Cole ‘couldn’t give a f*ck’ about Haaland breaking his goal record; hits out at Man Utd ‘disrespect’

Andy Cole says he “couldn’t give a f*ck” about Erling Haaland beating his Premier League goalscoring record but he’s annoyed about people disrespecting his Man Utd side this season.

Haaland has been in incredible form this campaign with 52 goals in 51 appearances this season for Man City after moving from Borussia Dortmund in the summer transfer window.

In the process, Haaland broke the record for most goals in a Premier League season with 36, held by both Cole – who bagged 34 for Newcastle in 1993/94 – and Alan Shearer.

“I couldn’t give a f*ck,” Cole told the Daily Mail. “I’m being honest. I am not anal in any way, shape or form about someone breaking goal-scoring records because records are set to be broken.

“Now, some people might be p*ssed. But people say I must be disappointed. Why? Because someone has scored more goals than me? It’s taken 20 years for someone to get that close. Am I going to rock myself to sleep and think, Oh God, someone has broken my record? No, I’ll take my hat off to him. I’ll salute him. He’s done it in a team that creates chance after chance. At some stage, your record’s going to be broken.”

Cole won five Premier League titles, two FA Cups and a Champions League at Man Utd, while he also lifted the League Cup during his time at Blackburn Rovers and sits fourth on the Premier League all-time goalscoring list.

Asked whether he thinks he gets enough credit, former Man Uts striker Cole replied: “It’s a game. People have played this game with me for many years. If you look at everything I’ve achieved in my career, there’s no striker I played against who achieved what I achieved and doesn’t get the accolades I should be getting.

“Not one. If you talk about numbers, which everyone does, they stack up. If we’re talking about achievements, there’s no one achieved more than me. So, how can people talk about me as if I was very fortunate to be able to achieve what I achieved?

“People talk about Haaland finally breaking the record. Unbelievable. He’s been a breath of fresh air to the Premier League.

“People talk as if I wasn’t the first to do it. I was the first to do it and in a newly-promoted team. How hard would that be to score 34 goals in a Premier League season with no penalties? I get why people do it. I know what it is.

“I know there’s an agenda. Because everything stacks up on my side. I know what I achieved. If you achieve so much how can people talk about others who haven’t achieved as much? I’ve been retired now for many years and people still don’t want to give me my flowers.”

There has been discussion in recent weeks about whether this current Manchester City – who will win the Treble if they beat Man Utd in the FA Cup final and Inter Milan in the Champions League final – is as good as the Treble-winning side that Cole played in at Old Trafford.

Cole said: “The craziest thing is everyone’s trying to forget about what Manchester United achieved and the possibility of another team doing it and how this other team is far superior to the United team that actually achieved it.”

On whether he would back the Treble-winning Man Utd side to beat this City side, Cole added: “Of course, I’m going to sit here and say United. The eras are totally different, too. What you have to look at, too, is out of our ’99 team, how many were home-grown talents? Six?

“So, you don’t pay £50m, £60m, £70m for these players. If you look at how much money Man City have spent to find themselves in this position. In ’99, that couldn’t have been done. And because we had so much home-grown talent we didn’t have to spend that money.”

If he was selecting a combined XI of the two teams, Cole insists he would go all Man Utd. He continued: “I wouldn’t change what that team achieved. We’re the first team to do it and until someone else actually does it, we’re still the best team. You see all the nonsense people are saying.

“What makes me laugh is they talk about this ’99 team as if it was bang average. That’s just the disrespect people have for Manchester United and even more so that team.”

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