Complacent Cole deserves boos
Mon Oct 13 08:57AM
Early Doors never thought it would see anybody leap to Ashley Cole's defence.
This is a man who embodies everything odious about the modern game. Who left his boyhood club to chase money; who became the face (or the back) of anti-respect when he turned away from a referee; who played the field despite landing a pop star wife; who published a remarkably self-pitying autobiography that sold only 4000 copies.
Now he is cast as a victim after England fans booed him for his calamitous pass that led to Kazakhstan's goal on Saturday.
Words like 'disgraceful', 'mindless' and 'idiots' are bandied about by players, managers and pundits who reach the po-faced conclusion that anyone who booed Cole is worse than Hitler.
First of all, there is the namby-pamby argument that nobody should be subjected to public ridicule.
Tell that to Ashley's more successful other half Cheryl, currently appearing on a TV programme that has spent the last two months laughing at poor saps who think they can sing but can't.
Next comes the claim that the fans are to blame for England's poor home record. Wembley will never become a fortress unless people get behind the team and show unwavering support.
Surely this puts the cart before the horse? Fans wouldn't be booing if the team wasn't so crap.
The crowd had already endured 68 minutes of utter tosh with some patience before Cole's party piece allowed Zhambyl Kukeyev to race through and score the most embarrassing goal England have conceded since Davide 'General' Gualtieri took just eight seconds to beat David Seaman for San Marino.
Rio Ferdinand also deserves blame, incidentally. If he had reacted to Cole's ricket as quickly as Kukeyev did, he would have cut the ball out easily.
Only then did the jeers rain down on Cole. But it is important to understand that he wasn't booed for the mistake as much as what the mistake represented.
For reasons that are painfully obvious, Early Doors doesn't condone booing people for incompetence. Cole was guilty of more than that.
That San Marino goal in 1993 came from another left-back error, by Stuart Pearce. He under-hit a backpass and San Marino scored. But it was merely rubbish, not reprehensible.
When people say Cole didn't make his mistake on purpose, they are wrong. Of course he did it on purpose.
ED doesn't mean he deliberately gave away a goal. But he knew that the pass was showy and risky, and he played it anyway because it was only Kazakhstan.
In nearly a decade of club football, has Cole ever done anything as stupid as that? (On the pitch, that is.) Would he ever, in a million years, think of doing that for Chelsea? Of course not.
Cole personified the entire England team, which was suffused with complacency. Where the 4-1 win in Croatia was full of urgency, drive and ambition, Saturday's match was totally flat.
England were so convinced that goals would come by divine right, they couldn't be bothered to make anything happen.
It was the same at the back. In the first half, rather than making an obvious clearance, Matthew Upson attempted a dangerous backpass to David James. Presumably because booting the ball into Row Z against such lowly opposition would have been embarrassing.
A couple of minutes before the first goal, Kazakhstan nearly scored after Cole was caught miles out of position.
Where was he? Vomiting on the floor of a black cab? Watching X-Factor? Debating some p*ss-take contract offer?
Clearly, England were not trying, and Cole was the worst offender.
Clubs and the FA are happy to view football as a product when it suits them. They take full advantage when people pay huge sums to consume football matches, replica shirts, Peter Crouch calendars and Wes Brown alarm clocks.
Despite this relentless commercialisation, there seems to remain an old-fashioned view that the people who shell out thousands of pounds a year for this tat should not be viewed as discriminating customers.
They are expected to shell out £70 a head for tickets, get a crappy old train to a dank corner of North-West London (no parking at English grounds, obviously), spend another tenner on a programme, then buy overpriced hot dogs and fizzy drinks.
And then they are expected not to complain when they see something as lifeless and complacent as the first 70 minutes against Kazakhstan?
Nobody is forcing people to come to football matches. If they are not entertained, they won't be back. That's business. And if you don't want football to be a business, bring prices back down to 1966 levels, when World Cup tickets set you back all of seven bob.
Otherwise, you must expect people to make their voices heard when they feel short-changed.
And who said unconditional support was the best way to help your team win, anyway? Why is it that fans are expected to sit there (sorry, stand there) and cheer, clap and whoop, whatever fetid tripe their team feeds them?
Managers who take this approach - well, Kevin Keegan - are ridiculed for it. There are times when you need a good old-fashion rollicking to sort things out - and the booing of Cole was the fans' version of the hairdryer treatment.
Players are mollycoddled and protected from reality enough as it is. Do they really need fans to overlook their failings and give them a pat on the back they clearly don't deserve?
England's performance in general - and Cole's in particular - was unacceptable and they needed to be told so.
Things improved markedly after the booing started - do you think it was a coincidence? Well, yes, it probably was.
