Ashley Cole fully deserves his Hall of Fame Award – Once a Gooner, Always a Gooner

Ashley Cole has become the 7th former Gunner to be inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame. No club has more representation than Arsenal. That number could grow with Fabregas and Sol Campbell on the shortlist to be inducted next.

It was classy of the club to acknowledge Cole’s accolade on their official website, given the nature of his transfer to Chelsea and not always an attempt from the player to fix a frosty relationship with Gooners.

Yet, taking any emotion out of your opinion, Cole is the best left back to have played in the Prem and at his peak perhaps the best in the world.

Arsenal Wenger said of Ashley’s Award: “He has spent a lot of time in the Premier League and always with success, so overall he has his just rewards.

“He’s honestly one of the few players who I always say that moved on and continued to develop, and that shows remarkable intelligence and remarkable consistency in the effort. It’s always difficult to make a hierarchy, but he’s certainly the best left-back.”

If many of our fans are honest, they hate him because they loved him.

Cole was one of our own, a rare youngster at the time trusted to progress from the Academy.

Having been part of our set up since a teenager Cole really should have been a future Arsenal captain, the face of the team as we transitioned from Highbury to the Emirates.

While the 43-year-old could have worded things better, with many struggling to relate to nearly crashing your car because your employer is ‘only’ offering you 55,000 pound a week, Cole felt it was an indication of him not being appreciated. He’s often talked about walking round the pitch saying farewell to Highbury with Thierry Henry and resenting the strikers name being chanted, on and off the pitch the priority being that the Frenchman stayed not the defender.

Cole would be proven correct. Accepting 5 million and Gallas from our London rivals was the first piece of evidence that the priority was now raising funds to pay off stadium debt.

While Arsenal haven’t won the title since Cole left, he lifted every domestic honour available at Stamford Bridge.

Working under Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti, naturally he improved defensively but it remains North London where he was the most exciting to watch.

Due to his success across the Capital coinciding with our trophy drought it often gets overlooked he was successful with us as well.

He won two League Championships and Three FA Cups under Arsene Wenger, his understanding with Pires and Henry contributing to our most successful period in our history.

For someone who’s done it all at club level, got more FA Cup medals than anyone else, has represented his nation at 5 major tournaments and is the most capped English full back, Cole doesn’t get celebrated enough.

That might be because of choices he made in his personal life, but on the pitch, Cole was perhaps the one member of the Three Lions ‘Golden Generation’ to consistently perform at his level on the international stage.

Other young coaches would also have had more credit for being assistant coach under Lee Carsley to the England Under 21’s becoming Euros Champions last year.

Cole is getting his flowers this week though by being named the 22nd inductee into the PL Hall Of Fame. In terms of his position, he deserves his own wing.

Once a Gooner always a Gooner

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