Cole-powered glory

Since breaking their 26-year title drought back in 1993, Manchester United have won the Premier League an extraordinary 12 times in 19 attempts. Twice they have dominated the league for three years in a row. Sir Alex Ferguson's dynasty has taken United's top-flight title tally from seven — where it had lain idle since 1967, giving the golden era of Law, Best, Charlton and Busby greater mystique with every passing year — to a record 19, finally surpassing Liverpool's long-standing total of 18 when they won with a comfortable nine-point cushion last year. Now the club are celebrating their glorious 19, taking the Premier League trophy to 27 cities around the world, having Old Trafford legends show it off to fans in the likes of India, Korea, Vietnam and Norway. This week was the turn of Dubai, with Andy Cole and Lee Sharpe accompanying the most coveted prize in English football at the Shangri-La Hotel on Tuesday. Both played key roles in at least one of the 19, but it was Cole's relatively short time at Old Trafford that coincided with possibly the most impressive run of success under Ferguson. In his six years as a Red Devil, the Nottingham-born striker won five league titles and two FA Cups, as well as the Uefa Champions League in the remarkable treble-winning year of 1999. Article continues below He joined the club as a 23-year-old in a controversial then British record £7 million (Dh41 million) switch from major rivals Newcastle United. His release by the Magpies left boss Kevin Keegan having to answer directly to angry fans outside St James's Park. ole wanted silverware — and he moved to the right place. "When you watch football when you're a kid and you aspire to be a footballer, you watch all the best teams winning the championship and you see what it means to the players. When you do make it as a professional footballer, it's every player's dream to win the title," he told Gulf News. "When I won my first one, it was a great feeling. Did I believe I would go on to win four more? Probably not, but I was fortunate enough to do just that. "The first one was really, really special. I was fortunate enough to win a championship trophy in the old Division One [now Championship] to get to the Premiership. But to win the major prize, that was fantastic — I really, really enjoyed it and I will always remember it." Cole — the second-highest scorer in Premier League history with 187 strikes to his name — bagged a total of 121 goals in his 275 games for United, forming a deadly partnership with Dwight Yorke in particular in the 1998/99 season. That campaign ended with the unprecedented treble — and it was Cole's goal against Tottenham on the final day of the league season that secured the Manchester club their 12th title. "At the end of that season we ended up winning the treble, so that was very special. To come on and get the goal against Spurs that won us the game, you look at that and say ‘it's a great feeling'," the now 40-year-old Cole recalled. "But the hard work was done not just by me but by my teammates and I was fortunate enough to get the winning goal. People will remember that, but I couldn't have done it without my teammates. "I was fortunate enough to win it [the league title] five times, and to see the boys go on and win it for a 19th time and surpass Liverpool was brilliant — it's a fantastic feat. To know you've been involved in that is very special." Being dragged back into the present, however, sees United facing a real battle to win their 20th crown this season. And to make the run-in even more tantalising, the team they trail by two points with 12 games remaining is their cross-town rivals Manchester City. The Blues are challengers for the first time since their Abu Dhabi takeover and Cole said: "Manchester City are up there and I think it will go right down to the wire, but the experience the boys have of winning previous Premiership trophies will put them in great stead and hopefully they're going to make it 20 come the end of the season. "Of course they [City] have made progress, because when you've got that financial backing if you don't make progress as a club then the person who's putting the money in is going to start scratching his head. "Naturally they're gonna be up there, but if you listen to the way the manager [Ferguson] speaks, it's going to be a great challenge for Manchester United. The boys are looking forward to the challenge and no doubt the manager as well." Despite his goalscoring exploits at club level, Cole was largely ignored by England managers, winning just 15 caps and scoring only one international goal. He never even made the squad for a major tournament. So his indifference when asked about contemporary England and their direction following Fabio Capello's surprise resignation this month is perhaps unsurprising. "To be honest I haven't got a take on the situation," he said. "I think any manager that gets the job is going to find it very, very difficult because the media in England want to pick the team and play the players, but if it goes wrong they want to blame the manager. It's difficult — a poisoned chalice. "I think Harry [Redknapp, the overwhelming favourite to succeed Capello] is like Kevin Keegan was. Kevin at the time was the people's favourite and then that didn't turn out too well and Kevin ended up being out of a job. If Harry decides he's the man for England, then so be it." The reasons for Cole's decision to turn to a career as a pundit following the end of his playing days, rather than try to become a manager, are summed up nicely by the fate of his good friend and former Newcastle teammate Lee Clark, who was sacked by Huddersfield last month despite his impressive record with the League One club. "I couldn't get my head round it. That was very, very shabby treatment. That's one of the reasons that management wouldn't be for me. It's crazy, you get grey hairs!" 19 titles Reaching the top of the English game Manchester United's title wins1907-08, 1910-11, 1951-52, 1955-56, 1956-57, 1964-65, 1966-67, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2010-11 English title winners19 - Manchester United18 - Liverpool13 - Arsenal9 - Everton7 - Aston Villa6 - Sunderland4 - Chelsea, Newcastle United, Sheffield Wednesday3 - Leeds United, Wolves, Huddersfield, Blackburn2 - Preston, Tottenham, Derby County, Manchester City, Burnley, Portsmouth1 - Ipswich, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield United, West Brom From gulfnews