Manchester United legend Andy Cole: I've been disrespected throughout my career

Goal machine: Cole scored 121 in 232 starts for United.
Action Images via Reuters

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants a striker willing to break his nose for Manchester UnitedAndy Cole has the perfect one.

“(Robert) Lewandowski is quality,” says the Old Trafford legend. “He is quality. He will continue to run in there, he will get pretty goals, he’ll get tap-ins, he’ll get every goal.

“When you look at No9s – he is a No9! He wants to score goals, but he wants to get in there where you score those scruffy goals as well.”

That Cole considers the 31-year-old Bayern Munich striker the ideal centre forward in the modern game, just sums up the size of the task on Solskjaer’s hands this summer.

World class goal-scorers are few and far between.

“It has changed being a centre forward,” says Cole. “No one wants to get the scruffy, ugly goals. Everyone wants to put it in the top bin.

“Unfortunately, you only get one goal if you put it in the top bin or it comes off your knee.

“Ultimately when a good No9 does come around, that’s why it’s a premium. There are a lot of guys playing in the Premier League now, getting themselves 12 to 13 goals. Come the end of the season they are worth £60m.

“Ten, 12 goals should be a given in the Premier League. It should be an absolute given!

“In my time playing you had be 20, season in and season out, to try to get the move you wanted. But now 12 to 15 goals and you’re £60-70m-worth.

“He might only have 10 goals in the Premier League and the other ones might have come in a cup competition and they’re worth that kind of money. That’s how the game has changed. It’s not a case of consistency now.”

In Pictures | Man Utd at Marbella training camp | 12/02/2019

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Cole scored 121 goals in 232 starts for United.

He is still the third highest scorer in Premier League history, with 187 goals – behind Alan Shearer (260) and Wayne Rooney (208).

He is likely to be overtaken by Sergio Aguero this season, with the Manchester City striker just seven goals adrift.

Yet it’s notable that Cole’s total came despite his refusal to take penalties, unlike the majority of the players who make up the all-time top 10.

“I always had it when I was younger," he explains. "I always said when I become a pro, ‘I don’t want to take penalties. I just want to go and score proper goals.’

"If people look at that as arrogance, that’s entirely up to them – but that’s what I said to myself.

“If I’d have taken penalties. I’m not sure how many penalties have been taken at my clubs over my career. On average if you get 10 penalties a season that’s another 10 goals.

Getty Images

“If you’re getting 20 goals a season, that’s 30 goals. If you do that for 15 years, what does that add up to?

“So when people talk about all these other guys in the top 10, how many goals they’ve got – they talk about me like I’m a novice and I never really kicked the ball.

“If you take away everyone’s penalties, a lot of them would fall away and there’s still only one in front of me. So I’m very, very proud of my record. Extremely proud of my record.

“I got one penalty forced on me and another penalty forced on me to take and I missed it.

“Throughout my career people have just shown me a lack of respect. You don’t get to that level of being third now in the Premier League scoring list… I’ve been retired now for 11 years, coming up to 12 years. It’s a lack of respect.

“People want to do that. People want to continue to do that, but I’ll most probably still be there in another five years in the top 10.

“So they can continue to show me that lack of respect as long as they like, but you know when I start smelling the roses, when I’m no longer here, that’s when people start talking about how good you were.”

Cole was a shock signing for United in January 1995 on the back of 41 goals in his first Premier League season with Newcastle.

He went on to win five titles, two FA Cups and the Champions League.

But he admits it took years for him to find his feet at Old Trafford.

Good luck then to Odion Ighalo.

The deadline day loan signing from Shanghai Shenhua is expected to make an immediate impact at United and boost Solskjaer’s bid for a top four finish.

Speaking from Marriott Hotels Seat of Dreams at Old Trafford, Cole adds: “When you come for a decent amount of money people expect you to hit the ground running straight away, which is not always the case.

“I was only in the Premier League a year and a half, so when I joined Manchester United it was surreal because I didn’t think anything could happen so quickly for me. So walking in the dressing room with that calibre of players I was very, very nervous.

“I got caught up in a situation where I started thinking about it a little bit too much. The price tag and when I started thinking about it a little bit too much I came across a few little problems.

“It took a couple of years. I scored against Sheffield Wednesday – a header. I said to myself then ‘yeah I’m back.’”

Marriott Hotels, Official Hotel Partner of Manchester United, is upgrading three fans at each home Premier League match to the Marriott Hotels #SeatOfDreams. Fans will watch the match from the best seats in the house at Old Trafford and be joined on the sofa by a Manchester United legend.

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