Everything about Ashley Cole totally explained
Ashley Cole (born
20 December 1980,
Stepney,
London) is an
English footballer of
Barbadian descent. Cole plays
left back for
Chelsea and for the
England national team.
Club career
Arsenal
He started his career at his local club
Arsenal as a teenager. He signed as a professional on
25 February 2000. He had made his debut for the first team as a striker on
30 November 1999 against
Middlesbrough at the age of 18, his Premier League debut for Arsenal came on
14 May 2000 against
Newcastle. Before he fully broke into the Arsenal side, he spent part of the
1999–2000 season on loan at
Crystal Palace, where he played 14 league matches and scored one goal, a long-range half-volley against
Blackburn Rovers. After an injury to
Sylvinho, Arsenal's established
Brazilian left-back, in autumn 2000, Cole came on as his replacement, and remained first-choice even after Sylvinho's recovery.
With Arsenal, he won the
Premier League twice (in 2002 and 2004), and the
FA Cup three times (in 2002, 2003 and 2005). Although injured for much of the
2005–06 season, he recovered in time to play in Arsenal's
UEFA Champions League Final defeat to
Barcelona at the end of the season. In total he made 228 first-team appearances for Arsenal, scoring 9 goals.
Transfer saga
In 2005, Cole made inappropriate contact with league rivals
Chelsea over a possible move, without alerting Arsenal to the fact, in a case of "
tapping-up". Found guilty, he was fined £100,000 by the Premier League on
2 June 2005 for a meeting in a hotel in January 2005 between himself, the Chelsea manager
José Mourinho, Chelsea chief executive,
Peter Kenyon, and his agent
Jonathan Barnett. An appeal in August 2005 didn't reject the guilty verdict, but his fine was reduced to £75,000. Chelsea were also fined £300,000 and Mourinho was fined £200,000, reduced on appeal in August 2005 to £75,000. Barnett's license was suspended for 18 months and he was also fined £100,000.
Cole signed a one year extension to his contract on
18 July 2005, but a year later departed from the club in acrimonious circumstances. On
15 July 2006, Cole launched a verbal attack on Arsenal; in his
autobiography, quoted in
The Sun, Cole claimed that the Arsenal board had treated him as a "scapegoat" and that they'd "fed him to the sharks" over the tapping up affair. Cole was deliberately left out of Arsenal's
2006–07 team photograph, refuelling press speculation that he'd become a Chelsea player.
On
28 July, Arsenal vice-chairman
David Dein had confirmed that Arsenal and Chelsea had been in "civil talks" about the player. Chelsea insisted they wouldn't raise their £16million bid for the left back, but Arsenal held out for at a higher valuation of £25million. Negotiations continued throughout August and looked to be heading for deadlock, but eventually Cole signed for Chelsea on
August 31 for a fee of £5million, with
William Gallas also going the other way. The deal was closed after the transfer window had officially ended, and wasn't confirmed until an hour and a half after the deadline had passed.
Cole was vilified by Arsenal fans following his decision to leave the club, with many alleging that he'd moved to Chelsea all for the sake of a higher wage. This led to some fans giving him the nickname "Cashley Cole".
Chelsea
Cole was given the number 3 shirt at Chelsea, and made his first appearance for the club as a substitute for
Wayne Bridge in their 2–1 win over
Charlton Athletic on
9 September. He also issued a public statement saying he forgave Arsenal for how he felt he was treated during his time there. However, he wasn't forgiven by Arsenal's fans, as they dubbed him "Cashley" and waved fake £20 notes with his face when Chelsea met Arsenal at
Stamford Bridge on
12 December.
On
31 January,
2007, Cole suffered a serious knee injury in the 3–0 victory over
Blackburn Rovers in a Premier League game at
Stamford Bridge, although after a scan it was revealed to be not as bad as first thought, with Chelsea optimistic that he'd return before the end of the 2006–07 season. Cole did indeed make a return at the end of the season, playing in the last twelve minutes of the
2007 FA Cup Final at the new Wembley Stadium against
Manchester United. Chelsea emerged triumphant, 1-0 after extra-time with a goal scored by
Didier Drogba, to win the 2007 FA Cup.
In 2007-2008, Cole was reportedly one of the players upset when
Jose Mourinho was relieved of his position as Chelsea manager. He then went on to suffer a dip in form, thought to be caused by his marital problems, and eventually was dropped in favour of Wayne Bridge for the 2008
League Cup final, which Chelsea lost 2-1 to
Spurs. However, Cole scored his first Chelsea goal in Chelsea's very next game, on
March 1,
2008, the fourth goal in a 4-0 away victory against
West Ham. On
19 March,
2008, Cole was involved in a controversial incident in a Premier League game against
Tottenham at
White Hart Lane where he committed a dangerous high tackle on Tottenham's
Alan Hutton. Although it's a widely held view that Cole should have received a straight red card, referee
Mike Riley gave Cole a yellow card. Moreover, Cole caused even more disgust as he turned his back on the referee before receiving the card, sparking debates within the sports media over the game's rules on dissent towards officials.
International career
Cole has played for
England at youth and senior levels. He was capped for the England U-20 team at the 1999
FIFA World Youth Championship alongside
Stuart Taylor,
Peter Crouch,
Andy Johnson and
Matthew Etherington. However, the team finished bottom of their group, suffering three defeats without scoring any goals. He also made four appearances for
England under-21s, scoring once.
Cole made his senior England début against
Albania, on
March 28,
2001. He played for England at the
2002 FIFA World Cup and
Euro 2004, and was named as one of four England players in the all-star squad for the latter tournament. Cole was also an ever-present for England in the
2006 FIFA World Cup; in their second round match against
Ecuador he made a crucial block, deflecting
Carlos Tenorio's shot onto the crossbar. The match ended with England winning 1–0, but England were knocked out on
penalties by
Portugal in the quarter-finals. As of
September 12,
2007, he's 60
caps for England, though he's never scored an international goal.
Personal life
Since
15 July 2006, he's been married to
Girls Aloud singer
Cheryl Tweedy. They had been together since
September 2004.
While investigating his autobiography, Cole discovered he's a distant cousin of the pop star
Mariah Carey.
Cole released an autobiography in 2006,
My Defence, which sold only 4,000 copies in the first six months of release. Cole's book was subject to criticism from his former team-mate
Jens Lehmann; at the same time, Arsenal fans launched a campaign on the
world wide web encouraging people to purchase a book by former Arsenal player
Perry Groves, in an attempt to outsell Cole's.
Allegations
In 2006, Cole sued the
News of the World and
The Sun newspapers for
libel after they printed reports of a Premiership footballer and a music
DJ engaged in a "
homosexual orgy", even though Cole wasn't specifically named in any of the stories; however, a pixellated photograph of Cole with his likeness removed was printed. Both the
News of the World and
The Sun later retracted the allegations after legal pressure and paid an undisclosed amount of damages to Cole.
On Friday
25 January 2008 following an investigation by The Sun, various tabloid newspapers led with headlines alleging that Cole had cheated on his wife with Aimee Walton whilst on a night out after a match on
8 December 2007. It is also claimed Ashley Cole has had a string of affairs since marrying Cheryl Cole. Both claims are yet to be refuted by Cole.
Career stats
» As of 9 April 2008
Honours
Arsenal
FA Premier League Winner: 2001/02, 2003/04
FA Cup Winner: 2002, 2003, 2005
FA Community Shield: 2002
UEFA Champions League Runner Up: 2006
Chelsea
FA Cup Winner: 2007
UEFA Champions League Runner Up: 2008
Further Information
Get more info on 'Ashley Cole'.
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