Quite an interesting read on how the move to LFC came about and how Christian Purslow went over Rafa's head to get him. Another example of what an idiot Purslow really is ... ----------------------------------------- At lunchtime on Saturday, April 3, 2010, Joe Cole scored a famous backheel at Old Trafford that helped Chelsea towards their last Premier League title and earned him a place in the folklore of the club. Even when the ball was making its way into Edwin van der Saarâs goal through the legs of Patrice Evra, though, it had already become clear that Coleâs future lay away from Stamford Bridge regardless of any heroics against Manchester United. Contract talks had long since become protracted with Chelsea no longer convinced of his worth to the club following a serious knee injury and, according to reports at the time, the club baulked at Coleâs demand for a pay increase that would have taken his weekly wage from £80,000 to £100,000. However, there was someone in football who was willing to offer the England international that kind of deal though and in the minutes that followed Coleâs famous backheel he sent text messages boasting of how he was going to make Cole a Liverpool player. That man was Christian Purslow, Liverpoolâs then chief executive, who accompanied the messages he sent with a request for the information to go no further or else the deal would be jeopardised. So clandestine was Operation Joe Cole that even Rafael Benitez, the then Liverpool manager, was not aware of it. Benitez had already made his feelings clear on Cole, in public as well. Prior to Liverpoolâs defeat by Arsenal at the Emirates on February 10, 2010, the Spaniard had held talks with Purslow at Londonâs Melia White House Hotel with the pair discussing potential transfer targets for the following summer. Having sold Robbie Keane the previous winter and being left with only the increasingly injury-prone Fernando Torres and the unproven David Ngog as frontline attackers, Benitez made it plain that his priority when the transfer window opened was to sign a forward. Purslow told Benitez that he had a better idea â Cole was likely to become available in the summer and better still he would be on a free transfer. Benitezâs angry reaction was such that Purslow was left in no uncertain terms that his manager would not even consider the proposed move. So volcanic was it that guests staying at the luxury hotel were left stunned by the exchange that took place in a reception area that was also open to the public. As far as Benitez was concerned, if a free transfer was the best that Liverpool â then struggling under the weight of the debts piled onto the club by Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr â could do then the only position he wanted filling was in attack. His suggestion was to move for Marouane Chamakh who was himself set to become available on a free transfer four months later. Purslow disagreed with his manager, and with the assessment of the likes of Jose Mourinho, Fabio Capello and Carlo Ancelotti, who all doubted Cole's ongoing ability to cut it at a big club, and continued to pursue the former West Ham United player. Chamakh, meanwhile, joined Arsenal where he remains despite a less than productive spell that seems destined to come to an end as soon as Arsene Wenger can find a new home for the Moroccan. A similar situation is unfolding at Anfield where Brendan Rodgers has inherited a player who has been taken off injured in the two competitive matches in which he has featured in for his new manager. Rodgers would like to offload Cole but the problem is there isnât much of a market for a player who has shown precious little to justify Liverpoolâs decision to sign him and who, a moderately successful season on loan at Lille notwithstanding, has thus far failed to disprove the opinion of the Chelsea hierarchy that he was past his best. Even those negatives, though, could probably be overcome if he was not earning astronomical wages and herein lies the problem. Depending on who you listen to, Cole is being paid anything between £90,000-£110,000 by Liverpool every single week. Over the course of the four-year contract he signed when joining the club in July 2010, that equates to a minimum of £18,720,000. In return, Cole has started just nine league games and scored only two goals. It is madhouse economics and during a period when Liverpool, who recently paid off Alberto Aquilani just to get the Italian (a £17 million fee followed by weekly wages of £80,000) off their books, are striving desperately to get their finances in order, Coleâs nine-minute cameo at West Bromwich Albion at the weekend could not have been more badly timed. If the sight of Cole clutching his hamstring shortly after coming off the bench was telling, then even more so was the reaction of his manager when the 30-year-old indicated that he was unsure whether or not he could continue. Unlike Cole, Rodgers had no doubts and replaced him immediately with the out-of-favour Andy Carroll. The injury means Cole could now be out for the next four weeks, a layoff that would mean the midfield player will only be fit for action once the transfer window has closed. In the meantime, Rodgers is likely to be imploring his physiotherapy team to work some magic, more out of a desire to stand at least an outside chance of moving Cole and his wages on than out of a belief that he can become the first Liverpool manager to extract value for money from him on the pitch. None of this is the fault of Cole. He merely did what any professional would do when offered such a lucrative contract after realising that his future lay elsewhere. He arrived at Liverpool with the best of intentions and his professionalism and value as a team-mate has never been in question even though his worth to the team and value for money quite clearly are. In some ways, albeit not in a financial sense, Cole is a victim in all this. His career is stagnating to an alarming extent, so much so that his name is not even mentioned in dispatches when England squads are mentioned. He moved to the wrong club at the wrong time and now appears trapped there by a contract that makes potential buyers run a mile. For someone who has always lived for football and for the joy of playing the game that is a tragedy, even if it is an extortionately well remunerated one. Somehow, Cole and Liverpool need to be put out of their mutual misery. The past two years have shown that they are not good for one another and Rodgers is now the third Liverpool manager, following on from Roy Hodgson and Kenny Dalglish, who is struggling to find a use for him. Should Rodgers manage to add to his squad before the transfer window closes at the end of this month then it is almost inconceivable that he will be keen for Cole to remain but for a parting of the ways to occur one of two things must happen. Either Cole must accept that his Liverpool career is over and look for a new club in the knowledge that wherever he goes he will have to accept a significant pay cut, or else Liverpool will have to come up with a pay off to help ease him through the Shankly Gates. Whatever happens, that backheel at Old Trafford must be starting to feel like it happened in another lifetime for Joe Cole.
