Wembley, Saturday tea time, October 11. It’s the Dr. Who slot, but international football in the shape of an England World Cup qualifier has taken over TV’s prime time slot...and one A. Cole has taken on the role of villain.
Hang on a sec...what’s that? Oh yeah...England are on ITV now...that’s why we’re looking at Andy Townsend and chorusing “come back Wrighty, all is forgiven...” (“....NOT”, as Lawro might add smugly). Never mind, the analogy can still work...we’re in the You’ve Been Framed slot, and Ashley’s just made a blunder that would sit nicely on the gaffes & cock-ups show. And knowing the moral fibre of the man, he’d be happy to send it in himself and snaffle the £250 on offer.
Tyldesley picks up on the boos. He has to, it’s a live game, and they’re very audible. It’s anyone’s guess how many of the 89,000 present are joining in, but it’s enough. He’s made a cock up, opines Clive...and suddenly he is Ashley Cole of Chelsea, not Ashley Cole of England.
WRONG WRONG WRONG!!! It’s not because he’s had an ultra-lax moment which has gifted a goal to an opponent who’ll grab any gift they can get because they lack...er, gifts. Sure the cock up is the spark for the boos, but in itself it’s not the reason. Neither is it because the crowd is dominated by bitter Arsenal fans or Chelsea haters.
The stark reason, and it’s one that the mainstream media is scared to voice, is that Cole is incredibly unpopular. Every fan knows this, and we all know why. Ashley Cole neatly encapsulates all the worst vestiges of the modern game...and we also all know the two specific incidents that sum the man up.
Yep, Arsenal “taking the piss” (his words, not mine) when offering him only £55,000 a week rather than the ‘promised’ £60,000. And that reaction to ref Mike Riley when being booked at Spurs, an incident that pretty much single-handedly led to the FA’s well-meaning if somewhat clumsily handed ‘respect for refs’ campaign.
Cheating on a wife who is fast becoming a national treasure simply confirmed his position as football’s public enemy no. 1. Of course David Beckham, the world’s highest profile celebrity footballer, once held that less than coveted role. He turned things around so utterly that not only do his England cameos these days see him cheered to the rafters, but also when he was allegedly caught playing away, he was widely sympathised with, and his wife got the brickbats for not moving to Madrid.
Such a reversal of fortune for Cole seems unlikely. Even with Wayne Bridge showing once again in Belarus that he’s not half the player Cole is (certainly not whilst he spends every weekend getting splinters in his arse), Cole the anti-icon will always engender stronger reactions than Cole the international class footballer.
There are those who say supporters should never boo their own...after all, doesn’t it go against the very concept of ‘supporting’? Others may not go that far, but believe that the elite players of the national team should be immune from such reactions when representing the nation.
The problem is, what other way do we have to show our growing distaste for the way in which the game is going? It’s TV rights and corporate shindigs that feather modern football’s nest, not the traditional fan, so boycotting games won’t do the trick. Hardly anyone bought Ashley’s book, and fair play to the Arsenal fans that coordinated a campaign to ensure Perry Groves’ biog outsold it handsomely...but Cole had still pocketed the sizeable advance from his publisher anyway. No doubt as he nears retirement age we’ll get ‘My Defence: Part Two’ in which he bemoans how misunderstood he has been.
As radio and TV phone-ins get ever blander, a good old fashioned boo at the match is pretty much the only channel open to those of us who wish to voice discontent at the game’s ills. And Cole has made himself a prime target solely through his own actions.
For all his riches, Beckham comes across as a relatively grounded, decent bloke. Gerrard seems about as in touch with his roots as it’s possible for a modern millionaire superstar footballer to be. Even bad boys like Rooney & Rio still come across as relatively down to earth and, in the case of the latter, quickly maturing.
Cole appears to possess none of these traits.
Of course his manager and team mates have leapt to his defence. And so they should, because in a team sport you have to do just that. But this is just the latest example of how the bond that once existed between fans and players is not only strained, in many cases it is completely severed...especially at the highest level where the rewards that take those players away from both the fans and, in many cases, reality, are the greatest.
Much-hyped American comedienne Sarah Silverman was booed in London the other week as punters felt understandably short-changed paying £50 only to get a 40 minute set. As modern football continues to position itself as part of the ‘entertainment industry’, with prices and hyperbole to match, its stars will have to accept that they are going to be judged in the same way.
.
