Andy Cole will always be grateful to his former Manchester United teammate Roy Keane for the support he gave during Cole’s battle with serious illness.
Cole suffered kidney failure and required a kidney transplant in 2017, and since then has struggled with fatigue.
Keane reached out to Cole during the worst days and kept in touch with his treble-winning pal through his recovery.
“That’s the side that people don’t see with Roy,” said the ex-United, Newcastle, Blackburn, Manchester City and Sunderland striker, speaking at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin.
“He is always prepared to put himself out, pick the phone up, send you a little text message. People don't see that side of him.
“People will look at him and he is scowling. Someone said to me, he does it for clickbait. Never. I have a little laugh when someone says that to me, because I know what he is.
“I know how he reached out to me, checking in on my health. One person might see it one way, but I see it a totally different way.”
Cole says he has learned to appreciate every day since his illness, and that he probably burned the candle at both ends during his long and successful playing career.
He was a key part of Alex Ferguson’s success in the 1990s and early noughties, winning five Premier League titles, two FA Cups and a Champions League.
“I’m still here, I’m still surviving, taking each day for what it is,” he said.
Andy Cole pictured at ‘Match Day at Guinness Storehouse’ – Ireland’s Highest Premier League Fanzone - which brought fans of the beautiful game and beautiful beer together for an epic experience in Dublin 8. (Image: INPHO/Ben Brady)
“100 percent (it has changed my outlook on life). When you play professional football for so long, you do take liberties, you do, to a certain extent, burn the candle at both ends.
“In your head you are super-fit and nothing is going to happen. You wake up in the morning, you go train, you might nick a night out, you might have a few drinks, one too many.
“It’s not until you go through something so serious that you think, maybe I have taken some liberties, life is not to be taken for granted, tomorrow might not come.
“So you need to box clever. I appreciate life a hell of a lot more, because tomorrow is not a given. You have to live today for what it is.”
_\# Guinness is marking the end of the first chapter of a four-year journey as the Official Beer and Official Non-Alcoholic Beer of the Premier League with a matchday experience at its famous Storehouse, which this year celebrates its 25th birthday._
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