I agree that Cole isn't really a bad guy in this and did what anyone would do trying to keep his finances and career alive by coming to us. However if he were really a victim and a prisoner to his wages he could take a pay cut and move on. Coles not a bad guy but he isn't a victim either and I certainly don't feel sorry for him.
For such a gifted footballer, its a real same to be honest. He was called by some ''Gazza without the baggage'', he was considered that gifted. I like him as a player I really do, but when he's not fit, he is as much use as a condom in a convent.
I agree. But all the good work that Purslow did on the commercial side have been truly overshadowed by his interference in footballing matters. Decision to buy certain players, to get rid of Rafa etc has all contributed to our downfall.
who knows. Said "arguement in a hotel" is not really out there at the time was it "So volcanic was it that guests staying at the luxury hotel were left stunned by the exchange that took place in a reception area that was also open to the public." if this happened the rpess would be full of it cos its a golden story. the basci tenant that cole is useless to us and i nthe way of others coming up is quite reasonable though... if you were pacheco or stelring what would you think watching the guy limp around while blocking any chance you have cos the boss is pally with him.
I don't quite get the "trapped there by a contract that makes potential buyers run a mile" comment. Really? So he's not allowed to take a pay cut and go to a team that is paying first team football? Or offer to rip up his contract and go somewhere on a free? 99% of footballers care about money and you can't blame them most of the time. Short careers, get as much as you can now and hope that you earn enough so you're et for life. But when you've bene earning 90k a week for the last 10 years or so, is dropping down for £40k for the last 3 or 4 years of your career going to hurt you that much? Especially when you are garaunteed to play more football.
i'd love to be victimed by 50k epr week... I mean i'd really give up playing for west ham in mid table to keep the extra 50k... do the media really expect us to forget why cheslea let him go (cos we were jut hoping he wasn't as bad as feared like duff wasn't too bad for fulahm) 90k per week is like winning the lottery for a guy who wasn't ever going to get back for england nor win things. kind of like michael owen hitting the euro millions by having utd sign him up and bench him to get a couple of medals he'd no right to... see? joe cole won our lottery.. a lesser but still significant amount of cash by signing for us. 4 years x 20k extras over and above chelsea's offer = 4.16mil... who'd turn down 4mil!!! plus the signing on fees etc. right now if joe cole can get say 50k per week off of west ham then he's going to lose on 40k epr weekfor 2 years = 4mil so he'd need a big pay off and a singing on fee of 2mil just to break even! why would you? well the only reason i can think of is cole cole could geta 4 year deal from west ham at 50k and add that to his singing on fee plus a pay off from us. then it's like hitting another lottery jackpot isn't it.
I understand people's comments regarding 'victim on £50k per week' and similar situations for footballers that claim to be unhappy for whatever reason, but at the same time, money isn't everything. Professional football players are multi-millionaires by the time they reach 24-25 years old and they don't peak until around 26-27 years old. IMO, only a handful are in it for the money at that stage, most want to achieve something in the game. If you get the opportunity to achieve what you want whilst getting a shed load of money, why not take it?
To play regular first team football. That should be more than enough reason to leave and take a pay cut (I say pay cut but £50k a week is still a ridiculous amount of money).
Huh... bug with the quote button! If he's not in it for money he wouldn't mind going elsewhere for less. The fact he hasn't gone suggests he is after money. I don't blame him... I mean, if two companies offered me a job... one paid twice the other but I'd get no personal glory from it... I'd take the one that paid twice as much. Even if it meant giving up on having my face emblazened on the employee of the month wall. Thing is... if he wants to go so that he can play first team footy again... he isn't a prisoner... there is just a financial trade off...
Footballers are creatures of habit. Joe Cole is on £90k a week and its going to be hard for him to be on any less. Whilst he's injured, he's going to be impossible to shift.
Why can't we do with Cole, what Manchester City did with Adebayor and that is pay a settlement fee and just get him off the books.
I expect this is what we may have to do as last resort! Certainly we need to get rid of him, he will offer absolutely zero for the team if we keep him. Seems to be the new Kewell and even when he gets his chance he limps off after 10-20 minutes, am I the only one who gets a little suspicious that he keeps getting these knocks when given playing time?
I agree with that, hence me saying they are millionaires by the time they reach their peak. If they love football then they should no longer be in it for the money and 100% committed to achieving something in the game. Of course, there will be someone else come along that says Joe Cole as won all the domestic honours available and is now gathering his pension plan... Edit: Adebayor as just moved from Man City to Spurs. He refused to budge from his reported £175k per week but Tottenham refused to break their £80k per week budget. What happened...? That's right, Man City are paying the difference for two years (what Adebayor had remaining on his contract at Man City). I fear that we will have to do something similar to shift Cole and his £100k+ (I'd guess at £120k) wages... (Spurs reportedly paid £5m for Adebayor. The £100k per week top up will cost Man City over £10m. Work that out!)