The late glut of goals probably had less to do with the abuse meted out to Cole than England's realisation that defending set-pieces is no more a part of Kazakh culture than naked wrestling or the running of the Jew.
But it's fun to boo Ashley Cole.
- - -
Disagree with the above? Well, you're in good company. Jonathan Symcox explains why booing simply isn't on. And Reda Maher agrees with him. Early Doors thinks they are both fools.
- - -
QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Steven Gerrard: "It's up to the manager whether he plays me and Frank [Lampard] in central midfield or plays a three and changes the formation."
Only for the staggering arrogance in Gerrard's statement. It hasn't even occurred to him that he might be dropped.
EXCHANGE OF THE WEEKEND: Paul Dickov on Goals on Sunday, proving he is just as troublesome as a pundit as he was as a player.
Pleasingly, Robbie Savage was the target of his mischief, forcing Chris Kamara to defuse a potentially embarrassing situation.
Savage on Scotland 'striker' Chris Iwelumo: "I didn't expect to hear that sound coming out of his mouth."
Dickov: "Why?"
Savage: "Well, er.."
[Awkward silence...]
Kamara: "Because he's coloured!! HAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! It's OK, you can say it!!!"
- - -
FOREIGN VIEW: Early Doors is bracing itself for the worst. Despite France coming from two goals down to draw in Romania on Saturday, the most entertaining man in international football could still get the push. The French FA meets on Wednesday to discuss Raymond Domenech's position.
wayne bridge miles or i dont know, but he's no on his game right now, leading with the little head i think
From roxydgurl on Mon Oct 13 12:58PMWe shouldnt boo our own team it makes us look like knobs as a Nation
From anne_helm on Mon Oct 13 01:00PMHi Rox, welcome back, where you been?
Do you follow the USA international team?
From kgh_r on Mon Oct 13 01:03PMYes, a great article. Good that you also mentioned that tw*t Upson's great backpass - James got marked down in one review for not dealing with it very well. I think most people (including James) were wondering why the f***ing idiot chose to do what he did. At least James dug him out of that hole! I'm also suprised Lampard got away without a booing - another awful game from surely the most overrated player in the Premier League. A couple of half decent crosses and the world thinks he's God's gift. F**k off 'Lamps' and never darken the England door again!
From p_strutt on Mon Oct 13 01:03PMI agree Marc Diana rocked but Laura was the bomb for me and I still think she is the winner.
The rest were pretty average and the song choices were absolute @#$%.
But Pater Kays 'Britain's Got The Pop Factor and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly On Ice' was the best TV I have watched I was rolling.
From anne_helm on Mon Oct 13 01:04PMHey Bob stil keeping your winter clothes on no races this morning
From anne_helm on Mon Oct 13 01:06PMHey Roxy I missed you there hows it going?
From anne_helm on Mon Oct 13 01:07PM4 in a row = hoover
From anne_helm on Mon Oct 13 01:07PMSomeone mentioned SWP earlier. I thought he was absolutely terrible.
He continuously ran with his head down until he lost the ball.From kgh_r on Mon Oct 13 01:08PMface it roxy ashley is the best we got
From milesandy73 on Mon Oct 13 01:09PMHi Anne. Winter could be upon us any time now. No century races just shows how a good topic and a well written article can create a proper discussion.
From kgh_r on Mon Oct 13 01:11PMAfternoon All
If someone makes a bad mistake for your club, you shout at them and call them useless. Why not for your country? Maybe the booing went on a bit longer than was necessary but it was Ashley Cole, sure one of the most despicable players in todays game. He did get a whack in the knackers though so I think it all evens itself out.
From rob_snaith on Mon Oct 13 01:11PMMy god. I could write a whole book on how moronnic this article is on it's own, let alone all the responses backing it up.
Lets set a few idiotic points straight (first from the article):
1 - ED - 'Next comes the claim that the fans are to blame for England's poor home record. Wembley will never become a fortress unless people get behind the team and show unwavering support.
Surely this puts the cart before the horse? Fans wouldn't be booing if the team wasn't so @#$%.'
ED must be a seriously retarded teenager. Not only is the argument wrong - in the claim of cart or horse, even if you accept it as true that fans wouldn't boo if the team wasn't @#$% - it's still wrong.
All teams play badly at times. All players make mistakes. The fans have a choice what to do in this scenario, either cheer them regardless (a proper fan) - or boo them (someone who thinks they are watching a pantomime). If the players are boo'd it can start a vicious circle.
Secondly - given how much better home teams play there is huge evidence that you need a following BEFORE you can play at your best.
ED, get a clue
From johnnywilkinson on Mon Oct 13 01:11PMAbsolutely disgusting so called England Fans booing Ashley Cole. Yes he made a mistake, so did Gerrard, Lampard, Barry, to name few.
