The 2004/05 Premier League marked a before and after for Chelsea. With the arrival of Roman Abramovich and the leadership of José Mourinho, the London club reinvented itself and won its first title in the modern era of English football.Among the protagonists of that feat was Joe Cole, a creative midfielder who, in addition to leaving his mark on the field, starred in one of the most memorable anecdotes of the team’s celebrations: a moment of euphoria that could have had a tragic end.
Joe Cole joined Chelsea in 2003 from West Ham United.His arrival was part of the ambitious renovation promoted by Abramovich, who sought to transform the club into a European power.
Cole was one of the first signings of that new era, and it didn’t take long for his talent to shine.He shared a dressing room with figures such as Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and John Terry, under the command of Mourinho, who took over as technical director in 2004.
The 2004/05 season was historic for Chelsea.The team had an overwhelming campaign, reaching the Premier League title after beating Bolton. The team finished twelve points above their classic rival, and closest pursuer, Arsenal, consolidating a supremacy that would be maintained for several years.
For Cole, that championship represented the crowning of a dream and the beginning of a golden cycle in his career.
The consecration brought with it massive celebrations.The team boarded a convertible bus to tour the streets of London and share the victory with the fans.In that context, Joe Cole experienced an episode as hilarious as it was dangerous, which he himself recounted years later in an interview for FourFourTwo.
“We won the Premier League with a victory at Bolton and I almost fell off the roof of the bus during the celebrations,” Cole recalled.The emotion of the moment was combined with alcohol consumption and collective euphoria.”I was so excited that I took out the sunroof so I could climb on it, I started spraying champagne on the crowd of Chelsea fans, and suddenly I slipped. I literally hung like Indiana Jones. I thought: ‘I’d better get back inside the bus,'” the former soccer player explained.
The story perfectly captures the atmosphere of those days: overflowing with joy, Cole was about to fall off the bus in the middle of the parade, a situation that could have ended in tragedy.His confession, full of British humor, reveals the human side of the protagonists, who in the midst of glory were not exempt from risks and excesses.
Cole himself added another colorful detail about his relationship with Drogba: “We always had a joke during trophy presentations: when we won the Carling Cup together, we both ran with the trophy and the others said: ‘Share it!’. Since then, every time we won a title, we did the same thing. It became our tradition.”
The episode was nothing more than an anecdote, but it illustrates the unique climate that Chelsea experienced in those years.Cole and Drogba formed a duo remembered not only for their sporting achievements, but also for the camaraderie and jokes they shared at each consecration.The sequence of the Ivorian running with the Champions League trophy in 2012 is seen as a nod to that custom started with Cole.
On a sporting level, Joe Cole’s legacy at Chelsea is indisputable.It won the Premier League three times (2004/05, 2005/06 and 2009/10), won the FACup and the Carling Cup, and was part of the most successful cycle in the history of the institution.In total, he played 143 games alongside Drogba, with whom he had 88 victories and 15 goals combined.
After his time at Chelsea, Cole continued his career at Liverpool, returning to West Ham United and passing through Lille in France, before closing his career at Aston Villa, Coventry City and Tampa Bay Rowdies.With the England team he made 56 appearances and scored ten goals, including one in the World Cup.
Currently retired from professional activity, Cole works as a television commentator, where he remains linked to football and shares his views from the stands, away from the green grass.
