Andrew Cole

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Playing career

Club career

Early career

Cole started his career as a youth player for Arsenal on leaving school in 1988, signing professional in 1989. He made his only league appearance for Arsenal, aged 19, as a substitute against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane during a First Division game on 29 December 1990; Arsenal won 4–1 but Cole did not score. He also made a substitute appearance against Tottenham Hotspur in the Charity Shield in 1991 and almost made an immediate impact, hitting the side netting from outside the area.

The following season he was loaned to Fulham in the Third Division, where he scored three goals in 13 games, before being sold to Second Division Bristol City in a £500,000 deal – at the time he was the Ashton Gate club's most expensively signed player.

Having proved himself as a competent young goalscorer with Bristol City (who began the 1992–93 in the new Football League Division One following the creation of the Premier League), Cole was quickly one of the hottest prospects in England and his name was regularly linked with Premier League clubs throughout the 1992–93 season.

Newcastle United

In February 1993, Division One leaders Newcastle United splashed out a then club record £1.75 million for his services. He then scored 12 goals in as many league games as the Magpies cruised to the Division One title and won promotion to the Premier League. His 12 goals included two hat-tricks, the first against Barnsley on 7 April, the second on the final day of the season in a 7-1 hammering of Leicester City.

After David Kelly was sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers, manager Kevin Keegan brought in Peter Beardsley as Cole's strike partner for the 1993–94 Premier League campaign.

Cole scored 34 goals in 40 games during Newcastle's first Premier League season as they finished third and qualified for the UEFA Cup. Cole scored a total of 41 goals in all competitions – breaking the club's goalscoring record which had been set by Hughie Gallacher nearly 70 years earlier (Gallacher still holds the record for the highest number of league goals in a season with 36). His first top division goal was in a 1-1 draw against defending league champions Manchester United (who went on to win the double) at Old Trafford on 21 August. Exactly three months later, he scored all three goals as the Magpies crushed Liverpool 3-0 at home. Another hat-trick followed against Coventry City in late February and with Peter Beardsley almost as lethal as his strike partner, the Magpies finished third in the league

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