BIG MAC AND PRIZE
ASHLEY COLE admits he cannot live without a Mcdonald’s Big Mac but, above all else, he is a football junkie.
Former Arsenal and Chelsea star Cole returned to English football last month on a free transfer to Derby.
At 38, he didn’t need to drop into the second tier in the rough and tumble of the Championship after three years at LA Galaxy. But the veteran left-back has shown his huge appetite for the game after joining until the end of the season.
Today, he could make his full Rams debut in the televised FA Cup fifth-round tie at Premier League Brighton, after coming off the bench last weekend.
Cole is already in the record books as the competition’s most decorated player – lifting the cup three times with Arsenal and four with Chelsea. But he is still determined to make his mark under old Chelsea pal Frank Lampard, who has created an exciting young side.
On-loan Chelsea duo Fikayo Tomori and Mason Mount, plus Liverpool loanee Harry Wilson, and homegrown Jayden Bogle, are already benefiting from Cole’s expertise. And the full-back admits he would like to follow Lampard into coaching.
Cole said: “As an aspiring coach, I feel like I can help these young guys progress. I have the miles in my legs and in my brain to help these kids. I’m not the youngest any more, but it makes you remember how much you love this game, and it takes you back to the early days.
“You see the young kids and they run so much. They enjoy it, they stay out after training and work on their weaknesses, and it is what they need to do. I’m here to help, if need be to speak to them and to drill into them the understanding of what it means to put on a club shirt.
“They need to work hard and never let a day go by without learning something and always trying to improve.
“It is different playing in the youth teams to when you get into the first team. You get to understand what it means to fight every week – not just for the fans but a bigger cause. That’s the mentality I have, and have had, throughout my career – I’m a fighter and that won’t change.”
But Derby’s youngsters may not wish to emulate all Cole’s habits. He raised eyebrows with his honest admission in Derby’s matchday programme that, if he was stranded on a desert island, the food he could not live without is a Mcdonald’s Big Mac.
But the odd fast-food meal has clearly not hindered his hugely-impressive career. As well as his FA Cup haul, Cole can boast three Premier League titles and has lifted both the Europa League and Champions League with Chelsea.
He also amassed 107 England caps – appearing in three World Cups and two European Championships. But his wealth of experience counted for little when told to sing at a recent initiation ceremony in front of Derby’s squad.
He mumbled his way through Rod Stewart’s 1977 hit, ‘I Don’t Want To Talk About It’, and appeared nervous reading the lyrics from his phone.
Yet team-mates have been impressed in training, where the standard has gone up a level with regular left-back Scott Malone admitting everyone wants to impress the former Three Lions star. But the left-back credits pal Lampard with Derby only just outside the top six on goal difference.
Cole, who made his debut as a sub against Hull a week ago, added: “The environment is vibrant and buzzing. Having a young manager coming in, maybe with a different way of working and a different philosophy, is good.
“The boys work hard in training, it is intense. Hopefully, now we can kick on. And I am ready to play my part. It was nerve-racking at the start. But I have gelled with the team and I’m looking forward to integrating more.
“I’ve called him ‘Lamps’ on the odd occasion by mistake. We were good friends before and now he is my manager and I have to listen and respect him. But that hasn’t changed to how I treated him before.
“He knows what he can get out of me and I know what is expected.”