Andy Cole - England

[KB1862]

Andy Cole definitely had a lot to offer. They called him Cole the goal for a reason. Prolific at both Newcastle and Manchester United during the 90's.

However, around that time, England had a whole host of strikers to choose from. The likes of Shearer, Sheringham, Les Ferdinand, Ian Wright, Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler. It was always going to be a tough ask to get in to that England squad as a striker. I think he perhaps could of or should have been given more of an opportunity maybe a bit of rotation every now and again. Had he been around a bit later, in a different generation, he would have been given more caps.

[liampie]

ian wright, teddy sherringham, dion dublin, les ferdinand, robbie fowler, chris sutton, kevin phillips, stan collymore and andy cole could have had more international caps then they got. fowler for me was more of a threat than cole and very unlucky not to have been featured more for england.

the options up front for england in the mid to late 90s were a joke but most players needed to work well with alan shearer which is why some did not get as many appearances.

[Robbie]

The rule is you play your best available players for England, and we had a large number of excellent strikers to choose from in the 90s.

Cole could have had more appearances, but he was just unlucky unfortunately 

[KB1862]

10 minutes ago, liampie said:

fowler for me was more of a threat than cole and very unlucky not to have been featured more for england.

100%. I'd have chosen Fowler over Cole tbf. Fowler was an unbelievable striker, definitely deserved to feature more for England.

 

11 minutes ago, liampie said:

most players needed to work well with alan shearer

That was the main issue in some strikers who perhaps should or could have appeared more didn't have as many caps. Sheringham and Shearer, especially in Euro 96, was a very good partnership and Shearer often acknowledges Teddy in his podcasts as his favourite striker partner because of how well they linked up and worked as one. 

@Robbie there were so many to choose from it was just the case of who do you leave out to make room for the others worthy of a shot?

[DangerousSausage]

Probably not to be honest. Every generation produces players who are amazing for their clubs but don't show the same form for England, and Cole fitted nicely in that category. I don't recall him getting a run of games though, he tended to get called up, failed to impress and was dropped again for the next game. The competition at that time certainly didn't help matters. Robbie Fowler came much closer to reproducing his club form for England and he was a bit-part player too.

Sheringham was a quality player, but I remember him being injured at lot. The emergence of Michael Owen didn't help him.

[KB1862]

@DangerousSausage Totally agree, to a point. Shearer in 1996 hadn't scored for something like 2 years for England but Terry Venables stuck by him and told him that he'll still continue selecting him despite a lack of goals on the International stage. Shearer did start scoring granted but same could have been for Andy Cole given more of a chance. It's all maybes, maybe he would have scored more or maybe not had he been selected more. But, again to your point, the emergence of Owen definitely put a halt to Cole getting in.