A back-stabber, a renegade, a traitor who just happens to be one of the best left backs to ever play for Arsenal. Have you guessed who I’m referring to?
If you guessed Ashley Cole, then you guessed right. It is with great regret and remorse that I bring to you Arsenal’s best ever left back, but bear with me. Forget about feelings and emotions and allow me to take some of your time to remind you of the “good” things Cole has achieved in a red and white shirt.
Ashley Cole launched his footballing career by joining the local club he supported ever since he was a little boy, Arsenal. Before making a name for himself at the club, he spent a season away on loan with Crystal Palace, where he played 14 league matches and scored a gorgeous long-range half-volley that came against Blackburn Rovers.
Sylvinho’s injury in the autumn of the 2000/01 campaign paved the way for Ashley Cole who impressed, climbed up in the pecking order, and snatched away the starting left back position from the Brazilian, even after he recovered.
Undoubtedly, Cole’s best season as a Gunner was the campaign where he was one of the eleven “Invincibles”. He was a major asset who helped Arsenal earn this incredible achievement. A regular left back for both his club and national team, Cole had an important role in the Manchester City away win where he scored the only goal, earning Arsenal an important win. He also netted in the 3-1 win against Aston Villa, scoring Arsenal’s third in the 28th minute – but it was not all rainbows and butterflies that season.
Cole and his agent Jonathan Barnett arranged secret meetings with Mourinho, discussing a potential move to Arsenal’s archrivals, Chelsea. He was fined £100,000 by the Premier League on 2nd June 2005 for a tapping-up meeting in January 2005 at a hotel where Cole, his agent Barnett, the Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho and chief executive Peter Kanyon were present. An appeal in August 2005 did not reject the guilty verdict, but his fine was reduced to £75,000.
Following this unprofessional incident, Cole signed a one-year contract extension after which he left the club on very bad terms. On 15th July 2006, Cole launched a verbal attack on Arsenal; in his autobiography, where he claimed that the Arsenal board had treated him as a “scapegoat” and that they had “fed him to the sharks” over the tapping-up affair while Arsenal, from their part, insisted that they were legally obliged to punish Cole for his illegal contact with Chelsea. Cole was deliberately left out of Arsenal’s 2006/07 team photograph, fueling press speculation that he would leave.
Cole was in advanced talks with Chelsea, but there was conflict over the fee. Arsenal had offered Cole a longer contract to stay at the club, but he had been left “trembling with anger” when they offered him wages of £55,000 per week, whereas Chelsea were offering him £90,000 a week. He chose the Blues after a deal was finally agreed, and signed for them on 31st August for a fee of £5 million, with William Gallas being transferred from Chelsea to Arsenal. His wage increased to £120,000 a week when he signed a new contract in September 2009. And that, is how Ashley Cole earned himself the title of “Cashley Cole”.
Perhaps this is how most fans remember Ashley Cole: As a double-crosser who joined his favorite team’s bitter rivals just to get his hands on more dosh, and I don’t blame them. But emotions aside, Cole will be remembered as the Gunner who made 228 first-team appearances, netting nine times in his Arsenal career, winning a golden Premier League alongside a regular one, and securing three FA Cup titles.
