"People might batter me, at the FA or whatever- but I think there's too much pampering. When I got my first pro contract aged 17 (at Chelsea) and was travelling with the team to Premier League games, I still had to wash Dennis Wise's boots."
"I used to walk to home matches through the crowds of fans going to the game and used to play a Premier League game and then get on a bus to go home. Today, these kids are getting driven everywhere. I was working six days a week to try and get to where I am now when I was young; I sacrificed all my mates. These kids have to realise it's a job. They've got to be washing senior players boots' so you have that authority over them; I see kids today getting showered after training and just leaving their kit on the floor and I'm like 'what?' They're not respecting."
Cole even uses the example of his younger brother, Ivan, who has had trials with Premier League sides Sunderland and QPR and is still only 15.
"He's going to get there if he keeps working hard and stops listening to outside influences," the England man said. "A problem he had was thinking just because I'm his brother, he could get into any club he wanted. Kids these days have to realise they're going to get knockbacks. I got rejected by Brentford- six months later, Chelsea offered me a contract. I was like 'what scout have you got there then? He can't see talent!"
Whenever the 29 year old speaks, you always know that he does so completely honestly and from the heart and it is incredibly refreshing to hear a senior pro tell it how it is. Cole's right- there are a lot of spoilt, greedy, lazy young footballers about today who want a shortcut to the top and have to learn that there's no such thing. The big man's contract is up in the summer and whilst he's not the most talented striker on our books, he's easily the most committed and you can't replace his kind of professionalism.
By Alex Shilling, News Editor
@alexshilling
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