[Archived] Andy Cole

[Bobby G]

in todays climate not many teams are prepared to pay 30,000 pounds for a player,especially if they arent in the market for his position,so im not surprised not many teams wanted him and secondly its not like we publisized his sale or anything,its been very down-low.

well rivaldo has only been really wanted by bolton and a qatari club,but that doesnt mean he isnt any better than that.

[Blue and White]

Cole was our best player last season, it's disappointing to see him go. We don't have a big name forward anymore. Jansen/Gally/Dickov may or may not do well, but somehow I'll doubt they'll get alot of goals. So hopefully Stead will continue his goal-spree from last season, or else we're in trouble upfront.

Still, I thought Cole did well at Rovers, I wish him the best of luck at Fulham (not against us though)

[FourLaneBlue]

1864 - Even though I read the LET every night (the bits about Rovers anyway) I have not seen that published. There was a slight reference to Cole wanting out the other day but that was all.

As for Cole not being paid by the club...nah, can't see it. If his agent knew his stuff he'd have demanded that Cole at least didn't lose out on the deal. So Rovers pay him that (which he would have received anyway in twelve months) yet it allows them to save the money from his wages. It doesn't matter if he was a millionaire, who throws away money they don't need to? If Rovers didn't pay him I'd be utterly amazed. It just doesn't make sense otherwise. They still, however, save a fortune by not paying his wages.

Not being able to work with Souness doesn't mean the club must do as he says or he is a superstar or whatever. It just means he hates his guts! Many people have left a job before because they hate their boss. That means they all think they are superstars and bigger than the company if we all go along those lines!

Anyway we can discuss this to death and still not know, although most likely all will come out in time.

Edited July 17, 2004 by FourLaneBlue

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

''Dont get me wrong I would love Cole to stay at Rovers but he has dissed the name of BRFC not just with Souness but with the whole damned set up.''

Cole has NEVER 'dissed' the name of BRFC or the set up, thats bull Roverite to be honest.

[Ossydave]

''Dont get me wrong I would love Cole to stay at Rovers but he has dissed the name of BRFC not just with Souness but with the whole damned set up.''

Cole has NEVER 'dissed' the name of BRFC or the set up, thats bull Roverite to be honest.

He did actually. He was very critical of the training setup, and rightly so at first.

[LDRover]

Perhaps because the story he was telling was one that NOBODY in their right mind wanted to hear LD.

Agreed SG.

I do remember commenting sometime ago that if the 2 parties could not work together it was a fight the manager had to win or his position would be untenable.

Looks like he won.

[waggy]

just read the 1st 5 pages off this thread,it makes very good reading,how andy cole as gone from king cole,to arse hole in 7 days,who will be buying the people tomorrow.

personally i do not like cole,as a player or his attitude but in 7 days this guy has suffered more damming statements,than fred west.

[herbergeehh]

Good work Abbey, he's on the right track now !

[1864roverite]

i think that he has in the way he has conducted himself.

ffs he is on a reported 60k a week and all he can do is moan moan and flooping sulk and stomp like a little girl.

He was a great striker and he was good for BRFC his ending has been brought abut by his own poor attitude. I am not blaming him 100% and GS must answer his own actions.

we will all beg to disagree but imo I think that if he really wanted to be a Rovers player then he would have let bygones be bygones. That would be the real attitude of a real man not the ones by cole which just proves he is a sulking soab.

As for a payoff, well in all my time I have yet to ever see a professional player being paid the full amount if he leaves a club, I agree a severance package will have been put in place but not anywhere near the size of his reported contract.

As for the LET I dont read it page to page I only read the internet version and it did state that Cole had told the club he couldnt play for the manager, it was also widely reported in the Independant. Look on the news now archive and I am sure it will appear.

[Manchester Blue]

I'm surprised I haven't read a full and unreserved apology to 'master of the football scoop' Alan Nixon in amongst all the Cole talk after some of the early comments on this thread!

He may get a bad press amongst members of the board, and probably rightly so in some cases, but the last 2 stories I've heard attributed to him (Duff and Cole sale) both turned out to be true.

His last story before the Cole one was that we have a £10million transfer kitty this summer. When that one comes true I will hold my hand up.

[colin]

Cole's gone then. Fair enough. Players come and go through every club for various reasons, some good, some bad.

Some are waste of money, others are worth their weight in gold.