Get behind the team instead of finding faults all the time.
Top of the league, 9 points, what else do we want ??????
From ken.treherne1 on Mon Oct 13 01:11PMHey Rob how are you buddie?
From anne_helm on Mon Oct 13 01:12PMI bet those who booed were not arsenal fans but those 4000 who were fool enough to buy and then read cole's biography. Absolute C..T!
From hamad_nawaz on Mon Oct 13 01:12PM2 - ED - 'First of all, there is the namby-pamby argument that nobody should be subjected to public ridicule.
Tell that to Ashley's more successful other half Cheryl, currently appearing on a TV programme that has spent the last two months laughing at poor saps who think they can sing but can't.'
What Ashley Cole and footballers do has nothing to do with a TV programme. At all. Infact to even suggest such once again confirms Eds idiocy.
Secondly, noone is claiming that people should never be ridiculed, we live in the real world and it happens. Our point is that it wont help to improve them (or in this case, improve their play). If your aim when you go into a football match is to ridicule players then again you aren't a football fan.
From johnnywilkinson on Mon Oct 13 01:14PMGood thanks Anne, and u?
From rob_snaith on Mon Oct 13 01:14PMHi Helmster how was your weekend hunni?
From fitbutfrustrated on Mon Oct 13 01:15PMjohnnywilkinson is a @#$%!
From jude_surf on Mon Oct 13 01:17PM3 - ED 'When people say Cole didn't make his mistake on purpose, they are wrong. Of course he did it on purpose.
ED doesn't mean he deliberately gave away a goal. But he knew that the pass was showy and risky, and he played it anyway because it was only Kazakhstan.'
What a ridiculous statement. You argue that he did it in purpose then you contradict yourself by confirming that all that was deliberate was what you claim is his idea to be 'showy' - which means the ERROR was not deliberate. More importantly than that, no-one is denying that he made a mistake, a bad one, but it is no more costly than Iwelumo missing a golden opportunity to win the match for Scotland. Infact, given that we still won the game it is LESS costly than that error - yet did the Scots start laying into Iwelumo? No, and why? Because us English are such arrogant @#$% we think we can demand perfection from footballers just because they get paid. Well wake up, you can't.
From johnnywilkinson on Mon Oct 13 01:18PMMan Utd's players saved England again...
From jude_surf on Mon Oct 13 01:19PMActually that was a lie. I'm tired and grumpy, had a heavy weekend on the pop and had to get a train at 6.40 this morning to come back to INverness. The train got terminated less than half way there because of another one breaking down on the line in front of it so we had to get on a @#$%ty replacement bus. Which meant I got into work even later and have about 30 phone messages to answer!
And U?
From rob_snaith on Mon Oct 13 01:19PMAshley Cole sucks!
Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!
From jude_surf on Mon Oct 13 01:20PM4 - 'ED' 'England were so convinced that goals would come by divine right, they couldn't be bothered to make anything happen.
It was the same at the back. In the first half, rather than making an obvious clearance, Matthew Upson attempted a dangerous backpass to David James. Presumably because booting the ball into Row Z against such lowly opposition would have been embarrassing.'
So now not only do you demand a good result, a good performance, you also demand a mistake-free game? My god do you even know what football is? Ironically it is YOU who is thinking you have a 'divine right' to a perfect game of football just because you pay a £50 ticket to watch the match, or didn't even do that and watched it on TV. Until you can do better, or until the MANAGER believes someone else would have been better for England, your criticisms simply criticise yourself and England.
From johnnywilkinson on Mon Oct 13 01:20PMChelsea suck!
From jude_surf on Mon Oct 13 01:21PMNewcastle Rugby suck!
From jude_surf on Mon Oct 13 01:22PMJust trying to see how many plural swearwords get through....
@#$% @#$% twats @#$% @#$% dicks pricksFrom kgh_r on Mon Oct 13 01:22PM5 - ED - 'England's performance in general - and Cole's in particular - was unacceptable and they needed to be told so.'
Firstly, any other international team would be delighted with 5-1.
Secondly, Cole made 1 mistake but apart from that he had a good game, giving England width and working hard, especially in the first half.
Thirdly, you say it was unacceptable? To who? So now you get to decide how good we have to be as a team and if the players don't live up to your 'dream' you say it's unacceptable? I say you have no right to decide what is acceptable and what isn't, and for you to think you do shows the arrogance you claim Ashley Cole has.From johnnywilkinson on Mon Oct 13 01:23PMJohnnywilkinson, that's because Iwelumo isn't an arrogant, cash-grabbing waste of semen who think's he's god's gift. He will be reliving that moment for the rest of his life and feeling bad about it. Ashley Cole has probably already forgotten why he was getting booed in the first place.
From rob_snaith on Mon Oct 13 01:23PM
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