21 Dec 2014

'A bad fit': £5m-a-year flop admits he signed for LFC 'at the wrong time'

When Joe Cole arrived at Anfield, he was heralded by many as the apparent missing link in Liverpool's formation. According to Roy Hodgson, senior players like Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher had endorsed the signing, and were excited about what he could bring to the team. Well, the optimism was laughably misplaced, though, as things just didn't work out, and in an interview this week, Cole has once again reiterated that he made an error signing for the club.

Back in 2012, Cole freely admitted that joining the Reds was a mistake. He told the BBC:

"If I could go back and change things, I probably wouldn't have signed for Liverpool. I don't mean that in a nasty way; it just didn't work. I came in at the wrong time; wrong style of manager; the team was low on confidence; the club was low"

Speaking to the Daily Star on Thursday, Cole echoed those thoughts once again:

"Liverpool was a bad fit for both sides to be truthful. You sign for a club and the owners who signed you leave. It was the right club at the wrong time.”

The gross hyperbole over Cole's signing was laughable. Apparently, he was just the player Liverpool needed to appease the likes of Gerrard and Torres; an experienced 'world class' (!) player who would exponentially improve the club's attack. Gerrard even compared him to Lionel Messi:

"Messi can do some amazing things, but anything he can do Joe can do as well, if not better. I really fancy Joe for the [player of the year] award this season"

Ever the fantasist, Gerrard's comment here is almost as far removed from reality as Sean Dundee's contention that he was 'as fast as Michael Owen'.

Cole also enraged LFC fans when he later admitted that he felt 'no connection' with Liverpool, and maligned the club's status as one of the biggest teams in the country. He told ESPN:

"When I joined, the guy interviewing me said 'you've joined the biggest club in the country'. I just said 'yeah, if you put it like that, I suppose you're right. I didn't want to upset anyone so I just went along with it. But obviously they're not the biggest club in the country any more"

Cole's crass comments angered Liverpool legend John Aldridge, who accusing Cole of throwing a 'custard pie in the face of every Liverpool FC fan' with his 'disgraceful comments'. He told the Liverpool Echo:

"Liverpool fans always supported him, and ignored the fact he was pocketing £5m per year and that he was out injured with a twisted sock most weeks. We stuck up for him, so for him to come out with rubbish like that was a real kick in the plums".

I railed against Cole's signing from the start. For me, he was an imposter; a mercenary who came to Anfield for the money, and did absolutely nothing to endear himself to the fans. Indeed, during his spell at Anfield, he cost the club 157k a game and 1.2m a goal, which is just shocking.

Unfortunately, Cole turned out to be the catalyst for a long period of dud Liverpool signings, a negative, money-wasting trend that still continues to this day.

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16 comments:

  1. Now at avfc

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  2. Never wanted Joe Cole to sign. What an absolute waste of money and space. This was a dark time, Jaimie.


    Side note: Gerrard's effusive praise of Cole makes me ever so hesitant to have him as an LFC manager in the future.

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  3. Forget the past i think it is simple
    players that succeed here will have good memories
    like Alonso,Hyypia, Torres,Owen, Garcia, Arbeloa ,Kuyt


    Reian and Agger i feels sorry how it ended but tehy will tell you how much tehy love the club




    but players like Downing,Diouf,Cole will all be bitter because they were not good enough

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  4. Imagine this team
    ..................Kuyt 08-09............Torres 07-08 ..............Suarez 13-14

    ......................................................Gerrard 05-06
    ...............Sissoko 05-06...........................................Mascherano 09-10
    .......................................................Alonso 08-09
    .............................Carragher 05-06.......Hyypia 04-05...Arbeloa 08-09
    ..........................................................Reina 07-08


    this team would beat real madrid and dominate Europe

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  5. ...So they're not your predictions?

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  6. Truth is we only have to look to West Ham, Soto etc to see that points are there to be picked up. United have gotten themselves in their position without playing well at all. Absolutely nothing is over yet. Only the hysterical think so.

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  7. Once again Mike your words help me to believe that the world isn't full of wet blankets.

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  8. For me more needs to be done the other end. Like Mike says the goals we have conceded is not bad in comparison which is a massive surprise. We haven't conceded many more than Arsenal.

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  9. The worrying things is; Arsenal are 4th place professionals, and United you'd surely think would have to get their groove on soon. It's absolutely concerning that they won 6 in a row without being actually good.

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  10. I think Lallana has shown more than some of those others you mention. Overspent yes but certainly not a waste. one of our best players today.

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  11. That we made Arsenal look bad but we still have some of the same problems in both boxes.

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  12. No. I stole the Almanac off Biff Tannen.

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  13. Seems like SG and JC had a little more power than they should for players.

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  14. I'm usually fairly charitable to signings that don't work out, as long as they try. With Joe Cole though, this clearly wasn't the case. His fitness (even beyond his legendary injury proneness) was a disgrace. Looked like he'd had a Fray Bentos and two packs of ciggies before every game.

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  15. Does the red card Cole got in his first Liverpool game also against Arsenal remind you of Borini a bit J.K

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  16. Truth is Cole had the fitness of a pub footballer, he was so unfit it was untrue. Like many English footballers he smoked cigarettes, and didn't live the life of an athlete. Watch him closely & you'll see he could barely run when he played for us!

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