The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 314: Pearls and Gravel

"Some players are as precious as pearls and jade in Ferguson's eyes. Even if they look dull, Ferguson is willing to spend huge sums of money on them; some players are just rubble in Keegan's eyes. Even if they have worked hard and made achievements, they are never taken seriously."

--Inscription

Andy Cole's transfer was completed quickly, with the Red Devils negotiating the deal at lightning speed.

Keegan was so happy when he heard the Red Devils' offer that he was about to nod his head when they offered him £500 million. Later, he pretended to be reserved and offered £700 million, which was accepted. This was too unexpected. Keegan had long disliked Cole and even thought Ferguson must be crazy. "Ferguson is willing to use £600 million in cash plus Gillespie to exchange for Cole. How is this possible?!"

Keegan later said: "I think Andy Cole was worth about £300 million at the time. He was not as good as Sutton. Andy Cole had a serious fracture and in my experience it would be difficult for him to reach his original level."

Keegan said: "In fact, I have always thought that Cole is not very suitable for the center I want. He has gaps in personal skills, physical conditions, speed and so on. His biggest advantage is catching cakes, but now he is seriously injured and it is difficult."

Ironically, when Newcastle was still in the second division, it was Keegan, the then head coach, who insisted on bringing in Cole. In order to give full play to Cole's advantages at Newcastle at that time, Keegan even designed a set of playing styles for Cole, allowing Cole to really stand out. It can only be said that Keegan's vision later became more picky, especially after the introduction of superstar Beardsley in the summer of 1993, the overall strength of the team reached a new level. Although the combination of Andy Cole and Beardsley still shined at this stage, Cole was no longer an indispensable core player in Keegan's eyes.

Keegan can be said to be Cole's real benefactor. The media all thought that Keegan and Cole had a good relationship, but the sensitive Cole felt completely different. Cole felt the change in Keegan's attitude early on, from respecting him to being indifferent to him, and then to being indifferent. Cole later said in an interview: "I have always been full of gratitude to Keegan. I am very grateful to him for bringing me from Bristol City to Newcastle, and I am also very grateful to him for letting me play as a starter. I know that these opportunities to play are not taken for granted, but are the recognition of the coach."

Cole said: "The relationship between Keegan and me is simple and complicated. He is like a big boss, and I am just an inconspicuous employee. This layer of relationship is so simple. I feel the love of Newcastle fans for me, but I don't feel that from him. There is no trust between him and me that can tell everything, and he doesn't treat me as his own. Sometimes I talk to him, but he always perfunctorily gives me the cold shoulder."

The relationship between Keegan and Cole turned cold after Cole's injury, which was known to everyone in the Newcastle dressing room.

At the beginning of the 1994-95 season, Andy Cole was still in excellent form, helping Newcastle United to win 11 games and draw 9 games in the first 2 games, with 29 points, ranking first in the standings, 8 points ahead of the defending champion Manchester United. In the 12th round of the season, Newcastle lost to Manchester United, and this game became a turning point. The loss to Manchester United dealt a heavy blow to the team's morale. Newcastle then lost consecutive games, and lost to Wimbledon in the 15th round. The points also slipped from first to third, surpassed by Blackburn and Manchester United. By the end of the 23rd round of the league, Newcastle's ranking had dropped to fifth, and it had completely lost hope of winning the championship. This was January 1995, and the unfavorable campaign had severely hit Keegan.

Andy Cole also had a good start but a bad end, but his experience was more difficult for the team. Cole was injured in a game in November 1994, and the severe fracture on the spot forced him to withdraw from the court. Cole then underwent surgery and hospitalization, and returned more than a month later in late December. At this time, the Newcastle team was in a slump, which greatly affected Cole. Moreover, he was a little afraid of confrontation because he had just recovered from a serious injury, and his threat as a striker was greatly reduced.

Keegan was a super striker himself, and he was very strict with his strikers. He was very disappointed with Cole's recovery. What Keegan needed most at that time was goals and victories, but Cole could not bring him these, and the rift between the general and the coach became larger and larger.

在1995年1月，纽卡在联赛第23轮0比0被曼城逼平。随后他们在足总杯主场1比1战平布莱克本队，球队连续不胜的阴霾进一步加重。

After the game, Keegan was furious. "We have not won five games in a row. The team is becoming a joke and everyone is laughing at us. I think some players lack fighting spirit, are unable to attack, and do nothing. These players need to be responsible for the situation of the team."

"Andy, can you explain why you gave up fighting for that ball?!"

No one said anything, and the locker room fell into an awkward silence.

Cole said: "From that moment on, I knew that Keegan and I had nothing to say. His accusation made no sense. I was 10 meters away from the opponent's defender and was moving towards the central defender, preparing to press the central defender's space. In our training, it has always been arranged like this. I have never been asked to press the full-back in that area. What's more, we were far away at the time and it was impossible for us to fight for the ball. How can you say that I gave up fighting?"

On January 1, Newcastle's Lee Clark was the first to realize something was wrong when he noticed Cole was missing from the training ground. As a neighbor and best friend at the club, Clark was very sad.

Clark said: "Cole has never tried this. He was not injured and did not explain anything to us. He just missed training. I didn't know what happened at the time. I thought Cole and Keegan had a falling out."

Clark knocked on Cole's door before leaving, but no one answered. He called Cole and no one answered. It was a long time before he received a call from Cole. Cole said: "I'm sorry that I didn't have time to say goodbye to you, my friend. I'm in Manchester now and I'm going to join the Red Devils."

