CARLTON Cole has a confession to make about the Barclays Premier League medal he won at Chelsea in 2006.
“That’s a long story. I kind of lost it,” he says with a laugh before refusing to expand any further, thus rendering it more Hemingway’s Baby Shoes than Tolstoy’s War and Peace.
“Kind of”? On the list of mislaid items absent-mindedly strewn across households up and down the land, Premier League winners’ medals are likely to be low on the list of items wedged down the back of the sofa. Kind of. There is, of course, at least one.
“I don’t physically have the medal but I’m not going into that. I was younger, I didn’t really appreciate it. I was naive back then thinking that everything came easy.”
The tale of woe serves as something of a leitmotif for Cole’s career. Having burst on to the scene as a 19-year-old in 2002, he appeared to have the world at his feet. The sense now is of a player who is one of English football’s great unfulfilled talents. He was supposed to be an England striker for the ages when he made his breakthrough at Chelsea. But injuries and the dawning of the Roman Abramovich era meant his route to the first team was often obstructed by expensive alternatives such as Didier Drogba, Adrian Mutu and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
It took him four years after graduating from the Under-21s and a move from Chelsea to London neighbours West Ham before he made his full England debut against Spain in 2009. By then, he was drawing covetous glances from Liverpool and Manchester United but while a £20 million transfer was mooted, it did not materialise. He says he has no regrets.
“Everyone takes their own path in life. My ambition was to play for England and if I had stayed at Chelsea, I don’t think that would have happened. I was already in the Under-21s but I knew that I wanted to get to the next level and I had to play regularly to do that, so that’s why I went off to West Ham and they gave me my chance to do that.”
The beads of sweat accumulate on Cole’s forehead as he holds court in a deserted dressing-room at Lennoxtown; tangible evidence of his quiet determination to make a mark during the critical months of Celtic’s title run-in. He says he owes a debt to Ronny Deila, the Celtic manager, which he hopes to repay in May. That lost medal, you sense, is the debt he owes himself, a driving force as he eyes the opportunity to compensate for whatever it was that caused him to lose it.
He is almost apologetic about the condition he was in when he arrived at Celtic in October, so much so that when he made his debut at Inverness Caledonian Thistle a couple of weeks later, he asked Deila to leave him out of the starting line-up until he felt ready for it. Deila, to Cole’s obvious gratitude, agreed. It has been an extended sabbatical – prior to last Sunday’s start at Stranraer in the William Hill Scottish Cup, Cole had accrued just 44 minutes’ playing time.
“I had a bit of time off in the summer and got a little bit plump. I said I was going to take until January to get up to speed and I’m happy that [Deila] took the plunge with me because he knew that I wasn’t fit.
“I have a lot of respect for the manager. He knew that I needed to get to a certain point before I could start getting into the team and being involved in squads. He did actually put me in quite early. Earlier than I expected but I told him that I wanted a little bit more time because I didn’t want to make a fool of myself.”
Cole’s arrival at Celtic coincided with a general perception that they needed a focal point in attack following an unconvincing start to their Europa League campaign. Now, with Leigh Griffiths firing and Celtic out of continental competition, the need seems less pressing. Deila, though, is keen to develop an alternative option to a 4-5-1 system that can too often appear one dimensional. Cole says the opportunity to develop an on-field relationship with Griffiths – one that, even in its infant stages, reminds him of his very best days at West Ham – is a further motivating factor.
“[Leigh] is an out-and-out goal getter, the kind of player you like to have in your team if you need a goal,” says Cole. “He’s very hungry. He wants to be one of the best. We’re both intelligent players. We found there was good balance at [Stranraer] but with better opposition it might be a little bit harder. We need to keep replicating that in training so that we have a plan B. The manager knows that and we have been working so that we have another string to our bow.
“Craig Bellamy was a little bit like Leigh. He worked hard down the flanks, was very active. He told me ‘I got you into that England team. If it hadn’t been for me, you wouldn’t be there.’ You know Craig, he’s really mouthy. He was a brilliant player and he did a lot for me. He used to shout at every player and he used to shout at me. I used to bounce off him well. He was an influential player for me at that point.”
Bellamy became a cult hero during his time at Parkhead, scoring nine goals in a four-month spell which brought both the triumph of a Scottish Cup win and the disaster of Helicopter Sunday. Celtic fans have already extended a similar warmth to his former West Ham team-mate, repeatedly singing his name to Spandau Ballet’s hit single Gold. Cole, though grateful for the recognition, says he has yet to earn the adulation.
“I need to start scoring a few goals before they start singing my name. They only sing it because it’s a catchy song. But it’s still great.”
And what of that lost medal and the chance of redemption?
“Looking back now, I think, ‘bloody hell’ that was a great squad to be involved in and to win the league was brilliant. I want to do that here but I want to be a proper part of it this time and make sure that my presence is felt.”
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