“You never know. Maybe, in the future, I can get to a big club.”
These were Carlton Cole’s words soon after he signed for West Ham back in the summer of 2006. The striker went on to score on his debut against Charlton Athletic and led some to think that he might be right in his vision of using West Ham as a stepping stone to a bigger club. Yet six years, a couple of failed moves, a dodgy knee and 7 England caps later he’s still at Boleyn Ground. He splits people’s opinions more than most but on the back of one of his most successful seasons in the claret and blue and the announcement that he took a pay cut to stay with the club for our season in the Championship, the question remains are we being too hard on our number 9?
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Cole made his name as a 19-year old at Chelsea when he hit an amazing 37 goals in his first season as a reserve team player. Quite rightly there were
high hopes at Chelsea however confidence issues came into his game and as Claudio Ranieri remarked of striker “I watched Carlton play for the reserves and I saw two animals in him. One was a rabbit and the other a lion. I want to see that lion come out in him more often.”
After a number of unsuccessful loans with Charlton, Wolves and Aston Villa he signed for West Ham yet his confidence and negative thoughts remained.
He worked with former professional golfer and sports psychologist Dan Abrahams to combat this issue. He focused on working with Carlton on improving his self-belief and confidence, thinking positively and banishing automatic negative thoughts.
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Dan commented that Carlton started to question “his future. He forgot the dozens of goals he had scored; he didn’t listen to praise. His only vision became one of him failing. His only voice became one of ‘I can’t.” Yet they worked religiously together on attempting to squash the striker’s negative thoughts. “Your brain is brilliant at focusing on problems as you play,” said Abrahams. “Make a blunder in front of goal and your brain will do its best to bring your thoughts back to this moment time and time again.”
They worked hard together and Carlton committed to the process of improvement and being proactive with his inner voice on the pitch. He also learnt greatly from managers Alan Curbishley and Gianfranco Zola. And it was under Zola that he flourished and his improvement was noticeable.
However it has been remarked that over the last few years’ injuries seemed to have curtailed his progress. However after a successful season in the Championship and a chance to lead the line once again in Andy Carroll’s absence it might be time for everyone to get behind Carlton and for him to unleash the ‘lion’ once again.
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I don’t care about the pay cut,he should be glad to get anything from us,at the end of the day lets not mince words as a lone striker he is as bad as they come,if the yardstick is mike small then he’s just ok!if its anyone else he’s a bag of shit who does none of the jobs he’s supposed to do.Well done by the way i forgot about the”bigger club”comment i think even less of him now if thats possible.i hope maiga scores a hat trick in the cup maybe we won’t see him so much!
his time is up in my opinion. the laziest player on the pitch and he doesn’t convert chances as often..
I am not sure what you mean by “get behind him”? He gets great support from the fans and always gets a great ovation when he is substituted – which is regularly. What does that tell you by the way?
However, all the support and love is not going to turn him into a Premiership quality striker is it? He is what he is. Willing but simply not good enough
Sad but true
Well said Tony Hammer,he’s a really nice bloke by all accounts but we all know good people and they don’t impersonate football players and get 40 grand a week!although my late nan could’ve held the ball up better,good player mind you.
I’m not just jumping on the latest bandwagon to slate Cole. I said he was a wrong’un back in 2006. Unwanted by Chelsea, despite what Ranieri said, let go by Wolves and Villa. He was soiled goods when we got him. Nowadays he is Championship at best. If Carroll return to Liverpool in January and we have to rely on Cole to preserve our Premiership status then we are sunk. How on earth did he get 7 caps – defies all logic, but then the penny dropped for Capello and Cole was not good enough for the poorest England squad in years. His performance at Norwich and at home to Sunderland were extremely poor. According to the Sun he was the poorest rated player on the pitch. Get behind him? I’ll get behind him and stick a rocket up his ‘arris and tell him to stop feeling sorry for himself. He’s useless.
Seems like a very nice bloke and we all want him to succeed but lets be honest, he can’t shoot,control or head the ball. Completely out of his depth in the premier league. If he played all season as our front man we would be in serious trouble. Helps out at corners when we are defending but his contribution stops there. Big Sam is no fool but we have thrown away 4 points against Norwich and Sunderland persisting with Cole and not playing Jarvis,Yossi and Maiga. Sam your such a stats man, look at Coles stats and if you can’t work it out then trying watching him play!!! Sorry Carlton no offence but you wouldn’t look out of place in Division 1.
I have all the time in the world for Carlton, he’s loyal, he’s a nice bloke, he decided to stay and help us in our promotion bid (so he says). Yep he’s a great bloke! But unfortunately sentiments don’t score goals and neither dies Cole.
I think we’ve given him enough time to prove himself. We NEED regular finishers and someone who is going to convert chances. But I really don’t think it’s him.
I have to agree with the general feelings here. CC is not good enough and whether he is a rabbit or a lion he comes without the required skill level or mental strength for West Ham in the premier league. He is usually 2 or 3 seconds behind in his thinking. I am disappointed he has lasted this long under Big Sam whose judgement I seriously question on this issue.
Interesting article and agree that Carlton is definitely a confidence player but saying that he is also useless.
I wish these anti cc so called hammers would do one and go support another club. In every epl team u have 4 strikers cc is a good option ok maybe not first choose, but his a good players for us who has scored 50+ goals for us….. Maybe Defoe is better maybe ba maybe bellamy but they have never scored 50+ …. Why… Because they got care about the good of our club .. Keep the faith with cole and there is no reason why he can’t make 100 goals over the next 4/5 years… Coyi
I thought this was a spuds forum for a minute Ben, surely those commenting aren’t die hard hammers?
I think it’s time for our so called supporters to stop being so mealy mouthed and get behind the team and players who go out & give 100% to the cause.
If some on here are looking for perfection, they can always go out and get a Barca, manure, citeh or chelski shirt…………If not, get behind ALL of our players!
As a person I don’t think you will find much better. As our cutting edge I don’t think you will find much worse. If it was all about the person then think he would be scoring 20+ a season, unfortunately it isn’t and it is his inability to score enough that should see him moved on.
Agreed cat… I just don’t understand why people can’t enjoy what we have got at the moment … Unsettling cc ain’t gonna do nothing…. I also agree with Nolan in looking forward to Carroll cole up together…. Cole has been his best for us with a strike partner his not a lone striker but that doesn’t make him a bad player… Ffs if the above supporters believe we should have 4 world class strikers at carrolls level ur mad… Cc not only gives big Sam a good back up but his morale to the team is priceless …. Plus his goal and hunger won the final…
BenHammer, no matter how you dress him up – nice bloke, diamond geezer etc, Cole is NOT a Premier League striker. You reckon 100 goals in 4/5 years? lol.
45 in the next 4/5 years will put him at 100 for the club. How is he not epl standard? Any club in the bottom half of the league would take him in a heart beat