Joe Cole was a part of one of the most successful Chelsea teams in history.
Indeed, Cole won all there was to win domestically at Chelsea, and a large part of that was Roman Abramovich’s investment at the club.
Abramovich brought a number of world-class talents to Chelsea. Didier Drogba was an all-time great, while Petr Cech was a gamechanger of a goalkeeper.
However, it wasn’t just on the pitch where Abramovich was spending heavily.
Indeed, Chelsea also moved into a new state-of-the-art training ground during the mid-2000s, and, by the sounds of it, that move was overdue.
Speaking on Tales, Tears and Trophies, Joe Cole has been discussing his first impressions when he arrived at Chelsea, and he says that the training ground was utterly terrible when he first arrived.
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Chelsea’s training ground was terrible
Cole spoke about the training ground at Chelsea when he arrived.
The England international says that Chelsea’s training ground must have been the worst of any team in a top European league, but that was quickly remedied as Chelsea swiftly moved.
“But the difference was we had when I walked through the door, we had Marcel Desailly, Gallas, Terry, Lampard, Jimmy Floyd, Gudjohnsen, really good players, big players, who if they went to another club, they’d be having it all be looking immaculate. But it was just Chelsea, the richest club in the world and probably the worst training ground in all of the top flights in Europe. It was terrible.
“So how long before you went into the new ground, did Roman move fast?” Cole was asked.
Yes, he moved fast. He bought a place in Cobham and it would take two years to build. But he just put the pitches were done straight away,” Cole said.
What Jose Mourinho said about the Chelsea training ground
Chelsea moved into their new training ground in 2007, and that was a welcomed move by all at the club.
Chelsea recently sold the training ground to one of Todd Boehly’s sister companies in a bid to help the club’s financial situation, so this move is still paying dividends to this day.
Jose Mourinho hailed the move to Cobham all those years ago, via The Standard.
“A modern and top training ground is important for first-team players. The club needs its own home for training and top players want to know about the facilities and their environment for work before they join a club. If we can tell them we have the best training ground this is a big advantage.”
“This is fantastic news for Chelsea. One of the reasons I joined was the commitment that Mr Abramovich and the board showed about investing in youth.
“With the academy, youth, reserves and first team all on the same site, this will act as an inspiration for the young players at Chelsea.”
Of course, Chelsea’s academy has gone from strength to strength since the new facility opened too.
The likes of Mason Mount, Reece James, Levi Colwill, Tammy Abraham, Marc Guehi and Fikayo Tomori have all graduated at Chelsea in recent years, and there’s plenty more where that came from.
Roman Abramovich is certainly a controversial figure in Premier League history, but he certainly helped Chelsea by getting this new training ground constructed.
