cups and a Champions League, not to mention 15 England caps, there are few regrets.

“There’s always going to be the odd one, with me the way I am as a person, as a player,” he said. “But I wouldn’t change a thing. I’ve lived the dream.” The dream now is to go into management or coaching, with a role at Blackburn Rovers, under Paul Ince, already mooted. Cole has not heard from his former United team-mate, but as a player who scored 289 goals in 646 appearances in a career spanning 12 clubs, he feels that he is well placed to teach the next generation about the art of goalscoring.

“You would think so – unless I just happened to have a lot of luck in my career,” he said. “I’ve all this experience. I don’t want to keep it to myself. I want to give something back. I don’t think it’s the end of the Andrew Cole story. Hopefully it’s a new chapter.”

We here at The Offside would like to take a moment and extend our sincerest thanks to the man that played such an important part in shaping the face of a modern Manchester United. So, as you inevitably reflect on the 1999 Treble, here are some vids to make your Tuesday morning a happy one.

Andy Cole & Dwight Yorke: The Dynamo Duo