The West Ham United legend hung up his boots this week.
West Ham skipper Mark Noble paid a glowing tribute to Joe Cole, when speaking exclusively to the club’s official website, and suggested that the recently retired Englishman is an even better person than he was a footballer.
The 37-year-old called time on his illustrious career this week, having won three Premier League titles, two FA Cups, and earned 56 caps for the England national team.
Cole began his career with West Ham, and went on to make 187 appearances during the course of two separate spells with the east London outfit.
The Islington-born midfielder will surely go down as one of the best players of his generation, and although his most successful years were spent with Chelsea, he will always be considered as a Hammers legend.
Noble spoke exclusively to West Ham’s official website, and raved about Cole, as both a footballer and a person:
“I was a young schoolboy at West Ham when Joe was breaking through into the first team – and he was the example that everyone in the Academy looked up to. As time went on, I watched him, played against him, and admired him. He has had a fantastic career and won virtually every honour there is to win. However, I’d actually like to put football to one side when I talk about Joe Cole. I only got to really know him as a person when he came back to West Ham for the second time, and he was exactly the man I thought he would be. We got on so well and he had such a positive influence on me. He is a great friend and we still speak regularly – and I know he will be a success in whatever he does next. The biggest compliment I can pay Joe is that he is an even better person than he was a footballer, and that really is saying something.”
Cole was part of England’s so-called ‘Golden Generation’, but West Ham fans will always remember him as the incredibly talented teenager who burst onto the scene in 1998.
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