Cole deserves second shot after his radio ricket
AAMID the carnage of the Euro 2020 final at Wembley, an email arrived from a stadium spokesperson saying that nobody had gained access without a ticket. This week an official report on that dreadful night in July revealed them to have been out in their calculations by almost 2,000. An easy mistake to make, then.
WEEK or so ago at Arsenal, the former West Ham forward Carlton Cole approached a couple of newspaper journalists at half-time. ‘Hello, I am Carlton,’ he said, extending a hand.
On radio duty for BBC 5 Live for the first time, Cole explained he’d been nervous beforehand but that he was enjoying himself. Soon talk turned to the football and he offered an insightful view on the Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The next day Cole was on radio duty again — this time at Manchester City’s game against West Ham — and this time his world threatened to fall apart. The 38-year-old inexplicably used the word ‘Holocaust’ when talking about the possibility of a heavy defeat for David Moyes’ team.
There is no excuse for what Cole said. Equally, his immediately expressed regret was genuine. When I called him a couple of days later, he admitted that he was still coming to terms with what had happened. ‘People will hopefully understand how sorry I am,’ he said. ‘I am not sure what more I can say at the moment.’
Reaction to Cole’s comments was predictable. There was not a lot of understanding or sympathy. Some said the former centre forward should never work in the media again. But one of the few pertinent observations came from another former footballer, Stan Collymore.
Writing in his Daily Mirror column, Collymore said: ‘During my playing days, “Holocaust” and “Chernobyl” were used liberally in dressing rooms as words for “nightmare” or “woeful”.
‘Football speak is a weird mishmash of sayings, old and new, which players use as accepted language without even thinking about what words actually mean. The majority of players have used those words at some point around the training ground. Is that an excuse? No, of course not. But I hope it provides a little context.’
Collymore summed the matter up well. Football has come a long way in terms of the enlightenment and social awareness of its players. But dressing rooms remain crude places where the language used can be base. I asked a former Premier League manager over the weekend if much has changed in that regard. ‘Basically, no,’ he replied. So it seems as though the education of our players must continue and must be accelerated. This language must change.
Equally, taking footballers straight from such environments into TV and radio gantries and studios continues to constitute a risk. Not many of these men and women undergo any kind of media education as they make the transition. The people asking the questions and doing the commentary by their side have all been trained. They have experience.
But the pundits — the ‘experts’ — do not. From time to time then, men like Cole may make a dreadful mistake such as this. It is almost inevitable that they will bring the outdated, offensive vernacular of the dressing room with them to the press box.
As far as I am aware, Cole will continue to work on radio and that feels right. Everyone in life deserves a second chance and I have a feeling that he will take his. He understands the gravity of his mistake and will hopefully emerge from this saga a more rounded person and more considerate broadcaster.
I was struck by his manner at the Emirates nine days ago because it was unusual. Many former pros begin work in the media with the attitude that there is nothing for them to learn. They feel as though their achievements on the field are all that they need. Many remain aloof and they are wrong.
Cole struck me as the opposite. He was in a new world and was taking some steps to fit in. Turns out he learned the biggest lesson of all the very next day. It feels as though he has absorbed it already and should be allowed to move on.
Ian.Ladyman@dailymail.co.uk