There were many eyebrows raised when news came through that Chelsea’s unwanted Joe Cole signed a four year deal with Liverpool after hawking himself to half a dozen clubs. Before anyone throws the accusation that Manchester United fans are obsessed with what goes on at Anfield, it has to be made clear that irrespective of where Cole ended up going, these comments would have been precisely the same.
Sir Alex Ferguson was widely reported to be interested in taking Cole to Old Trafford. After all, here’s a current England international, a three time Premier League winner available on a free transfer who’s not yet 29 years old. Many United fans were disappointed when Ferguson decided against signing him with the question of ‘Why’ consistently raised.
Granted, Cole had suffered a cruciate ligament injury which required an operation and kept him out of Stamford Bridge action for almost an entire season but he was then included in last month’s England World Cup squad indicating that he was back to full fitness. Yet apart from Sir Alex, a number of clubs reported to include Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham, Manchester City and Real Madrid all rejected him before the midfielder finally signed a four year contract at Anfield.
The deal even surprised Anfield fans who must have noted Cole’s agent being quoted as saying just a few days earlier that “Football is the most important thing to Joe and continuing to play in the Champions League is high on his priorities.” Yet Cole has now committed himself to the Europa League which in truth is for clubs who failed to qualify for Europe’s biggest competition and is the equivalent to a European second division.
In case some Liverpool fans get the impression that these are merely the opinions of a disappointed United man, here’s what a Liverpool supporter had to say after the news broke, someone who is so committed to his club that he runs a ‘Liverpool Kop’ website “Money grabbing, injury prone mercenary joins LFC. Happy days!” then goes on to say that “It’s not about attitude, Cole IS injury prone. He IS money grabbing, note Carlo Ancelotti’s recent comments about Cole leaving for ‘economic reasons’ and the fact that he held out for the most money makes him a mercenary.”
“Do you really think he signed for Liverpool because he desperately wants to play for us?” he continued “if Spurs or Arsenal had offered more money he would’ve went there. West Ham offered more, but he’s hardly likely to take such a massive step down is he? Of course, I hope he does well” he says “however, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth that the club is willing to join the mercenary merry go round. Arsenal wouldn’t meet his wage demands, but they stuck to their guns and will probably buy someone who is NOT injury prone. Liverpool should’ve done the same.”
‘Mercenary’ is a strong word, it can almost be offensive because of the connotations it has to that of being a ‘prostitute’ but let’s not be holier than thou. There are many footballers around the world who are prepared to sell themselves to the highest bidder but there has to be a question of degree. A footballer who is reported to be one of the wealthiest in England made it blatantly clear that “Football is NOT the most important thing” because the difference of a few thousand pounds a week was allowed to decide his playing future.
Managers like Ferguson and Arsene Wenger did not come down in the last shower and know exactly what they want to see in a player. For all his many critics, Dimitar Berbatov plainly showed his desire to play for United when he ignored a previously arranged meeting at Eastlands even though City were throwing much more money at him when he left Spurs. The Bulgarian signed for Sir Alex on the spot because of his longing to play for a club like United.
New Anfield boss Roy Hodgson is acknowledged to be a highly principled manager in the same mould as Sir Alex, a man who values the old tried and true traditions of the game. Perhaps the only reason that he was prepared to sacrifice those values was a desperation to bring the big name signing to Liverpool that most of it’s fans so desperately demanded.
Did you want Ferguson to give in to Cole’s demands and sign him for United?
So what you’re basically saying is that you’re too broke to afford him really?
Enjoy the spin.
Michael Owen type mercenaries are welcome by Slur Alex though.
2 words: Michael Owen
Michael Owen
end of story
Firstly yes we do think you are obsesses by us. Secondly this transfer has been met by such sour grapes by all the spurs, arsenal and Man United fans its untrue. I think Harry Redknapp explained it best when he said… ‘’in the end, we were competing with a club that has years and years of tradition and a reputation as one of the biggest clubs in the world, I think he wants to move for football reasons. He wants to be part of a transformation at Liverpool. I think maybe getting away from London and a clean break was part of it too.’
Not sure how this translates as being a mercenary. It seems anyone who honors their contract and leaves the club once its finished is worse than someone who breaks it and hands in a transfer request!
My advice to Man U fans is to concentrate on their own club which is in server danger of becoming the second best club in Manchester..ouch!
Michael Owen……say no more!!!
Hey Fergie, you are the biggest wanker in world football. You have been striving to take the crown from liverpool forever, and i hope to god that your never achieve your goal. Your a ponce, i dont care how good you think you are. I don’t care about the success you have achieved with Manure, your attitude towards the greatest club in the world is a disgrace. All of your negative comments throught the years at liverpool will hopefully bite you in your ass and truly we sink you this year you prat….
