Cole praises ´revolutionary´ Ferguson

Former Manchester United striker Andy Cole believes Sir Alex Ferguson has revolutionised the game during his 25 years at Old Trafford.

Cole, 40, scored 93 goals 195 appearances for United between 1995 and 2001 and was also a 15-time England international.

Ferguson celebrated 25 years at United with a 1-0 win over Sunderland in the English Premier League on Saturday.

The Scot has been the subject of much praise, and Cole said Ferguson had changed the way the game is played.

“I think he’s revolutionised football. When people stay manager at one club for 25 years and how’s he done it, you’ve got to move with the times,” he said on Tuesday.

“We’ve got generations that have changed from when the manager first started managing football to where he is now, it’s exactly the same way but in a different manner. You can only take your hat off to him.”

Ferguson has guided United to 12 of their 19 English league titles, and his team are five points behind rivals Manchester City in the Premier League.

Meanwhile, Cole also said England were over-rated and would find it tough in their friendly against world champions Spain at Wembley on Saturday.

“Let’s be brutally honest. England aren’t as good as people make them out to be and we are at a stage where I don’t know if it’s transitional or not,” he said.

“Spain are a fantastic football country at the moment, winning the World Cup and winning the last European Championship.”

“So if we go into the game and lose the game but play well, we’ve got to take it on the chin and got to try to strive to play as well as teams like Spain, which is going to be tough for us.”