Cole Calls Time On Career

Ex-Red Andy Cole has announced his retirement from football, bringing down the curtain on a 19-year career.

Cole enjoyed spells with 13 clubs including Arsenal, Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City and Nottingham Forest, where sadly his career came to an end not befitting his impresssive contribution to the game.

"It's not the ideal ending," Cole told The Times. "It just wasn't working out. I told them from the outset that I didn't want to go there to sit on the bench because I didn't want to be perceived as sitting back and making easy money."

Despite the slightly sour taste of his career's final act, Cole has plenty to look back on and feel proud about. "I wouldn't change a thing. I've lived the dream," he said.

Undoubtedly his most successful spell came during his six trophy-laden years at Old Trafford, where he won five Premier League titles, two FA Cups and a Champions League winners medal as part of 1999's famous Treble.

He served as United's no.9 with distinction, scoring 121 goals in 275 appearances. In his first season following a then-record £6.25million transfer from Newcastle, Cole scored five goals in the 9-0 rout of Ipswich Town at OT - still an individual and team best in the Premier League.

Cole left United in December 2001, and understandably did not scale the heights he had with the Reds. However, he did score the winning goal for Blackburn in the 2002 Worthington Cup final at the Millennium Stadium.

The 37-year-old has already been tipped to pursue a coaching career. Blackburn are reported to have expressed an interest in giving him his break behind the scenes.