Liverpool currently have the worlds best men in sports medicine, Peter Brukner is no fool, if he had any input into the decision then only bad luck will keep him out.
One name springs to mind about this article…Michael Owen! Short memories you do have!
Ridiculously biased article highlighted by the fact you went out of your way to say im not being biased and then you took a quote from one disgruntled liverpool fan.
Wenger and ferguson didnt come down in the last shower but Hodgson did? At the end of the day its a good deal for a great player.
“a number of clubs reported to include Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham, Manchester City and Real Madrid all rejected him before the midfielder finally signed a four year contract at Anfield.”
where is this info from?? This is the first site ive seen that said any of this spurs made him an offer and west ham made him an offer how is that rejecting him?? And nobody knows how much he was offered by anyone?
And berbatov is the person you bring up to prove your point???? Are you even living in the real world
At the end of the day he did not cost Liverpool a transfer fee, if he was still under contract with Chelsea he would of cost in the region of 15M + wages, Instead a 4 year stint at Anfield will cost in the region of 20M.
Meanwhile Man Utd paid 30.75M for Berbatov, and over a 4 year period I estimate that his presence will cost the club around 48M! So which club has done the best business? You decide.
What a strange article. You quote a website (Liverpool Kop) which is run by a United fan, Jamie Kanwar. If you’re bored and bitter that we’ve yet to sign anyone of note do us all a favour and don’t sink to Everton like bitterness. United would have adored Cole – but we couldn’t fit him into our wage bracket. Face reality.
Have you never heard of Owen? That is all he has done since he left Liverpool
Talk about a complete lack of self awareness. Where would Michael Owen fit into your analysis?
As opposed to Mickey Owen I suppose and I am a United fan! He had his reasons, no need for sour grapes. Even most of our fans lost it when we signed Owen…..
Why is it that whenever a united fan site wants a Liverpool fans opinion, they turn to Jamie fucking Kanwar? The only bigger so called liverpool fan muppet on the planet id duncan oldham at koptalk, both people derided 100% by any liverpool fan who has ever actually been near the ground, something that neither of those two have done in many years. Kanwar says controversial things for hits on his site so then his ego is massaged. Hes as scouse as Bill Clinton.
I agree with some of the sentiments in this article, but according to which shite paper you read, you will see that really hes actually earning ten grand more with us than he was at chelsea (and is only our third player to earn anything like over 70 grand a week) – so maybe this whole money grabbing things a bit strong. However, i do wonder why he come to us in the position were in so no doubt that money was a factor…but believe it or not united fans (and you wont) Liverpool is a massively supported club that has only had…really…one bad season so were hardly on a downward spiral or doomed – so there are clearly other things going for the move as well.
Yuor last paragraph is spot on – ill tell you why i think that. Rafa Bentez would never ever have made this signing, he wasnt held to randsom either…but we really dont care that much about what wages he earns particularly – it will be headline news for a week then wont ever be mentioned again. (Didnt Ferdinand do some sill contract stuff a few years ago i seem to remember? Im sure you lot boo’d him for it but i might be wrong).
The fans needed this yes, so mercenary or not, for footballing reasons we wanted this type of player, most fans i speak to seem to think its a good signing, and its something hodgson needed to do.
Before I get lambasted for writing on a united site, if you write about liverpool as you have and it appears on newsnow in our channel, then surely we have a right to reply. Ive tried not to be petty or offensive.
Its easy to throw the mercenary tag at him.
Despite not being in the Champions League Liverpool are still a huge attraction for most players.
To be honest if it came down to playing for Liverpool or Tottenham leaving the United rivalry aside I have to admit I would chose Liverpool hands down. Spurs havent even qualified for the CL yet and even they do whos to say how far they go or how long it will before they qualify again.
Harry Redknapp has even come after Cole signed for Liverpool and said Cole moved to Liverpool for football reasons and for the tradition of the club, if he thought otherwise I think he would have said nothing.
We should forget Cole. I’m a little concerned about our own lack of investment and players linked so far
Owen? did Owen choose United for money? he could join another club where they would pay him per week not per game!
