No ordinary Joe
By Chris Windle
He was the most hyped youngster of a generation. Now in this exclusive interview Joe Cole explains why he believes he’s finally living up to his billing
It’s not surprising Joe Cole has taken a few years to live up to expectation because, for him, expectations have always been stiflingly high. As a Romford schoolboy he was hailed as “the next Paul Gascoigne” and the saviour of English football. His first manager Harry Redknapp described him as “undoubtedly the most talented player I have seen or will ever see” before fighting off Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea to sign him as an 11-year-old for West Ham.
But it’s only recently that the flashes of brilliance, which have beguiled fans and infuriated managers in equal measure, have evolved into consistently match-winning performances. At 26, Cole is now Chelsea’s creative fulcrum, whose bustling runs and impish trickery are vital to a side awash with physical strength but short on spark. And for England he’s at long last solved the left-sided midfield problem – supporters no longer need wince as Andy Sinton, Steve Guppy, Trevor Sinclair and their ilk attempt to fill the void.
Cole, speaking at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground in relaxed mood after scoring the winner against Everton in the Carling Cup semi-final, agrees that he’s now playing at his peak. “I’m really enjoying my football at the moment and think I’ve got better as a player the older I’ve got,” he says. “I’ve been through some difficult times but I’ve taken confidence from them.”
He wasn’t always so contented, and the moniker “prodigy” often appeared to weigh » heavily on Cole’s young shoulders. By the time he made his West Ham debut in an FA Cup tie with Swansea on 2 January 1999 aged 17, Hammers fans were expecting nothing short of footballing perfection. “People were talking about me and they hadn’t really seen me play”, says Cole. “They expected me to be world class, but I hadn’t learned the game. A lot was expected too soon.”
It wasn’t until the 2000/01 season that Cole began to command a regular place in the West Ham team but in 2002/03 he was unable to prevent the east Londoners’ relegation from the Premier League.
A £6.6 million move to Claudio Ranieri’s Chelsea in the summer of 2003 ensured Cole remained in the top flight but he found himself a peripheral figure. Things didn’t improve when Jose Mourinho arrived in 2004 as Cole struggled to convince his new boss of his worth.
Successive England managers were equally dubious, and though Cole made his international debut in May 2001 he managed only a single substitute appearance at the 2002 World Cup and did not make it off the bench at Euro 2004.
The turning point of Cole’s career came in January 2005. He was substituted despite scoring Chelsea’s winner against Liverpool and Mourinho later described him as a “player with two faces”. The “beautiful” face, the one blessed with skill and vision, was to Mourinho’s liking but he couldn’t warm to Cole’s ugly side – his lackadaisical approach to defending.
Highly paid footballers don’t take too well to public dressing downs – imagine how his Chelsea namesake Ashley would have reacted? He’d probably have demanded a pay rise. But Joe took it on the chin: “It hurt when people said I was showing off. But I’ve always taken criticism well and learnt from it.”
It clearly did the trick because Cole’s form has been on an upward curve ever since. Not only is he working harder than ever on and off the pitch, claiming a Beckham-like tendency to “practice everything over and over again”, he’s added goals to his game, when earlier in his career an end product was something he’d find in Tesco rather than on the football pitch.
The secret behind his recent success is, he says, combining the tricks with the tracking back. “There is more to my game than just fancy flicks and stuff. I am not afraid to get stuck in, to tackle and get back in defence.”
All of which means Cole is, at last, enjoying life at Stamford Bridge and despite the managerial upheavals, which saw Mourinho replaced by Avram Grant in September last year, his talents are blossoming. “It’s been amazing so far,” he says. “Sometimes I wish I could stop the clock now and just play for Chelsea forever.”
For England, Cole is now a key component of the side. But he’s at a loss to explain why the Steve McClaren era failed so dramatically. “It wasn’t a lack of effort or anything,” he says. “The competition is now more intense because there are more ‘better teams’ and a much smaller difference in fitness levels. But I think we’ve got some of the best players in the world and can win the big tournaments.”
If England do find success under new boss Fabio Capello then Cole is likely to be at the heart of it. It seems that the boy prodigy is finally beginning to live up to the hype.