5'11"  11st.12lb.
b. Nottingham 15 October 1971
 

Debut  1 January 2002 (30y 78d) Final Game 15 May 2004 (32y 212d)
First Goal 8 January 2002 Final Goal 15 May 2004
CAREER: Douglas Rd Primary Sc;Sandfield Sec Mod;Parkhead Academicals;Emkats;Arsenal Oct'89 (app Jul'88)[+1]; Fulham Sep'91 (loan)[13-3];Bristol City Mar'92 (£500,000)[41-20];Newcastle United Mar'93 (£1,750,000)[69+1-55]; Manchester United Jan'95 (£6,250,000 + Gillespie)[161+34-93];Blackburn Rovers Dec'01 (£8,000,000);Fulham Jul'04 (free)[29+2-12];Manchester City Jul'05 (free)[20+2-9];Portsmouth Aug’06-Aug’07 (£500,000)[5+13-3]; Birmingham City Mar’07 (loan)[5-1];Sunderland Aug’07 (free)[3+4];Burnley Jan’08 (loan)[8+5-6];Nottingham Forest Jul’08-Oct’08 (free)[5+5].
INTERNATIONALS   England 8 + 6 apps 1 gl
’95 v Uru(s).’97v Ita(s).’99 v Fra(s),Pol(s).’00 v Sco(s),Arg(s).’01 v Fra,Ger,Fin,Spa,Fin,Alb 1gl.’02 v Gre(s).
HONOURS PL Ch (Manchester United) ’96,’97,’98,’00,’01.FAC win (Manchester United) ’96,’99.FLC win (Blackburn Rovers) ’02.1 Div Ch (Newcastle United) ’93.
SQUAD NUMBER  9 Dec’01.
 

PL                74  + 9 apps     27 gls   - 9 wdn                                                   10 ns
FAC               5 apps              3 gls
FLC                8 apps              7 gls    - 2 wdn     
UEFA             2 +  2 apps                  - 1 wdn                                                      2 ns
Total           89 + 11apps      37 gls  -12 wdn  + 409m -146m  et 30m        12 ns  (3 gls as sub)
Penalty record (SO)  T 1 Sv 1
Sent off  2
Strike rate 224 mins

Autobiography  Andy Cole The Autobiography  Manchester United Books 1999 244 pages
ISBN-10  0233997377

The son of Jamaican immigrants who came to Nottingham where his father worked in the mines, Cole's precocious footballing talent enabled him to escape a hard future in a deprived area. Chosen for training at the FA School of Excellence he opted to join Arsenal but found his chances limited and was eventually offloaded to Bristol City. Here he developed into a goalscorer but it was at Newcastle that he took this art to new heights, having a strike rate that can seldom have been bettered. In less than two years his transfer value quadrupled and even Newcastle were powerless to resist the spending power of Manchester United. At Old Trafford Cole won Championship, FA Cup and European Cup medals, scored prolifically and when teamed with Dwight Yorke formed a mobile, instinctive partnership that defences found difficult to handle. Unperturbed by lack of success with England he lost his United place when Van Nistelrooy was acquired and anxious to play regularly joined the Rovers even though they were fighting relegation. Within two months he had completed a full set of medals, scoring the winning goal in the League Cup final, and then helped the club avoid relegation by scoring regularly. Re-teamed with Yorke at Ewood their partnership was disappointing and relations with Graeme Souness grew so acrimonious that Cole reported him to the PFA. Inevitably his departure followed, the club allowing him to leave on a free transfer in order that they could save on his wages, which had been the highest ever paid to a Blackburn player. At Fulham  he settled in comfortably, although his best days were clearly behind him, and this was only emphasized by a series of moves. When acting as ambassador for Manchester United overseas he caught a viral infection that affected his kidneys and his life was only saved by the donation of a kidney by his nephew.