Andy Cole has revealed the most regular recipient of a ‘yellow jersey’: the ‘worst player’ in Manchester United training.
Cole played six extremely successful years at Old Trafford, scoring over 100 goals and helping the Red Devils win five Premier League titles, two FA Cups, and the Champions League.
The iconic striker believes the ‘intensity’ of United’s training sessions helped the squad maintain a high level of performance in matches, suggesting club training was more rigorous than when he was on international duty with England.
To motivate the group during training, Cole declared that the ‘worst player’ would be given a yellow jersey to wear the next week.
Desperate to escape the dreaded yellow jersey, Manchester United players would be particularly driven to work hard in training and impress their managers.
“The intensity in training was mad,” Cole claimed on Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel. It was more intensive than England’s training.
‘The mentality of each player meant that if you lost a training game, you’d be upset. At the end of training, we would pull out the yellow jersey for the worst player.
‘The worst player would receive it and had to wear it for the next week.’
When asked who frequently ended up wearing the yellow jersey, Cole said, “Pally.” Pally used to have it frequently.’
Gary Pallister was a regular in the Manchester United squad throughout the 1990s, winning four Premier League titles under Sir Alex Ferguson and was named to the PFA Team of the Year five times.
Ferdinand responded to Cole’s thoughts on the ‘yellow jersey’, saying: ‘It would be an HR issue these days! Players would go and say they were bullying me.
‘I remember asking Andy what it was like at Manchester United before I joined, and the way he described it used to worry me a little!
I’d think, “Is he lying?” He would talk of players crunching each other in training, and he claimed that England’s training intensity was nothing compared to United’s.
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