WHEN Alan Shearer announced he was retiring from international football after Euro 2000 England fans wondered what they would do without him. He was after all captain of the team and the most prolific striker of his generation.

When Andy, sorry Andrew, Cole announced his retirement from the international game in 2002 it raised a chuckle from many England supporters. Cole had not been selected for the 2002 World Cup and had not been involved with the England team for some time. Indeed, when he had been involved perhaps the most damning thing you could say about him is that his scoring record for the national team is worse than Emile Heskey’s - played 15, scored one.

Far from Cole announcing his own retirement from the international game, Sven-Goran Eriksson had effectively ended his England career sometime earlier. Cole’s announcement had the feeling of a jilted lover saying, “Well you can’t dump me, because I am dumping you!”

Cole’s England career was in stark contrast to his club achievements where he is second only to Shearer in the Premiership scoring charts, and he won every major club honour in the game (League, FA Cup, League Cup and Champions League), as well as being named PFA Young Player of the Year in 1994.

All this from the man Glenn Hoddle said needed five chances to score a goal. How sweet it must have been for Cole to score the winner in the 2002 League Cup final against Hoddle’s Tottenham side. Ah well, it certainly wasn’t the only time Hoddle came out with something he would later regret.



Despite spells at Arsenal, Bristol City, Fulham, Blackburn, Manchester City, Portsmouth, Birmingham and now Sunderland, Cole’s best years were at Newcastle, where he cemented his place as a top class Premiership striker, and Manchester United, where he formed the most lethal strike partnership of the decade with Dwight Yorke.

It was on this day in 1999 that Cole made Newcastle rue the day they sold him when he scored four, and set up the fifth in United’s 5-1 demolition of the Magpies at old Trafford.

Newcastle were in disarray after the sacking of Ruud Gullit, and caretaker manager Steve Clarke was not helped when Nic ‘The Greek’ Dabizas got himself sent off for arguing with the referee.

United meanwhile were basking in the glow of the unprecedented treble they had achieved the previous season, and with Cole and Yorke up front, were on their way to another league title.

Here’s a little compilation of Cole’s scoring exploits, and come back tomorrow to find out who was going from hero to zero on Merseyside. And no, it’s not Boris Johnson.

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