From teenage tornado to Premier League winner, Joe always loved the game
I STILL remember the first time I heard Joe Cole’s name mentioned. I was in Harry Redknapp’s office at Chadwell Heath and Harry was in full flow.
“Wait ’till you see this lad, Joe Cole play,” he said. “The things he does are unbelievable — and he’s only 15! Alex Ferguson’s phoning me every day about him!”
Not long after, I met young Joe and another promising Academy product, Michael Carrick. The two were very different personalities.
Whilst Carrick was tall, angular, quiet and reflective, young king Cole was squat, infectious and ebullient.
I met him again a season or so ago. He was preparing to return to his United Soccer League club Tampa Bay Rowdies and was at a game involving his old club, West Ham.
He was just the same Joe, swapping memories and anecdotes with West Ham captain Mark Noble, talking enthusiastically about going into coaching when his career finished.
Now it has — and he will be regarding his future with the same ebullience and anticipation as he did as a player of the highest quality.
West Ham’s former Academy director Tony Carr, who mentored the teenage tornado, recalls: “Even before Joe arrived at West Ham, scout Dennis Coxall said to me that he was the best player he had ever seen at his age which was 13.
“The way he played was so infectious, it made you excited just watching him with his trickery, dribbling ability and his enthusiasm.
“His love of the game even then shone through. I spoke to Joe only last week and he’s still like that. He wants to get involved in coaching.
“He loved the England training camps. Some thought they were boring but he thought they were great.
“I’ve seen Joe compared to Paul Gascoigne. Very different characters and players but their infectious enthusiasm which shone through.
“I’ve nothing but praise for what he achieved as a player — three Premier League titles, three FA Cups, 56 caps for England — and people say he under achieved. That’s crazy.”
With Cole’s precocious talent, though, came a level of expectation. Whilst a fledgling Carrick could quietly continue his impressive progress, his West Ham team-mate was firmly in the spotlight from the start.
Both youngsters were in the 1999 FA Youth Cup Final, a two-legged affair with Coventry. Three goals up after the first leg, the young Hammers ran riot in the second match at Upton Park, scoring six.
The game was held up whilst 21,000 fans went through the turnstiles — most of them to look at Cole who, as
The way he played was so infectious, it made you excited just watching his trickery and control
Tony Carr
one report said afterwards: “Ran the show.”
After five years at West Ham, Cole moved to Chelsea in 2003 for £6.5million and the club’s fans watched him grow and further develop into a player of the highest class.
He suffered his fair share of injuries but he can also be proud of his international career, particularly in Germany in 2006 when he was one of England’s best players in what was a disappointing World Cup.
Carr sums up his former protege aptly when he says: “As a player Joe was exceptional and as a young man he was always very grounded which is credit to his mum and stepdad George.
“Joe reached the highest level but was never flash. He got on with what he did best — playing football.”