Andy Cole Opens Up On Toxic Relationship With Teddy Sheringham

By Max Wise

Former Manchester United striker Andy Cole has revealed that he never got on with club and international teammate Teddy Sheringham during their playing careers.

The pair were integral members of Manchester United’s treble winning side of the 1998/1999 season as they struck up a deadly strike force that also included current Red Devils manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and Dwight Yorke.

It was however at international level where the animosity between Cole and Sheringham began in March 1995 when they played for Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspurs respectively.

Cole recalls how Sheringham ruined his England debut as a 23-year-old in a friendly game against Uruguay by snubbing him as he replaced the-then Tottenham forward, setting off a career-long feud between the pair.

"I didn't want to play the game after that," Cole told The Daily Telegraph. "That's how embarrassed I felt.

"Snubbed on the line when you're making your debut as a young kid… I think I hit the bar in the game but I couldn't get it out of my mind.

"We never spoke. Unless it was going to be another argument between us… never spoke. We didn't exchange a single word while we were there."

Their paths crossed again when Sheringham joined Manchester United from Tottenham in the summer of 1997, but even as teammates, their relationship did not improve, with Dwight Yorke usually serving as an intermediary.

“I’ve got to laugh now but Yorkie was like the go-between… if Teddy wanted to ask me something, he’d ask Yorkie to tell me because, at any stage, my response to him could be anything.

"I was so volatile towards him. I just wasn’t having him.”