Clark was completely stunned. He said: "I am very sad that Cole left us like this. We chatted together the night before. Cole was a little depressed at that time. We all encouraged him. But now he is leaving us. This is really unacceptable."

Clark said: "I and many teammates feel betrayed, not Cole but the club. I don't think the club should sell Cole. The right way should be to wait patiently for him to recover and then continue to strengthen the team. We were completely unable to complete all the projects in training. The locker room was very chaotic and no one knew what to do. The coach did not communicate with us fully. I understand Cole very well. This is a painful problem."

Even Cole himself did not expect this transfer to happen so quickly. His agent Paul Stretford said, "When the Red Devils officially informed Newcastle of their intention to sign Cole, we already knew Keegan's attitude."

Even Ferguson could see Keegan's attitude. In the third round of the FA Cup this weekend, Cole played poorly and was substituted by Keegan. When leaving the field, Cole and Keegan didn't even look at each other. Terry McDermott, Keegan's assistant, was embarrassed by this scene. He said: "Andy Cole is a very friendly person and a very good striker. You know, there are not many players who have scored 41 goals for the club. I always thought he was very strong, but unfortunately the coach had a different idea. We watched all this from the sidelines and felt very embarrassed and uneasy."

McDermott said: "Cole has been going through a period of goal drought. It is normal for the coach to be dissatisfied with him, but this attitude and approach are questionable. Everyone has different styles. I can only say it is a pity."

The two clubs reached an agreement less than a week after they formally contacted each other. The issue of the offer delayed the transfer a little, otherwise the transfer would have been completed faster. Even though Newcastle's management insisted that Cole was the best striker and the general manager even turned against Keegan, Keegan was trusted by the boss and he had the final say.

Many years later, Newcastle director White still regretted it very much. He said: "This was a gamble, a risk that was completely unnecessary. We should have kept Cole, but Kevin Keegan insisted on taking the risk. I can only say that his idea was very crazy, and it was wrong to give up Cole. Suppose we had Cole and brought in Shearer, then we should be able to win the Premier League."

The Red Devils offered 500 million pounds, but Newcastle insisted on 700 million. The Red Devils later sold Gillespie to Newcastle for 100 million pounds as part of the deal, and this plan was agreed by everyone.

Gillespie was 19 years old at the time, an outstanding member of the Red Devils' youth training, and had already played in many games, which won Keegan's admiration. Keegan even believed that his potential was far greater than Beckham, and better than Butt and Davis.

Gillespie later recalled: "I had no idea what to do. Keegan made it clear that he wanted me and no one else. If I said no, the deal would fall through."

Gillespie found an opportunity to talk to Ferguson in detail and made a quick decision. He later said: "Ferguson respected me very much at the time. He gave me advice from several aspects, but still patiently waited for my decision. I considered my future playing time and the different treatments. Finally, I agreed to join Newcastle."

Bruce from Newcastle also chatted with Gillespie for a while. Gillespie said: "Steve Bruce is very direct. He is a Ginis and thinks I should seize the opportunity. He said that it would be difficult for me to get enough playing time and become a starter in the Red Devils because Kanchelskis is always ahead of me. He is in excellent form and very stable. Not only that, I have to compete with Beckham, Davis, Savage and other players. If I transfer to Newcastle, I will get the opportunity to start immediately and win a reputation earlier."

"I never thought I would lose in the competition, but I still felt that what Bruce said made sense. I thought Keegan valued me so much and offered me a very high salary, which was difficult to refuse. If I had enough playing time and played as a starter, I should be able to become a superstar like Barnes."

Gillespie met Keegan alone, was fascinated after a brief chat, and quickly finalized the transfer. He said: "I was completely fascinated by Kevin after spending about a minute with him. He is passionate and extremely confident. He has the kind of magic that makes people follow him and invest in his passion."

Gillespie encountered some problems when negotiating salary. He was too young and had no agent to handle such complicated negotiations. Ferguson had to intervene at the critical moment. Gillespie only earned 250 pounds a week at the Red Devils, but Ferguson told Newcastle United that Gillespie's weekly salary requirement was 1200 pounds. Newcastle United, which had originally offered 500 pounds, readily agreed, and everything ended smoothly.

Gillespie said: "I was completely speechless. I thought I would only get £300 or £400, but Ferguson got me £1200, which is amazing."

Many Newcastle fans are Cole's fans. They were very angry about the humiliation of their idol and gathered in the Milburn Stand to protest. Someone shouted, "Keegan is a 'traitor', get out of the team immediately!" Some fans even broke through the security line and rushed in to settle accounts with Keegan. But these minor disturbances were soon quelled. Keegan, a legendary striker from the Magpies, a great contributor to the club, has a unique charm. He explained how he would lead the club forward, "We will build a stronger team and introduce better strikers. Do you know who the target is? We will have the best attacking line in England, everything will be fine, our target is the championship, the championship!"

On the other side, when Cole, wearing a suit, was formally introduced to Ferguson, the first formal meeting between the two left a good impression on both sides. Ferguson said, "Welcome to the Red Devils. To be honest, I am very happy that you can join us. This is a huge 'surprise'. I believe in your talent, and we will work hard with you to strive for more glorious honors."

Kerr was extremely excited, but he couldn't say a word at that moment. He later said, "The first time I saw Ferguson, I felt something different. His eyes were shining and full of passion. I feel deeply honored to have his trust and respect."