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Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
England star COLE PALMER opens up on his laid-back attitude to life and football as he reveals he fell asleep at the Grand Prix... and shares the one piece of advice his mother gave him
Cole Palmer can't understand why one of my children wears a Cole Palmer Chelsea shirt. When the boys score a goal in the garden, I explain, they shout 'COLD!', the same way their elders have long since screeched 'SIUUU!' in worship of Cristiano Ronaldo. He is this generation's exclamation mark. 'Yeah, yeah, but why have you let him get a Chelsea shirt if he's a Newcastle fan?' Because you transcend tribalism. You're a player who invites us to leave our allegiance at the turnstile. That's nice, yeah? 'Yeah,' he begins, but the start of a lyrical monologue this is not. 'Obviously when you see kids and that doing what they're doing and saying that, it's nice.' And the nickname, Cold Palmer? 'Yeah, I don't mind it. It's fine.' Palmer's company is oddly hypnotic. In the same way a silent movie makes you work a little bit harder, to lean in a little closer, he causes you to think - and speak. It is tea-time at England's base camp, the Camiral Golf & Wellness resort here in Catalonia. We are in the clubhouse, where a portrait of Jack Nicklaus, a master orator, frames the enigmatic murmur of Palmer. Thomas Tuchel has given his players the afternoon off. What did you do? 'Just went on a bike ride, didn't I.' He was on his bike last summer in Germany when he watched England's backroom team, managed by Kieran Trippier and including Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, beat us journalists 7-0. We did then win a penalty shootout. 'I don't remember it. I couldn't tell you if yous were good,' he says. He isn't here to flatter or deceive. The appreciation of talent - or otherwise - will be one way, and so it should be. At the Euros, Palmer should have played more. Whereas others in his positions played at times with a sullen withdrawal, Palmer - always from the bench, sadly - played with imagination and a smile, albeit a metaphorical one. 'My mum says, like, try and be a bit more involved and a bit more smiley and energetic and that,' he says, this being a nod to his public demeanour. 'But my dad says, 'He's just like me, so just leave him alone'. Like, me and my dad are just too laid back, I think.' This week started at the Formula One in Barcelona. 'Yeah, it was good. I went to the one in Abu Dhabi not long ago. But I fell asleep at that one. This one, I was awake.' You fell asleep? 'Yeah, I don't know what it was.' It requires a certain type of Zen to sleep at the Grand Prix. Yet, his revelation does not feel at all revelatory. Cole Palmer fancied a nap whilst cars raced around him at 230mph, so what? It is, after all, the way he plays football - as if he has his finger on the remote. Speed up. Slow down. Pause. He is the director. Only, between January and May of this season, the film no longer rolled. There were 18 games without a goal. Why? 'I don't know. You tell me.' Maybe it's because you're a young man - 23 last month - and expectation on the back of 14 goals in the first half of the season suddenly weighed heavy? 'I don't know,' he starts, but what follows is Palmer's spoken equivalent of War and Peace. 'I just think it was one of them things when things weren't happening for me. It went on a bit longer than I thought it would go on. But I spoke to people about it and they explained it was going to happen. But they said that when I get out of it, I'll be an even better player than what I was before I went in it. I know myself players will go through it. I'm not stupid. 'You go into Chelsea and you do that from a jump, and then you go into a dip, you just think, 'What's going on?'. I don't mind. Obviously I did mind, but I didn't think it was the end of the world.' Palmer rediscovered his form in the final weeks as Chelsea qualified for the Champions League and won the Europa Conference League. So, was that his second European winners' medal, or his first? He was on the bench when Manchester City beat Inter Milan to lift the Champions League in 2023. 'I always say, I don't feel like a Champions League winner, if I'm being honest,' he says, and everything he says goes with an assumption of honesty. 'It doesn't really mean anything to me. I weren't involved. Obviously I played in the group and stuff like that, but it's not the same, is it?' Have you kept the medal? 'Yeah, obviously I've not threw it away! I've still got it, but it's not like I feel like I've won it.' This feels as close as Palmer gets to irritation. It says much for his mindset that it is him disowning a prize others would happily wear, regardless of contribution. Other than Southerners - who he says are too stressed and too moody - does anything else ever bother him? Like, when was the last time you were really p***** off? 'Er. I don't really know. Sorry, I don't know.' Silence. 'Maybe when I played PlayStation or something. I'm not just a robot like you guys in the media think I am and don't show no emotion. When there's no cameras and I'm on the phone to my mates and I'm doing stuff I enjoy doing…' His off-pitch demeanour has become something of a vibe, though. It is unmistakably Mancunian - Generation Z do 90s Indie, just in fewer words. 'Yeah, off the pitch I can be like this, but then on the pitch…' It's like a switch? 'Yeah.' This conversation has a few minutes to run - time enough for 20 questions, you suspect - before Palmer returns to his England team-mates. He could walk straight into a card school and clean up, I suggest, given his face rarely betrays his hand. 'I need to learn how to play,' he says. 'I can't play Uno. I don't play cards. I play blackjack, sometimes.' The purpose of this camp in Spain, ahead of Saturday's World Cup qualifier against Andorra, is to acclimatise for next summer's finals in North America. You get the feeling Palmer is still acclimatising to his fame and popularity. We have come full circle. You must know why the kids idolise you? 'I don't know. I'm just being myself.' Less than half an hour in his presence offers a few clues as to why. He's OK with who he is. He has the keys to his own kingdom. He just needs to realise there are a million youngsters waiting at the window all wanting to be in. Palmer gets up to leave, with all the urgency of a sixth-former headed for double maths. Maybe he did enjoy the chat. He was certainly polite and no questions were off limits. One more, though, before you go - what should my boy do with his Cole Palmer Chelsea shirt? 'Wear it!' he says, and with that he is gone. Small talk, but a big impression.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
