Sage advice from Sir Alex helps Cole get back on track
FROM an early age, Devante Cole has been saddled with comparisons to his dad, former Manchester United striker Andy. But it was another Old Trafford great, his old man’s manager, that was an early influence on Cole junior when, ironically enough, he was starting out at Manchester City.
The nuggets of advice passed on by Sir Alex Ferguson in his formative years are now standing the striker in good stead as he looks to build on the positive signs he is finally starting to show for Motherwell following his summer loan move from Wigan.
“The first place we lived was opposite Sir Alex,” Cole said. “I was at a young age where football was still just a bit of fun. But, as I got older, I spoke to him once or twice.
“His advice to me was always just to get my head down and work hard. I would have been a young kid at City at the time.”
Those pointers have helped Cole to get over that slow start to his Motherwell career, and he says the fans have only seen a little of what he is capable of following his winner at St Johnstone last week.
“There’s more to come,” he said. “It’s only been three games in the first team and there is more fitness to come and more sharpness to come.
“I wanted a goal and needed a goal. I’ve got one now and I’m sure there will be more to come.”
He probably did not appreciate it at the time, but when Cole ballooned the ball over the St Johnstone bar from a little over a yard early on last week he may just have been standing at a fork in the road.
Having eventually fought his way into the starting line-up, he was desperate for a goal to get his Fir Park move up and running. As the ball sailed over and out, the fans with their heads in their hands may have thought it was never going to happen for him.
Cole knew better, and he was rewarded for coming back for another bite at the cherry as he hit the only goal of the game to give Motherwell three points that carried them up to third place in the table.
His manager, Stephen Robinson, was delighted with the character shown by the 24-year-old, and he agrees there is far more yet to come from him.
“He’s taken a little bit of time, a lot of the boys who come up from England, they’ve not been playing football regularly,” Robinson said.
“Giving him a wee arm around the shoulder and letting him know that he’s more than a number here has helped Devante. It’s given him confidence.
“I think he showed he has character after missing that chance last week. His movement for the goal, everyone said it was simple, but it wasn’t. You have to be in the right place at the right time and I think Devante will keep getting better and better.
“This is only the start for Devante. We’ve got him until Christmas and we’d like to do something maybe longer if it works for both parties, but let’s see how he goes.”
“We’re getting him up to speed and he’s getting that belief, but Chris Long is breathing down his neck, so he has to be at the top of his game.”
Motherwell will be without the suspended Liam Donnelly and Jake Carroll for the visit of St Mirren to Fir Park this afternoon, while Charles Dunne, David Turnbull and David Devine remain sidelined through injury. THIRD-PLACED Leicester pose a considerable threat to the Premier League leaders this afternoon, but the Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp still hopes the visitors’ boss Brendan Rodgers gets a suitable welcome after almost winning the league with them in 2014.
“I hope from the fans the reception will be okay. From my side it’s fine. All the issues from a couple of years ago, when we started living in his house, are sorted,” said the manager, who rents Rodgers’ house in Formby. “We love living there. We pay our rent for him, so I’m not sure he has to work but he still does.
“He’s doing really well. I’m not surprised to be honest. I knew when I came [to Liverpool] that he was not the reason that things didn’t work out. And since then he did an incredible job at Celtic and then Leicester, rebuilding a lot of the players who were there before him. Good signings as well, and a brilliant team.
“The reception I think will be good, from my side and from the supporters as well, but it’s still not a friendly game and we want to make sure we are there to perform as well.”
Meanwhile, Kieran Tierney insists he made the hardest decision of his life to leave Celtic for Arsenal, but is now committed to helping the Gunners back into the Champions League.
The 22-year-old left-back had to wait for his Arsenal debut following his summer move as a niggling groin problem left him on the sidelines, but he was one of many bright sparks for head coach Unai Emery in their 4-0 Europa League victory at home to Standard Liege.
Having won eight major honours during his time at Celtic Park, Tierney is keen to reach similar heights with his new club.
“We have got the potential, we have got the ability,” he replied when asked if Arsenal could break into the top four this season. “You want to win trophies, every footballer does. But it is one game at a time for me. I am just here, I have played two games and one 90 minutes. I don’t want to get ahead of myself.
“I think the club is a massive club and it deserves to be in the Champions League. We know the ambitions and the aims of the club and supporters. We are all in it together and hopefully we can do that.
“Coming here the standard has been great for me to learn off. It has taken me a few weeks to get up to standard and scratch with the speed of the other boys, they are world class players. For me to learn off them is brilliant.
“It was the hardest decision of my life to leave the club I had been at for 15 years, but I am delighted to be here.”