I think that it's quite sad in this instance that one single-minded manager has not been able to deal with one single-minded player, but there was only ever to be one winner.

Andy Cole has provided some brilliant and well-timed goals for us. He has also proved to be an irritating bugger at times.

Maybe, someday, if he does an autobiography which is above average, we may find what makes him tick.

Let's face it, he's not your "run of the mill" footballer. Let's not forget that he managed to successfully partner Sheringham at The Scum despite not talking to each other after a training ground spat. Now he's got the hump

with Souness and has gone.

I'd like to remember him more of a scorer of good goals rather than the lazy-arsed, hands-on-hips moaner that he often was.

Bye Andy, good luck and thanks for the memories.

[RevidgeBlue]

Doesn`t anyone think that Souey and JW will have lined someone else up to take Cole`s place?

Yes, Dickov.

[kingalan]

Paul Dickov was available for 150k and was wanted by half of the teams in the Premiership. Cole is available for free and yet the only club to come in for him is Fulham.

Don't understand it myself, but it tells you who a lot of managers would rather have in their squad.

[RevidgeBlue]

Did I miss the "Cole must go" thread at the end of last season? Oh, there wasn't one. I wonder why?

There wasn't one.

There was however a "player of the year" poll in which Cole came a very narrow 2nd behind Steadinho.

But now Souey has offloaded Cole so as usual in the eyes of most*

Cole was never any good anyway.

*Tris being an honourable exception.

[Oklahoma]

Bye, Andy!!

Just hope Dwight goes too!!

It would be great for finances.

[Philly Rover ®]

Interesting that so many "Cole is crap and we're well rid" opinions have suddenly appeared from nowhere - and such passionately held views as well! These opinions must have been festering for a very long time, given that there has been no new news about Cole's ability since the end of the season.

Did I miss the "Cole must go" thread at the end of last season? Oh, there wasn't one. I wonder why?

A very fair point, Exiled, and I think that a lot of Rovers supporters have maintained complete (and some might argue almost blind) faith in Souness throughout the latter part of his tenure. I'll readily admit that I fall in that camp. Let me, however, explain why I think you've seen such a shift in opinion.

As I said before, I am still tentatively in the "Cole should stay" camp--the negatives involved with Cole leaving are obvious enough, as it seems to leave our strikeforce woefully thin. As time has worn on, however, I've begun to seen some of the reasons (positives, if you will) in Cole's imminent departure.

First off, it's become painfully obvious in recent days that the relationship between Souness and Cole has become completely untenable... I know the concept of "team morale" gets overhyped at times, but the fact is that keeping a player around who clearly has beef with the manager is detrimental to the rest of the squad. Cole was (allegedly) not going to be first choice, and while I think that he should certainy have been picked over Dickov, it does appear that instead of choosing to fight for and win a first team place, he decided to sulk and moan about it. It seems to me that for all his footballing skills, Cole possesses absolutely no intangibles--whereas Dickov, for all his technical shortcomings, possesses the latter in abundance.

Perhaps the most obvious impact of Cole's departure is the financial aspect. Reports of Cole's wages have steadily been increasing, and while we can't really know for sure how much he's on a week, it's becoming clear that he is seeing out the end of an absolutely juggernaut contract. Assuming that he's on £40,000 a week--and that's probably a low estimate given recent reports in the press--he would have earned £2 million in wages had he seen out his contract. If FourLaneBlue is right (and what he's saying makes sense), Rovers will still have to fork out £1 million to cover the loyalty clause, but £2 million saved on a player who has a terrible relationship with the manager is not such a bad thing.

All that being said, I will still be upset about Cole's departure unless Rovers use the money saved to substantially improve the squad. I have my doubts about the club bringing in a striker to replace the departing Cole, and I think this is potentially a big mistake. However, if the £2 million saved is beneficially reinvested in the team--ideally, a loan move for Nicky Butt (after offloading Flitcroft) or the purchase of a striker--then I will have at least understood the reasons behind Cole's departure.

Let's remember that this is a big gamble on Souness' part--if the Stead/Dickov/Gally/Jansen/Yorke five-headed monster can produce the goods up front, the fiery Scot comes through this episode looking okay. If, however, his revamped strikeforce lets him down, his job is most certainly on the line.

