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MPs must call on game's big-hitters to give inquiry punch Then six days after it closed, he sacked the manager despite having no replacement. He signed one loan player (Carlos Vela) and, er, nobody else in the January transfer window. So the League Managers' Association have their latest martyr and West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace can look back with pride on the last ten days. In a season that has featured some really bizarre managerial sackings, this one was right up there. This season with West Bromwich Albion, Roberto di Matteo won at the Emirates, he got a point at Old Trafford, beat Manchester City in the Carling Cup and was two points clear of the relegation zone until he was sacked yesterday. But who could blame him?ĭi Matteo's sacking the strangest yet in a bizarre season If the response is as negative as it has been in the past then Cole might wonder why he should stick about to find out how they react to him reaching 100 caps. Perhaps we will get a taste on Wednesday of what England's support think of Cole should the Wembley stadium announcer choose to mention the fact he will break Sansom's record.
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Unlike poor old Sansom, whose own addictions sent him downhill fast. Even though, as far as we can tell, his lifestyle has had no discernible effect on the standards of his performances on the pitch. In fact, most would rather excuse Sansom for being a hopeless drunk than Cole for being talented and famous enough to move from one primetime television beauty to the next. Which some people seem to have difficulty accepting. Secondly, being a very talented footballer during the sport's financial golden age has made him a very rich man who also happens to have dated a lot of attractive women. So why is he disliked? First of all, everyone seems to be an expert on Cole's failed marriage which is really no one's business but his own.
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Leighton Baines, who has had a great season with Everton, is the latest candidate to get a chance but succeeding Cole is comparable to succeeding Gerrard or Wayne Rooney. Only when Cole finally calls it a day and the England manager has to find a successor will some people truly recognise what a good player he was.
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Certainly the way in which they turned on him for a dodgy pass that led to a goal against Kazakhstan in October 2008 suggests that they prefer the caricature to celebrating the man who has marked Cristiano Ronaldo better than anyone else. The end of next month will mark ten years since he made his England debut.īut the capricious Wembley crowd have in the past chosen to judge Cole on the basis of the stories they have read rather than the performances they have witnessed. He has played for England through three World Cups and Euro 2004 and performed brilliantly at times. Only 30, he can be regarded as one of the best left-backs in the world of the last ten years, arguably the best for the last six or seven. Certainly Cole's career merits a standing ovation.