Stu, I couldn’t agree more, Jamir Kanwar and Duncan Oldham are the two biggest muppets on the planet, it’s embarrassing that they even “support” the club. Anyway as many others on here have said if you want to talk about mercenaries then Michael Owen is the king!! Joe Cole had at least one bigger offer in wages to stay in London, he never took it so how does that figure?? Do some research before commenting and best sticking to your own club, which is in dire financial straits, one more season like last and how many will be calling again might I add for Slur Whisky Noses head.
lol all these utd obsessed liverpool fans commenting on a utd blog need wake up, j.cole is an over-rated aging hack, he aint even good enough to stay with an aging chelsea side. Cole is all about money, him, his agent and most of england thinks he better then actually is, the fact NO BIG TEAM wanted him tells enough about his lack of quality, the guy is useless, an money grabbing ego freak who would struggle for games at darlington.
a.parker so what ya saying is that LFC,Arsenal & Tottenham are not big teams!!, get a grip you fool. Ask yourself why did Man UTD get Michael Owen last season when no other BIG clubs wanted him, this after receiving £80m for Ronaldo. If anyone was an over-rated ageing hack(older than Cole when he signed and more injury prone)he is, Seriously Man UTD fans need to get a real grip on reality. We have had our medicine time to take yours!!!
To be perfectly honest, apart from a couple, most of these comments are not even worth responding to.
The constant seems to be Michael Owen. Is it not crystal clear that the difference between him and Cole is chalk and cheese? Owen went to a club which had just won it’s third Premiership title in a row, had just appeared in it’s second consecutive Champions League final, winning one of them, and signed for a manager who has won more titles than anyone ever did in English football.
But the biggest difference of all is that he was prepared to accept a two year, pay as you play contract on far less money that he had been earning. Is that the action of a mercenary?
Cole on the other hand went to a club in turmoil, huge doubts about retaining some of it’s biggest names, with a new, respected manager but who has never won anything in a long career. A club which has just experienced one of it’s worst ever seasons finishing in a lowly 7th position and with no Champions League competition in at least his first season. As long as he got the contract he held out for however he was happy to sign the deal otherwise he would have simply gone to any other club that met his demands.
Despite the assumptions made in many of these comments, this was not an article about Liverpool but about Joe Cole and the increasing number of footballers who now have the same mentality as well as Ferguson’s attitude to it. Go back and read the very first paragraph which states that “it has to be made clear that irrespective of where Cole ended up going, these comments would have been precisely the same.” Could it have been made clearer than that?
As for the quoted comments made by a Liverpool supporter, they came through on my Facebook page because as hard is it may be for some of you to believe, I do have some dear friends who happen to support Liverpool. And in case you are not aware, I have just visited his website out of curiosity after it was mentioned in some comments and could not find a single word about Cole on it.
Quite apart from the boring, repetitive comments regarding Owen, the thoughts expressed by stu were sensible ones and a great pity that that there are not many more like them. Don’t worry mate, there’s no need for you to get lambasted for writing on a United site, you have every right to present your views in the thoughtful and intelligent manner that you did.
They are welcome to him, a waste of space more hype than substance.
Goal scoring record at Wet Spam 1 goal every 12 games.
Goal scoring record at Chelsay 1 goal every 7 games.
Hardly prolific for an Attacking midfielder.
Injured 2007.
Injured 2009.
Enjoy seeing him on his Photo shoots.
Simply not United class do it the Si Matt and Sir Alex way through the youth and young talent we develop.
Arsenal a fantastic club- wenger didnt put much effort at all on gettin joe, joe aint ranked by any1 who have no connection with him and it bout time ppl accepts this. The guy plays for cash and bout time bitter pool realizes this, they like an old gf who cant get over owen after he dumped them (you guys want him last summer so stop the crap claims you didnt), diff is owen have pay-as-u-play deal and can still do it, cole cant yet demanded 90k or wouldnt join so stop being sad cause their totally diff.
Utter rubish with the Owen comparisons, can you liverfool “we have not won the league in 20 years but we won alot in the 80’s though” fans wakeup? As pointed again, Owen took a massive pay cut pay per game contract so how isit compared to this merc Cole? Don’t be bitter scousers that we have your ol’ golden boy Mickey, we know you miss him and can’t bear to see him in our colours and no. 7 shirt. Well, shit happens, and United is the bigger club who will not put up with money greedy mercs like joey cole. his lost if he wants to take the harry kewell way.hahahaha! As for my united mates, have faith in the Gaffer! he might be retiring soon (sob, sob) but he still knows whats best! UNITED till I die!!!
Hey guys, comparing Michael Owen to Joe Cole is just like comparing Nelson Mandela with George W Bush!
cole would play best in Man u than any other club just bse man u plays almost the same like Chelsea.
lol… sour grapes by yet an other Man U fan.
You should concentrate on what’s happening in your club.
Joe Cole is probably the coup of this summer.
Hmm, what sour grapes do you mean Danny? Playing against the likes of FK Rabotnicki (WHO?) on a Thursday night in a second division Europa competition?