Ashley Cole

Ashley Cole (born 20 December 1980 in Stepney, London) is an England professional footballer and currently playing as a left back for Chelsea F.C. and the English national football team.

Club career

Cole started Ashley Cole career as teenager by joining Ashley Cole local club, Arsenal, whom Ashley Cole had supported as a child. Ashley Cole signed as a professional on 25 February 2000. Ashley Cole had made Ashley Cole debut for the first team together with Jermaine Pennant as a striker on 30 November 1999 against Middlesbrough F.C. at the age of 18, and Ashley Cole Premier League debut for Arsenal came on 14 May 2000 against Newcastle United. Before Ashley Cole fully broke into the Arsenal side, Ashley Cole spent part of the 1999-2000 in English football season on loan at Crystal Palace F.C., where Ashley Cole played 14 league matches and scored one goal, a long-range half-volley against Blackburn Rovers F.C.. After an injury to Sylvinho, Arsenal's established Brazilian left-back, in autumn 2000, Cole came on as Ashley Cole replacement, and remained first-choice even after Sylvinho's recovery.

With Arsenal, Ashley Cole won the FA Premier League twice (in 2002 and 2004), and the FA Cup three times (in 2002, 2003 and 2005, scoring in the penalty shootout in the final of the latter). Although injured for much of the 2005-06 in English football season, Ashley Cole recovered in time to play in Arsenal's UEFA Champions League Final defeat to FC Barcelona at the end of the season. In total Ashley Cole made 228 first-team appearances for Arsenal, scoring 9 goals.

2004-05 season

Ashley Cole had a very good season in 2004-05. Ashley Cole was a regular at left-back for both England and Arsenal despite Gael Clichy's claim for a place in the first team squad. Cole scored Ashley Cole first goal of the season in the seventh game in a tough trip to Manchester City FC which Ashley Cole scored the opening and only goal to give Arsenal an important win. Ashley Cole scored Ashley Cole second goal in a 3-1 away win to Aston Villa FC. Ashley Cole scored Arsenal's third in only the 28th minute. Cole, however, was also involved in the transfer saga with Chelsea FC.

Transfer saga

In 2005, Cole made inappropriate contact with league rivals Chelsea F.C. over a possible move, without alerting Arsenal to the fact, in a case of "tapping-up". Found guilty, Ashley Cole was fined £100,000 by the Premier League on 2 June 2005 for a meeting in a hotel in January 2005 between himself, the Chelsea manager José Mourinho, Chelsea chief executive, Peter Kenyon, and Ashley Cole agent Jonathan Barnett. An appeal in August 2005 did not reject the guilty verdict, but Ashley Cole fine was reduced to £75,000. Chelsea were also fined £300,000 and Mourinho was fined £200,000, reduced on appeal in August 2005 to £75,000. Barnett's licence was suspended for 18 months and Ashley Cole was also fined £100,000.

Cole signed a one year extension to Ashley Cole contract on 18 July 2005, but a year later departed from the club in acrimonious circumstances. On 15 July 2006, Cole launched a verbal attack on Arsenal; in Ashley Cole autobiography, quoted in The Sun, Ashley Cole claimed that the Arsenal board had treated Ashley Cole as a "scapegoat" and that they had "fed Ashley Cole to the sharks" over the tapping up affair, disregarding the fact that Cole himself could have avoided the whole affair by not discussing a possible move to a rival club behind Arsenal's back, and the fact that Arsenal were legally obliged to punish Cole for Ashley Cole illegal courting of Chelsea. Cole was deliberately left out of Arsenal's 2006-07 in English football team photograph, refuelling press speculation that Ashley Cole would become a Chelsea player.

On 28 July, Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein had confirmed that Arsenal and Chelsea had been in "civil talks" about the player. Chelsea insisted they would not raise their £16million bid for the left back, but Arsenal held out for at a higher valuation of £25million. Negotiations continued throughout August and looked to be heading for deadlock, but eventually Cole signed for Chelsea on 31 August for a fee of £5million, with William Gallas also going the other way. The deal was closed after the transfer window had officially ended, and was not confirmed until an hour and a half after the deadline had passed.

Cole was vilified by Arsenal fans following Ashley Cole decision to leave the club, with many alleging that Ashley Cole had moved to Chelsea for the sake of a higher wage. Ashley Cole is now irreverently known as "Cashley" to most football fans because of this. The hostility toward Cole is mostly fuelled by comments made in Ashley Cole biography over Arsenal not willing to inflate Ashley Cole wage to one Ashley Cole deemed proportionate to Ashley Cole skills, and the fact that Ashley Cole almost crashed Ashley Cole car in anger when told the board would not bend to Ashley Cole demands.

