Ashley Cole finally receiving the respect he deserves.
One of the unexpected delights of covering the England Under-21s here in Slovakia was when the assistant coach, Ashley Cole, emerged from the dressing-room to talk. During his glittering playing career, and 107 caps, Cole became increasingly distanced from those who chronicled his fortunes. Cole felt he was unfairly criticised for the manner of his move from Arsenal to Chelsea, and resented the front pages’ fixation with his private life. He certainly didn’t enjoy – and at times didn’t tolerate - the paparazzi attention.
So he didn’t speak to us for more than a decade. A peace meeting was proposed by Chelsea in a Cobham café in 2011 but that fell through on the day. We all awoke to “GUN HORROR” headlines about an intern accidentally being shot with an air rifle at the training ground. The intern was only grazed but it was a serious matter and Cole was roundly criticised. His vow of silence to the media intensified.
And that was a source of great frustration for those of us who covered all his 107 internationals, and admired how he accepted the challenge of keeping pace with Cristiano Ronaldo at Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup. He was England’s most consistent performer of the so-called Golden Generation. His footballing achievements for clubs and country deserved celebrating. But the silence continued.
I’d helped with Cole’s media training when he did his Pro Licence at St George’s Park, and he’d been polite and attentive. We set aspiring managers mock press conference scenarios and the one we gave Cole involved one of his players being tapped up by Chelsea. He laughed at that. Some thaw in the cold war became detectable.
It continued out here. There is far less of a media scrum at Under-21 competitions. Cole’s work coaching Tino Livramento was widely praised after the Newcastle full-back excelled in England’s first game out here, the 3-1 win over Czechia. “Legendary left-back helps the next generation” was now the narrative. After being named player of the match, Livramento spoke warmly of Cole’s coaching. So a message was put through to the England dressing-room asking whether Cole fancied saying a few words about Livramento.