Oh, Ashley... or Cashley, as he was nicknamed by Arsenal fans in the tabloids following his hugely contentious move across London when he, Jose Mourinho and Chelsea were all fined for meeting and agreeing a contract without permission from his contracted club, Arsenal. From his playing career to his private life, Cole seemed to attract attention of the wrong kind everywhere he went, not always making the wisest decisions when it came to matters off the field. While such incidents never overshadowed his career, they put an unfortunate blight on the legacy of undeniably one of the greatest and most complete full-backs to play the modern game. Taking over from Wayne Bridge, the poor chap who fell victim to two players on this list, he held down the left-back position throughout his Blues career and was an instrumental part of the team during the most successful period of the club's history. He picked up a few reds during his Chelsea days but was generally pretty well disciplined on the field. That's not something that could be said of his time off it, where he was involved in a string of embarrassing controversies. He had a tumultuous celebrity marriage to Cheryl Tweedy of Girls Aloud, in which allegations of infidelity were rife; had several run-ins with the law, one of which resulted in him being banned from diving for four months; finally, he received a telling off from Chelsea officials for bringing an air rifle to the training ground and accidentally shooting one of the work experience boys. Now at Roma, he's another player beloved by Chelsea fans everywhere, even if we wish he could've been a little more sensible at times.
28-year old English writer with a borderline obsessive passion for films, videogames, Chelsea FC, incomprehensible words and indefensible puns. Follow me on Twitter if you like infrequent outbursts of absolute drivel.
