Cole never going to be a Potter

Stoke City have revealed that they would have liked to sign former England player, Andy Cole.

Cole was available from Portsmouth before eventually going on loan to Birmingham for the remainder of the season and Stoke manager, Tony Pulis has said that they could have had him, except that they could not afford his wages: 'We've brought in some very good players on loan this season, but there's a limit to what we can do.

'Birmingham are used to spending big and still have the benefit of the Premiership parachute payments to pay the kind of wages demanded by an Andy Cole.

'There are players at Birmingham earning four or five times more than our lads, so we were never going to be in the market for that kind of player.'

The Potters' pockets were never going to be deep enough to afford to pay Cole's entire salary and Pompey were not prepared to subsidise his wages in the same way that other clubs such as Aston Villa and Liverpool had done.

It's not really such a big blow, it's doubtful whether even a player of Cole's quality could have made the instant hit that is needed if we are going to have any chance of still making the play-offs. If we miss out, let's look ahead to next season, when if we spend well, spend wisely and spend early during the summer we should be in a great position to be more than just a outside bet for promotion.

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