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Andrew Cole takes a moment to consider how much, or how little, he cares. For nearly 20 years, he set the standard for Premier League goalscorers. 

His 34 goals for Newcastle in 1993-94 left a mark for others to follow and one that, until now, no one had surpassed.

Only Alan Shearer could match it the following year. That was until a 6ft 4in Viking with a ponytail arrived at Manchester City. Since then most records, including Cole’s, have fallen to Erling Haaland.

How does it feel to see your record of almost two decades broken?

‘I couldn’t give a f***,’ says Cole. ‘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.’

You wonder if his elite goalscoring peers would feel the same. Some, as he puts it, might be p*ssed. If Harry Kane breaks Alan Shearer’s all-time Premier League record you sense words of congratulations might come through a more gritted smile.

But then there has always been something different about Cole. By his own admission, he never sought the limelight. ‘I never saw myself as an individual,’ he says.

That comes across when Cole speaks about one of his biggest achievements at Manchester United: the club’s Champions League triumph in 1999, the final leg of their Treble that Manchester City are on course to emulate.

United’s stunning victory over Bayern Munich in the Nou Camp forms part of a new BT film called Back Into the Sunshine that looks at how that night ended English clubs’ wait for European glory following their ban in the wake of the Heysel disaster in 1985. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replaced Cole to score the late winner.

‘It was special, unbelievable,’ says Cole. ‘I remember saying that I got to the corner flag before Ole did. Ah, mate, it was so, so special. I know a lot is made of Ole and Teddy [Sheringham] getting the goals in the final but, for me, it made no difference. The one individual who scores the goal doesn’t just win, the whole team wins. You still get the same accolades as everyone else.’

Is that true? Everyone gets a winner’s medal but it’s Solskjaer’s name that lives in history, on replays and in commentary. It is Solskjaer, after all, who Clive Tyldesley declares ‘has won it’.

It is another example of how Cole’s mindset differs from other legendary strikers. How many times have you heard Shearer or Gary Lineker say they were grumpy if the team won but they didn’t score? ‘If you are going to think like that,’ says Cole, ‘you might as well play golf. But that’s just me. I’ve always perceived myself as a team player and that will never change.’

Perhaps that is what often keeps Cole out of the conversation of greatest strikers in Premier League history. Shearer’s name is always there, so too Thierry Henry and Wayne Rooney, Sergio Aguero, Harry Kane, Michael Owen. And Andrew Cole? Only Shearer, Kane and Rooney have scored more Premier League goals. 

Take away penalties — Cole scored one — and only Shearer scored more. Only Haaland has scored more in a season. Cole has five Premier League titles, two FA Cups and a Champions League and was part of United’s Treble-winning side in 1999. Does he think he didn’t get the credit he deserves?

‘Do you want me to be honest with you,’ he asks.

‘Of course.’

‘Do you want me to be brutally honest?’

‘Yes.’

‘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.’

Cole believes his race played a part. And because he refused to give interviews during his playing days, people branded him arrogant. He felt the media was out to get him. He takes issue

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