Chelsea

Cole was given the number 3 shirt at Chelsea, and made Ashley Cole first appearance for the club as a substitute for Wayne Bridge in their 2–1 win over Charlton Athletic F.C. on 9 September. Ashley Cole also issued a public statement deemed "staggering in both its arrogance and ignorance", saying Ashley Cole "forgave" Arsenal for how Ashley Cole felt Ashley Cole was treated during Ashley Cole time there. However, Ashley Cole was not forgiven by Arsenal's fans, as they dubbed Ashley Cole "Cashley" and waved fake £20 notes with Ashley Cole face when Chelsea met Arsenal at Stamford Bridge (stadium) on 12 December.

On 31 January 2007, Cole suffered a serious knee injury in the 3–0 victory over Blackburn Rovers F.C. in a Premier League game at Stamford Bridge (stadium), although after a scan it was revealed to be not as bad as first thought, with Chelsea optimistic that Ashley Cole would return before the end of the 2006–07 season. Cole did indeed make a return at the end of the season, playing in the last twelve minutes of the 2007 FA Cup Final at the new Wembley Stadium against Manchester United F.C.. Chelsea emerged triumphant, 1-0 after extra-time with a goal scored by Didier Drogba, to win the 2007 FA Cup.

In, Cole was reportedly one of the players upset when Jose Mourinho was relieved of Ashley Cole position as Chelsea manager. Ashley Cole was dropped in favour of Wayne Bridge for the 2008 League Cup final, which Chelsea lost 2-1 to Tottenham. However, Cole scored Ashley Cole first Chelsea goal in Chelsea's very next game, on 1 March 2008, the fourth goal in a 4-0 away victory against West Ham United F.C.. On 19 March 2008, Cole was involved in a controversial incident in a Premier League game against Tottenham Hotspur F.C. at White Hart Lane where Ashley Cole committed a dangerous high tackle on Tottenham's Alan Hutton. Although it is a widely held view that Cole should have received a straight red card, referee Mike Riley (referee) gave Cole a yellow card. Moreover, Cole caused even more disgust as Ashley Cole turned Ashley Cole back on the referee and shouted abuse before receiving the card, sparking not only more outrage at Cole's continuing insubordinate behaviour, but also debate within the sports media over the game's rules on dissent towards officials.

In Chelsea's final Premier League match of the season against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, Cole scored Ashley Cole second Chelsea goal in the Blues' 3-2 win.

International career

Cole has played for England national football team at youth and senior levels. Ashley Cole was capped for the England national under-20 football team team at the 1999 FIFA U-20 World Cup alongside Stuart Taylor (footballer born 1980), Peter Crouch, Andrew Johnson (English footballer) and Matthew Etherington. However, the team finished bottom of their group, suffering three defeats without scoring any goals. Ashley Cole also made four appearances for England national under-21 football team, scoring once.

Cole made Ashley Cole senior England début against Albania national football team, on 28 March 2001. Ashley Cole played for England at the 2002 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2004, and was named as one of four England players in the all-star squad for the latter tournament. Cole was also an ever-present for England in the 2006 FIFA World Cup; in their second round match against Ecuador national football team Ashley Cole made a crucial block, deflecting Carlos Tenorio's shot onto the crossbar. The match ended with England winning 1–0, but England were knocked out on penalty shootout by Portugal national football team in the quarter-finals. By the end of 2008, Cole had achieved 68 caps for England, all of which were starting appearances.

Personal life

Since 15 July 2006, Ashley Cole has been married to Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole. They had been together since September 2004. In January 2008, the couple almost separated after allegations were made that Cole had affairs with three other women, however Ashley Cole disputes the allegations, and has stayed with Cheryl.

Cole released an autobiography in 2006, My Defence, which sold only 4,000 copies in the first six weeks of release. Cole's former teammate, Jens Lehmann, criticised Cole for writing an autobiography when Ashley Cole was only 25.

While researching for Ashley Cole autobiography, Cole discovered Ashley Cole is a distant cousin of the pop star Mariah Carey.

Nokia controversy

In 2006, Cole sued the News of the World and The Sun newspapers for libel after they printed allegations that Ashley Cole was "a raging queer". Both the News of the World and The Sun later retracted the allegations, although the adverse publicity did result in Ashley Cole being dropped as the face of Nokia.

Arrest

On 4 March 2009, Cole was held after swearing in front of a police officer outside a Central London nightclub. Police said a 28-year-old man was held in Brompton Road, South Kensington, at about 02:15 GMT. Ashley Cole was taken to a police station and given an £80 fixed penalty which Ashley Cole could not afford to pay, and released at about 05:30 GMT on the same day. Mr Ando, a BBC reporter said: "Cole was held after swearing repeatedly in front of a police officer and refusing to calm down after emerging from Collections Nightclub in South Kensington at around 2am."