Legends
Ashley Cole
- Name
- Ashley Cole
- Years at Chelsea
- 2006–2014
- Position
- Defender
- Honours
- Premier League: 2009–10
- FA Cup: 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12
- League Cup: 2006–07
- FA Community Shield: 2009
- UEFA Champions League: 2011–12
- UEFA Europa League: 2012–13
- Chelsea Players’ Player of the Year: 2008–09, 2010–11
Ashley Cole arrived from Arsenal on the last day of August 2006, at the end of a long transfer saga. Chelsea paid £5 million and William Gallas went the other way. Arsenal fans never forgave him. Ours took him to heart.
In eight seasons he played 338 games and scored 7 goals for Chelsea. The best of them, against Sunderland, was voted Goal of the Season for 2009–10. Twice his team-mates voted him their Players’ Player of the Year (2008–09 and 2010–11), an award that rarely goes to a defender.
He won the 2010 Double, four FA Cups, a League Cup, the 2012 Champions League and the 2013 Europa League. It is hard to find a bigger haul for a left-back.
Munich, 19 May 2012, was his night too. He spent 120 minutes up against Robben and Ribéry, then stepped up in the shoot-out and scored his penalty. Moments later Drogba sent the cup to London.
Cole was a big part of why Chelsea’s left side stayed shut for a decade: quick, relentless, always in position. Fans voted him into the club’s all-time XI for its 120th anniversary.
Sources
- Chelsea FC — Team of 120 (left-back in the fans’ XI (the article says five FA Cups; we count four from the honours list))
- Wikipedia — List of Chelsea F.C. players (338 apps / 7 goals)
- Wikipedia — Ashley Cole (August 2006 deal involving Gallas, Munich penalty, awards, 2014 exit)
- Wikimedia Commons — AshleyColeFinale12.jpg (photo: rayand, CC BY 2.0)
