Ashley Cole’s Book Set To Reignite Arsenal Feud
We all said last summer that things didn’t seem quite right at Arsenal with Ashley Cole after the whole Chelsea/tapping up furore and with Cole’s autobiography about to be published it looks like we’re about to see the England fullback finally have his say.
For a promotional teaser from a footballer’s autobiography, it looks like interesting reading:
“Arsenal hung me out to dry, using me as a scapegoat to get back at Chelsea,” he is quoted in The Sun as saying.
“The board ‘rewarded’ me with an insult and threw years of loyalty back in my face.
“I’ll reveal the shattering truth about who fed me to the sharks. It changed my view forever on the club I regarded as family.”
Seeing as Ashley Cole is still an Arsenal player (although for how long?) it’s astounding that he will burn his bridges so publically in a book while still having the cheek to pocket his sizeable paycheck every week.
The rumours of a Chelsea move have been growing all summer and with the lacklustre Del Horno and Bridge currently occupying the Russian left back berth, we won’t be too surprised to see Cole go. One thing looks certain however and it’s the fact that I don’t believe we’ll see too many copies of Ashley Cole’s autobiography floating around the new club shop at Ashburton Grove this season.
About the author Alan Hylands
Alan is both a former SOTG editor and former World Soccer editor at the New York Times Company. Football-wise, he wishes he was a younger lovechild of Glenn Hoddle and Diego Maradona (not the short, fat, cokehead, religious nut bit obviously...)
Follow me on Twitter: sotgfootball
The quote is incomplete, according to a Sky article. See http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?HLID=403283&CPID=8&title=Cole:+I+was+used+as+a+scapegoat&lid=&channel=Football_Home&f=rss&clid=3
Cole continued: “Contract negotiations broke down and as a player I felt betrayed. I was on trial within football and it was Arsenal AND Chelsea versus me.
“I was fined for holding transfer talks with Chelsea and was synonymous with one of the biggest transfer scandals in soccer.
“I battle to clear my name and a secret deal keeps me at Arsenal.”