🎥 OTD: David James plays up front for Manchester City 😱
Few things in football are as bizarre, or as entertaining, as a goalkeeper playing up front. That is exactly what happened when Manchester City faced Middlesbrough on the final day of the 2004/05 season. Exactly 20 years ago today, City faced the Teeside outfit with both sides in contention for the final UEFA Cup spot. The game was all square late in the second half following goals from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Kizito Musampa. City were in desperate need of a second goal, and with six minutes remaining, then-manager Stuart Pearce made one of the boldest substitutions the game has ever seen. He took off Claudio Reyna and brought on substitute goalkeeper Nicky Weaver, pushing David James, who had played the entire match in goal, up front. 20 years ago today, David James became a striker for Manchester City. 😂 — City Xtra (@City_Xtra) May 14, 2025 Chaos ensued in the closing stages, with Robbie Fowler missing a last-gasp penalty for City, and Middlesbrough ultimately securing European qualification, as a point proved enough for the visitors. 📸 Julian Finney - 2005 Getty Images
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Gerrard rolls back the years for Liverpool as Crouch's robot returns - 5 talking points vs Chelsea
Liverpool legends recorded a 2-0 win over Chelsea on Saturday in a light-hearted afternoon at Anfield. The game, organized to raise funds for both club's charity partners featured a host of former legends, including Steven Gerrard, Sami Hyypia and Dirk Kuyt, while for Chelsea the star names included Gianfranco Zola, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Claude Makelele. But it was Peter Crouch who stole the show with a second-half brace to ensure the hosts grabbed a very popular victory at Anfield. Here are the main talking points from the chairy game. READ MORE: History made in Liverpool Legends game with two Chelsea players crunched seconds later READ MORE: Liverpool star forced to hobble out of charity game after just 17 minutes Let's not forget why this game was staged in the first place - and the most important element of the entire day: to raise money for a very worthy cause. The funds generated from this year's game will support the LFC Foundation's health initiatives, which provide physical and mental wellbeing programmes for people of all ages throughout the Liverpool city region. Last year, the Foundation supported over 127,000 people through its programmes, delivering 18,000 sessions and events across 300 community venues, including 199 schools. Despite this being a charity game, there were a few sliding tackles and cynical fouls - perhaps unsurprisingly with the likes of Jay Spearing, Ramires and Makelele on the pitch. Admittedly, most fouls were followed by an apologetic hand, but Makelele took exception to a first-half challenge from Spearing - and let him know about it. In the second period, Florent Sinama-Pongolle was also vexed by a robust challenge from Florent Malouda. There was a slightly silly moment from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink when he decided to block Jerzey Dudek's kick - a foul in any game - and clipped the Pole. Sadly, that was the end of Dudek's day as he limped off with a hamstring injury. It was obvious before kick-off what the vast majority inside Anfield most hoped to see on Saturday: Gerrard roll back the years. And they got it, with the captain on the day looking sharp, linking well with team-mates and demonstrating his immaculate range of passing. He was also among those taking this game seriously, perhaps spurred on by a few hundred Chelsea fans who booed him as he swung in a corner half an hour into the game. He certainly looked pumped, running beyond Chelsea defenders, voicing his frustration at misplaced passes and routinely looking for shooting opportunities. Gerrard, who played the full 90 minutes, didn't get his goal that the fans craved, but there were a few near misses, including a crucial headed clearance from Jose Bosingwa to deny a shooting chance in the box, while Yossi Benayoun couldn't quite tee him up a few yards from goal late on. Saturday's game was another indication of how far women's soccer is progressing as Natasha Dowie became the first women's player to represent the legends' team when she was introduced from the bench after 30 minutes, She spoke beforehand about her pride at playing, how her family were in attendance and it was the biggest crowd she's ever played in front of. It wasn't the ideal start for the 36-year-old, who crunched Makelele with a mistimed tackle. Thankfully, he managed to continue and Dowie put in an impressive display up front. READ MORE: Steven Gerrard fumes at Liverpool teammate during charity match as icon can't hide anger READ MORE: Peter Crouch gives honest Arne Slot verdict after PSG and Newcastle defeats After a relatively dull first period, the introduction of Crouch changed the game, with the striker netting two off the bench. The one-time England international spoke of how excited his five-year-old, Liverpool-supporting son was to see him don the red jersey again. So who knows just how excited he was when Crouch nodded past Robert Green to grab the game's opening goal after 55 minutes. The robot, inevitably followed, in front of The Kop. Crouch was loving it and was over the moon to grab another soon after, this time lobbing Green from the back post. The second celebration was equally as enthusiastic and culminated in him running to the bench to embrace Sir Kenny Dalglish, John Aldridge, Ian Rush and John Barnes, with the quartet of Liverpool legends giving him a standing ovation.