I hope that sorts things out a bit, Exiled... I can't speak for everyone else, but I know that at least for me, there are more complicated reasons behind my shift in opinion than there first appear to be.

[waggy]

Paul Dickov was available for 150k and was wanted by half of the teams in the Premiership. Cole is available for free and yet the only club to come in for him is Fulham.

Don't understand it myself, but it tells you who a lot of managers would rather have in their squad.

the answer is simple,one was on 12k at leicester and the other is on 40-60k at blackburn,you just do not understand the basics.

SHOP IN THE BARGIAN BASEMENT,AND BASEMENT IS WERE YOU END UP

[broadsword]

Doesn`t  anyone think that Souey and JW will have lined someone else up to take Cole`s place?

Yes, Dickov.

How can you say that for sure when there are no quotes to support it?

[dave birch]

Waggy, is that why we bought Stead?

At the price we got him, it looks like a bargain, dosen't it?

All relative isn't it?

[waggy]

your another who has forgot,stead was a after thought after that prolific yank mcbride went to foolham

[broadsword]

How can he be an after-thought if we'd been looking at him for a year?

OK, so we didn't get McBride and ended up with Stead, but possibly we would've gone for him anyway?

None of which detracts from Dave's original point that if you spend peanuts on a player, you don't necessarily get a monkey.

[waggy]

in this day and age 1million ain't peanut's,but 150k maybe,we had been loking at stead for a year

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Did I miss the "Cole must go" thread at the end of last season? Oh, there wasn't one. I wonder why?

There wasn't one.

There was however a "player of the year" poll in which Cole came a very narrow 2nd behind Steadinho.

But now Souey has offloaded Cole so as usual in the eyes of most*

Cole was never any good anyway.

*Tris being an honourable exception.

The slating he's receiving from some quaters is ironic but yet so predictable isn't it Rev.

Its just so sad that a player who I believe still wanted to play for the club and was still more than capable of producing the good's has literally been forced to walk away because the stubborn manager had no plans to play him this season...looks like the Brum game was his last game in Souness's eyes.

Nobody comes out of this with any credit to be honest,the club just ends up looking like Billy Smarts f'kin circus...the whole damn situation is ridiculous!

Many are rightly worried as to whether the money saved will be reinvested into the team or is it simply a case of Rovers saving money due to financial restriants?..we ALL

wait with baited breath and a sweaty brow..........................

[roversWASmylife]

Did I miss the "Cole must go" thread at the end of last season? Oh, there wasn't one. I wonder why?

There wasn't one.

There was however a "player of the year" poll in which Cole came a very narrow 2nd behind Steadinho.

But now Souey has offloaded Cole so as usual in the eyes of most*

Cole was never any good anyway.

*Tris being an honourable exception.

The slating he's receiving from some quaters is ironic but yet so predictable isn't it Rev.

Its just so sad that a player who I believe still wanted to play for the club and was still more than capable of producing the good's has literally been forced to walk away because the stubborn manager had no plans to play him this season...looks like the Brum game was his last game in Souness's eyes.

Nobody comes out of this with any credit to be honest,the club just ends up looking like Billy Smarts f'kin circus...the whole damn situation is ridiculous!

Many are rightly worried as to whether the money saved will be reinvested into the team or is it simply a case of Rovers saving money due to financial restriants?..we ALL

wait with baited breath and a sweaty brow..........................

Well said.

I agree with everything you said there.

I also believe that from the interview that Cole have after the Birmingham game he wanted to stay at the club and put his differences away from Souness.

In my opinion I think a full season with Cole and Stead up front is far more exciting and probably more beneficial for Stead, than Stead being partnered up front with Dickov unless we buy a striker before the season.

Cole was forced out in my opinion simply because he didn’t agree with Souness. I’m annoyed with Souness again; all he’s done is thrown out a quality, proven goal scorer out of the club. Yet he isn’t prepared to get rid of others like Yorke, who are lazy and are just here for the money.

How many more players is Souness going to dis-like?

I’ve said it before, there’s something clearly not right at the club, for so many players to fall out with Souness since he has been the manager at the club, it says something about Souness now, not the players who have left, in my opinion.

[Presty On Tour]

bye bye hands on hips!!! just to say i never rated you but i loved yr best moment for us when you banged the winner against spurs in cardiff for us to win the cup.

for wot its worth thanks for that memory and wot an imense day it was.