{"id":453109,"date":"2011-07-04T11:40:55","date_gmt":"2011-07-04T11:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/07\/04\/ive-made-mistakes-admits-cole\/"},"modified":"2011-07-04T11:40:55","modified_gmt":"2011-07-04T11:40:55","slug":"ive-made-mistakes-admits-cole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/04\/ive-made-mistakes-admits-cole\/","title":{"rendered":"I’ve made mistakes, admits Cole"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Leon Mann<\/span>
BBC Sport in New York<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n
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\"Chelsea<\/p>\n

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Judge me on football – Cole<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Chelsea and England defender Ashley Cole insists people should judge him on his football, not reports about his private life.<\/p>\n

Cole, who has attracted a number of negative headlines, told BBC Sport: “I’ve made mistakes and have just got to live with it.”<\/p>\n

But he added: “Judge me on how I play football or on when you meet me.”<\/p>\n

His remarks come after new Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas said he wantedcalling on his players to be role models.<\/a><\/p>\n

Cole’s conduct was questioned this year when he shot a work experience student with an air rifle<\/a> at the club’s training ground.<\/p>\n

The England international also went through a very public divorce from pop star wife Cheryl<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n

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A lot people know him from his time at Chelsea. From what I do remember he is a great guy and he’s friendly<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Chelsea defender Ashley Cole on new manager Andre Villas-Boas<\/span><\/div>\n

Earlier in his career, he was fined \u00a3100,000 by the Premier League<\/a> for holding secret talks with Chelsea while still under contract to former club Arsenal.<\/p>\n

In an exclusive interview in New York, which will be aired on BBC’s Football Focus<\/a> in the coming weeks, the left-back said his mother found it difficult to read some of the stories written about him.<\/p>\n

“What parent wouldn’t?” he said. “But at the end of the day I just want to play football, I’m here to play football.<\/p>\n

“I just wish people would judge me more on football and speak about football more than a life that people don’t really know.”<\/p>\n

Cole was also adamant that the shooting incident was blown out of proportion.<\/p>\n

“If someone had actually seen the incident – you wouldn’t laugh because it was a stupid thing to do – but the whole situation was crazy. Of course it was an accident,” he insisted.<\/p>\n

“But if I wanted to address every single thing in the paper I’d lose my mind. It makes me crazy now when I hear things.<\/p>\n

“But like I say, you’ve just got to deal with it. I’m just here to play football. That’s all I want to do.”<\/p>\n

Cole was in New York to meet US rapper Jay-Z because the pair are opening a restaurant in London next year. They were brought together by NVA Entertainment’s Chris Nathaniel, an entrepreneur working in the sports and music industry.<\/p>\n

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