Andrew Cole

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Andy Cole
Personal information
Full name	Andrew Alexander Cole
Date of birth	October 15, 1971 (age 35)
Place of birth	Nottingham, England
Height	5 ft 10 in
Nickname	Goal King Cole
Playing position	Forward
Club information
Current club	Birmingham City (on loan from Portsmouth)
Number	8
Youth clubs
	Arsenal
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1989–92 1991 1992–93 1993–95 1995–2001 2001–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–present 2007	Arsenal → Fulham (loan) Bristol City Newcastle United Manchester United Blackburn Rovers Fulham Manchester City Portsmouth → Birmingham City (loan)	001 0(0) 013 0(3) 041 (20) 070 (55) 195 (94) 083 (27) 031 (12) 022 0(9) 018 0(3) 000 0(0)
National team2
1995–2002	England	015 0(1)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15:55, 21 March 2007 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 19:38, 30 November 2006 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Andrew Alexander Cole (born 15 October 1971 in Nottingham) is an English footballer who plays as a striker for Premiership side Portsmouth, and is one of the highest scoring players in the game's history. He is most well known by the name Andy Cole (which he was universally known as in the '90s) but in 2000 he asked to be known as Andrew Cole.^[1]

Currently ranked second in the all time scoring charts of the FA Premier League, in his career Cole has scored a total of 188 Premier League goals, 2nd behind Alan Shearer who has 260 goals. Cole currently plays for Portsmouth F.C. having joined them from Manchester City on transfer deadline day at the start of the 2006-07 season. 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. Cole was also capped fifteen times for England between 1995 and 2001, scoring once.

Contents 1 Arsenal, Fulham and Bristol City 2 Newcastle United 3 Manchester United 4 Blackburn Rovers 5 Fulham 6 Manchester City 7 Portsmouth 8 England 9 Honours 10 References 11 External links

[edit] Arsenal, Fulham and Bristol City

Cole started his career as a youth player for Arsenal. He made his only league appearance for Arsenal, aged 19, as a substitute against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane during a First Division game on December 29, 1990; Arsenal won 4-1 but Cole did not score.

The following season he was loaned to Fulham in the Third Division, where he scored 3 goals in 13 games, before being sold to Second Division Bristol City in a £500,000 deal - at the time he was the Ashton Gate club's most expensively signed player.

[edit] Newcastle United

Having proved himself as a competent young goalscorer with Bristol City, Cole was quickly one of the hottest prospects in England and his name was regularly linked with Premiership clubs throughout the 1992-93 season.

In February 1993, Division One leaders Newcastle United splashed out a then club record £1.75million for his services. He then scored 12 goals in as many league games to confirm Newcastle as Division One champions, although 25-goal David Kelly was the club's top scorer.

After Kelly was sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers, manager Kevin Keegan brought in Peter Beardsley as Cole's strike-partner for the 1993-94 Premiership campaign. The red-hot Cole scored 34 goals in 40 games during Newcastle's first Premiership season as they finished third and qualified for the UEFA Cup. Cole scored a total of 41 goals in all competitions - breaking the club's goalscoring record which had been set by Hughie Gallacher nearly 70 years earlier. The PFA voted 22-year-old Cole as Young Player of the Year for that season.

Cole then scored 9 Premiership goals in 18 games for Newcastle after the start of the 1994-95 season, and also scored a hat-trick against Royal Antwerp in the UEFA Cup.

[edit] Manchester United

On 10 January 1995, Cole was suddenly sold to Manchester United for a deal worth £7million - with £6million cash plus £1million-rated Keith Gillespie going in the opposite direction. He scored 12 goals in his first 18 Premiership games for United, including 5 in one game in the 9-0 rout of Ipswich Town, a Premiership record, and 2 vital goals in United's 3-2 victory away at Coventry City, but suffered two near misses at West Ham United F.C. on the final day of the season that would have kept the Premiership trophy at Old Trafford - it went to Blackburn Rovers instead.

A week later he was cup-tied for the FA Cup final which United lost to Everton. Some United fans believe that United could have won the final had Cole not been cup-tied after a third round appearance for Newcastle.

Cole was slated by even United's own fans throughout the 1995-96 season, although he did score in four successive games during the winter, including an important and spectacular opening goal in United's 2-0 defeat of title rivals Newcastle United on the 27th of December, and was in the first 11 for most first-team games. Some fans were even calling for 21-year-old Paul Scholes to replace Cole as Éric Cantona's regular strike-partner. But Cole still collected a Premiership title winners medal, scoring the second goal in United's 3-0 defeat of Middlesbrough on the final day of the season which won United the Premiership title, and played in their FA Cup final victory to become part of England's first ever side to win the double twice.

The arrival of Ole Gunnar Solskjær - and two broken legs suffered in a reserve game - restricted Cole's first-team chances in 1996-97, but he still played in 20 Premiership games (10 as a substitute) and qualified for another Premiership title medal. Before the season began, he had been offered to Blackburn Rovers as part-exchange in a £12,000,000 deal which would have brought Alan Shearer to Old Trafford. But Shearer opted for Newcastle instead.

Cole was the joint top goalscorer in the Premiership during the 1997-98 season with 18 goals, but United finished trophyless for only the second time in 9 seasons and some fans were still slating him for not converting his goal-scoring chances enough times, despite his goals-per-game and chances-per-goal ratios, which were actually superior to many of the players deemed better than him. Cole also scored his first European hat-trick for the club in an away match at Feyenoord. Cole ended the season runner up in the PFA Player of the Year award to Arsenal's Dennis Bergkamp. But despite this and being the leading goalscorer in all competitions that season with 25, Cole was omitted from the England World Cup squad by then-manager Glenn Hoddle.

