Joe Cole- the complete article, a footballer of genuine quality.

Joe Cole- the complete article, a footballer of genuine quality.

You can always tell when a footballer has something special about him, something indefinable but, quite certainly, tangible. Joe Cole, who announced his retirement from competitive football today, was one such player, a vastly talented, hugely improvisational and multi layered midfield player who almost fell directly into the lap of an excited West Ham United team whose reputation for producing such players could be traced right back to the 1960s when the famous Three Musketeers Bobby Moore, Sir Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters adorned the wide green acres of the Boleyn Ground.

Back then of course a gentleman who went by the name of Wally St Pier spotted both Moore, Hurst and Peters and with the most brilliant perception knew he had something he could work with. St Pier was West Ham's shrewd and sagacious scout, a man who knew a diamond when he saw one and did his utmost to nurture and guide all three players to that chandelier lit day when England won the World Cup and West Ham were declared the official club representatives who had made that day possible.

For Joe Cole though the rise to star struck prominence more recently was equally as noticeable and stark. When Tony Carr, another of West Ham's most distinguished talent spotters of modern times, told Harry Redknapp, the then West Ham manager that he had gold dust in his possession we knew we were about to witness one of the most naturally gifted and artistic players the English game would ever see.

From a very early age Cole seemed to possess all of those intrinsically beautiful ball skills which Upton Park fans at West Ham had once been presented with in the shape of one Sir Trevor Brooking and another Alan Devonshire during the heady 1970s. Once again, Cole was almost a prototype of the midfield exhibitionist who breathed style, creativity and class every time he touched the ball.

Cole always had something of the street artist and bohemian about him that was very distinctive and eye catching, capturing the mood of a game completely with something that maybe lesser mortals couldn't quite match. Cole always seemed to have time on the ball, pausing for precious seconds, waiting for the right moment to thread that sumptuously threaded pass that landed almost inevitably right at the feet of his colleagues.

Joe Cole gave us five star demonstrations in footballing art galleries, a well mannered and measured player, judging games, taking the temperature of important games and then controlling the centre of the midfield with easy and then seemingly, miraculous passes into spaces with either long, short or diagonal balls that would just slice open opposition's defences.

When a teenage Joe Cole signed on the dotted line for the club before a League match with his father beside him, West Ham could hardly contain their excitement. Cole was a West Ham player, a player of refinement, an impressive footballing intellect, a passionate love for the game's finer nuances and above all, a player who just wanted to express himself in a way that some of us thought we would never set eyes on again.

Cole, of course was only part of what would become known as the Golden Generation of West Ham players who knew that one day their ability would be rewarded with a lasting place in the England side. Cole would be joined by Michael Carrick, Rio Ferdinand and Jermaine Defoe who could also strike fear into the hearts of any defence with his speed and lethal finishing skills.

But then Cole, in tandem with Carrick, Ferdinand and Defoe were seduced by the temptations of bigger theatres and footballing stages. In the summer of 2003 Cole eventually signed for Chelsea as a result of the very persuasive silver tongue of Claudio Ranieri, today ironically appointed as the new Fulham manager.

Cole would go on to win a whole succession of Premier League titles, FA Cups, trophies galore and international honours that almost became a logical sequence of events. Cole stroked the ball, caressed the ball as if it were something that had great sentimental value. Cole had timing, cunning, a player of the keenest observational powers rather like an astronomer seeking the answers to the mysteries of the universe. Cole was precise, deeply imaginative in his use of the first time pass, almost years ahead of his contemporaries in thought and deed.

During the 1960s Ron Greenwood once described Martin Peters as a player ten years ahead of his time and the parallels could have been made with Joe Cole. Peters was a stately galleon whose navigational powers on a football pitch could never be argued with. But when the ship set sail Peters was renowned for those far post headers and that clever ghosting into space to meet with the ball.

Cole of course was the complete all rounder, full of deceptive tricks, flicks, subtlety and magical turns and twists out of the tightest of predicaments. He could also run with the ball with an admirable ambition and enterprise that none who tried to stop him, could ever achieve. He would weave his way through open gaps, dropping shoulders deliberately, dragging back the ball with damaging frequency and then stepping over the ball as if the circus had come to town.

Above all Cole was a player of delightful simplicity, never over elaborating where none was required and only adding pretty embellishments when the occasional demanded. Cole's one moment of crowning glory was almost destined to be played out at the ultimate of all international tournaments.

During a World Cup group qualifying match against Sweden in 2006, Cole was covered in the most purple of all robes with quite the most stunning goal of any World Cup in recent years. Trapping the ball with his chest a considerable distance from the Swedish penalty area, Cole jumped briefly to control the ball before swinging his kicking foot and then releasing a gorgeously struck volley that dipped over the Swedish keeper. A stick of dynamite had suddenly gone off in the Swedish net and Cole was mobbed by a mass of incredulous red England shirts.

With the passing of years Cole's all round game seem to lose much of the effectiveness and potency that was always seen at its best at Chelsea. Cole returned to West Ham but the moment had gone for both Cole and West Ham. There were the brief flashes of inspiration but time had moved on for the young prodigy who West Ham had so gratefully discovered. Cole went through the motions before moving on to Aston Villa where the claret was never of the same vintage. The taste and bouquet was different and you'd have been hard pressed to find any vineyards in Birmingham.

In the last couple of years or so Cole ventured into American soccer fields but although the feeling for the game was unmistakably there, this was not the age of the Tampa Bay Rowdies or the New York Cosmos.The memories of George Best, Rodney Marsh and Bobby Moore could still be fondly retold but Cole had probably had enough and retirement beckoned.

Yesterday, Joe Cole retired from football at the ripe old age of 37 and another one of English football's most treasured showboaters hung up his boots. Comparisons with previous members of this most exclusive club such as the aforesaid Rodney Marsh, Tony Currie, Alan Hudson and Stan Bowles are patently obvious. Cole though was the kind of player English football would always pick out from the often frantic urgency of the modern game, a midfield playmaker of glorious, game changing authenticity, the mark of brilliance.

For those of us who follow the team from the London Stadium this is the story of what might have been and if only Cole had changed his mind before signing for Chelsea. West Ham fans may never know. But there can be no regrets or bitterness for Joe Cole can take his rightful place in the football Hall of Fame.

 Cole lifted us out of our seats, compelled us to believe that anything was possible if you could only put your mind to it. Cole played his football in a way that was easily identifiable, never afraid to try the impossible and treating a football with an enduring love and affection. If only we could find more like him although Gareth Southgate can never be accused of not trying. Happy retirement Joe.