Andy Cole accused Teddy Sheringham of ruining England debut and they never spoke after

Despite playing together at Manchester United for four seasons, Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham disliked each other.

While this might sound bizarre considering they enjoyed so much success on the pitch together, it’s absolutely true.

But how did their career-long feud start? And why did they never patch up their differences, even after becoming teammates at Old Trafford in 1997?

The animosity began two years earlier in March 1995.

Cole was left “embarrassed” by Sheringham, who was five years his senior, after coming on for his England debut at Wembley against Uruguay.

Sheringham appeared to blank Cole as he left the pitch.

You can watch the footage here:

#OnThisDay in 1995 the moment that started a 20-year feud.

Teddy Sheringham blanks Andrew Cole on his England debut, and they never speak again…pic.twitter.com/ltE2KglpsO

— A Funny Old Game (@sid_lambert) March 29, 2019

Andy Cole: Sheringham embarrassed me

“I didn’t want to play the game after that,” Cole told The Daily Telegraph in 2019. “That’s how embarrassed I felt.

“Snubbed on the line when you’re making your debut as a young kid… I think I hit the bar in the game but I couldn’t get it out of my mind.”

In a 2010 column for The Independent, Cole added: “I walk on to the pitch, 60,000 or so watching. Sheringham is coming off. I expect a brief handshake, a ‘Good luck, Coley’, something. I am ready to shake. He snubs me. He actively snubs me, for no reason I was ever aware of then or since. He walks off. I don’t even know the bloke so he can’t have any issue with me. We’re fellow England players, it is my debut and he snubs me.

“You know what my immediate thoughts were? ‘Jesus Christ! How many people just saw Teddy Sheringham do that to me?’ I was embarrassed. I was confused. And there you have it. From that moment on, I knew Sheringham was not for me.”

Andy Cole: I never spoke to Sheringham

When Cole heard that United had signed Sheringham in the summer 1997, he thought it was a surprising and strange decision.

“We never spoke,” Cole said. “Unless it was going to be another argument between us… never spoke. We didn’t exchange a single word while we were there.”

In his column for The Independent, he added: “We scored a lot of goals. I never spoke a single word to him.

“People wonder how on earth we could function like that. Gary Pallister once said to me: ‘I know you don’t speak to Teddy and he doesn’t speak to you, but at least you play well together.’ We did, and I wouldn’t ever cast aspersions on Sheringham’s talent as a top-rate footballer for his clubs and country. I’ve just loathed him personally for 15 years.”

Madness.

Andy Cole: I’ve rather have a cuppa with Neil Ruddock

In the same column, Cole said: “I would rather sit down and have a cuppa with Neil Ruddock, who broke my leg in two places in 1996, than with Teddy Sheringham, who I’ve pretty much detested for the past 15 years.”

Let’s be honest: it’s a huge shame that Cole and Sheringham continued to hold a grudge against one another rather than shaking hands and moving on.

But neither was prepared to be the bigger man, it seems, and the animosity between them is likely to always exist.

That said, United fans will always love both players for their contributions at Old Trafford in the late-1990s and early-2000s.

Together they won three Premier League titles, the FA Cup and, of course, the UEFA Champions League.

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