Cole faced competition from Dwight Yorke, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær during the 1998-99 season but still played a key role in their unique treble of the Premiership title, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League. Cole scored the winning goal in United's final Premiership game of the season against Tottenham Hotspur, a result which meant United finished 1 point ahead of rivals Arsenal to win the Premiership title. He also scored United's third and winning goal in their Champions League semi-final 2nd leg against Juventus, sealing their place in the final for the first time in over 30 years. His striking partnership with Yorke proved to be crucial to United's success that season as the pair contributed 53 goals between them and struck up an almost telepathic understanding on the pitch, most notably in a Champions League match away against Barcelona, the match ending 3-3 with Yorke scoring 2 and Cole scoring a memorable goal after linking up with Yorke. Also in this season Cole scored his 100th Premiership goal in a top of the table clash against Arsenal at Old Trafford on the 17th of February. The match ended 1-1.

He was United's top scorer again in 1999-00 with 19 goals in 28 Premiership games. He collected his fourth Premiership title medal in five seasons, and scored over 20 goals in all competitions for the third successive season. Cole scored many vital goals for United including the only goal of the game in their top of the table clash against their closest rivals Leeds United. He also joined an elite group during this season by scoring his 100th goal for the club in a 2-2 draw against Wimbledon. Injury just prior to the Euro 2000 Championship led to Cole missing out on another major competition for his country.

Another title followed in 2000-01 when, despite suffering from an injury that restricted his appearances, Cole scored 13 goals in all competitions, including 4 in the European Cup allowing him at the time to become Manchester United's record goal scorer in the competition.

He played made one last appearance for Manchester United on 13th March 2007, coming on at half time for a friendly game between Manchester United and European XI in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the European Community and 50 years of Manchester United in the European Cup.

[edit] Blackburn Rovers

The arrival of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Juan Sebastián Verón counted against Cole's first-team chances in the 2001-02 season, and just before the end of 2001 he was sold to Blackburn Rovers for £7million. Within two months of arriving he had collected a League Cup winners medal, scoring the winning goal for Blackburn in the final against Tottenham Hotspur who were managed by the former England manager and open critic of Cole, Glenn Hoddle. This victory meant that, in the space of seven seasons, Cole had won all three domestic trophies plus a European trophy. Cole ended the season with a total of 18 goals in all competitions, 5 for Manchester United and 13 for Blackburn.

There were no trophies the following season but he was still able to help Blackburn achieve automatic UEFA Cup qualification, being helped by his old United strike-partner Dwight Yorke who had joined the club in July 2002.

Cole had a frustrating season in 2003-04 as Rovers slid into the bottom half of the Premiership when they had been expected to feature in the race for European qualification (by their fans and the media).

[edit] Fulham

13 years after spending three months on loan at Fulham, Cole returned to Craven Cottage for the 2004-05 season and was the club's top scorer after joining them on a one-year contract. Despite this successful period at Fulham he decided to leave the club after only one season. Cole claimed that it was because he wanted his family to return to the north west.

[edit] Manchester City

Cole signed for Manchester City at the beginning of the 2005-06 season. His arrival was a controversial one, with some City fans struggling to take to a player who had been so successful with their rivals but a good start to his career at Eastlands won over most doubters. Stuart Pearce's side's spent most of the season in the top half of the table but Cole's season-ending injury in March coincided with a slump in form that resulted in a lower placed finish than expected.

[edit] Portsmouth

Despite signing a new contract with Manchester City only months earlier^[2] and leaving Fulham in 2005 to return to the north, Cole signed for Portsmouth on transfer deadline day (31 August 2006) for a fee of around £500,000 with that rising to £1m depending on appearances. Cole stated that: It's an opportunity for me to play for another two years and I hope to do my best for Portsmouth, score a few goals and get the club into the top 10 which is what they're aiming to do this season. The Portsmouth fans are electric and I know Jamo (David James), I know Sol (Sol Campbell) and I've played with David Thompson as well, which is always important when you come to a new club because you can fit in straightaway.^[3] He scored his first league goal for his new club in the 2-0 win at home to West Ham on 14 October 2006.^[4]

On March 21, 2007, Cole signed on loan for Birmingham City of the Championship until the end of the season.^[5]

[edit] England

Despite first being capped for England in 1995, he had earned only 15 caps by the time he announced his retirement from international football after failing to be selected for the 2002 FIFA World Cup squad. He scored only one goal for England, in a World Cup qualifying match against Albania in March 2001.

[edit] Honours

• League Championship (1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001)
• FA Cup (1996, 1999)
• European Cup (1999)
• Intercontinental Cup (1999)
• Charity Shield (1996, 1997)
• League Cup (2002)
• Division One Championship (1993)
• PFA Young Player of the Year (1994)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• BBC profile
• Andy Cole career stats at Soccerbase

Preceded by Ryan Giggs	PFA Young Player of the Year 1994	Succeeded by Robbie Fowler
Preceded by Teddy Sheringham	Premier League top scorer 1993-94	Succeeded by Alan Shearer

Birmingham City F.C. - Current Squad
1 Taylor | 2 Kelly | 3 Sadler | 4 Taylor | 6 Clemence | 7 Larsson | 8 Cole | 9 Forssell | 10 Jerome | 11 Gray | 12 Nafti | 13 Doyle | 14 Campbell | 15 Kilkenny | 16 Tébily | 17 Danns | 19 Vine | 21 N'Gotty | 22 Johnson | 23 Birley | 24 Jaïdi | 25 Aluko | 26 Muamba | 27 Bendtner | 28 McSheffrey | 29 Legzdins | 31 Pearce | Manager: Bruce