Ex-Liverpool star Joe Cole has already named the ‘biggest club’ between Chelsea and Reds
Liverpool play host to Chelsea at Anfield on Saturday as they look to secure Champions League qualification and Joe Cole has picked who is the bigger club
Joe Cole has previously spoken about Liverpool and Chelsea(Image: Getty Images)
Joe Cole may have spent the bulk of his playing days at Chelsea but he once described Liverpool as the “biggest club in the country.” The 44-year-old winger emerged through West Ham’s academy in 1998 before transferring to west London in 2003.
There, Cole carved out his legacy with three Premier League crowns and four domestic trophies, accumulating 39 goals and 47 assists across 282 outings. He also flourished in England’s ‘golden generation’ alongside the likes of Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Ashley Cole, Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen among others.
However, he risked alienating the Stamford Bridge faithful in 2010, when he transferred to Liverpool on a free – calling the Reds a “massive club,” despite his strong connection with Chelsea. Upon putting pen to paper on his four-year deal at Anfield, Cole said: “This is a massive club.
“I tried to take everything out of the equation, take the financial and location side out and just thought in football terms. I thought about the semi-final of the Champions League in 2005 when I ran onto the field and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
“I was thinking about playing in that atmosphere every week and that swung it for me. I know I have made the right decision and I am looking forward to the challenge. I have played in London all my life.
“I could have stayed at Chelsea because the fans loved me and I won things, but I wanted to challenge myself and when I knew Liverpool were interested it was a no-brainer because they are the biggest club in the country.”
Speaking about his new team-mates, Cole continued: “I am excited about playing with Fernando (Torres) and obviously I know Stevie (Gerrard), Carra ( Jamie Carragher ) and Jonno (Glen Johnson) from the England set-up. Pepe Reina, Alberto Aquilani – there are a lot of big-name players here but I will need time to settle down and relax into the club.
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“I am proud to be playing for this club and will give my all in every training session and every game to help the club be successful and put some pots in the trophy cabinet.”
Matters ultimately failed to materialise as anticipated for Cole on Merseyside, with the forward remaining just three years at Liverpool – including a season-long spell with Lille – before heading back to West Ham. He also recorded a modest five goals and three assists across 42 outings for the Reds.
He subsequently retracted his earlier remarks about Liverpool being the country’s biggest club, suggesting that a journalist influenced his perspective when he first arrived on Merseyside. He revealed in 2013: “When I joined, the guy interviewing me said, ‘you’ve joined the biggest club in the country’ and reeled off the trophies they’d won.
“I just said, ‘yeah, if you put it like that, I suppose you’re right’ and Liverpool used that as the headline to the interview. I didn’t want to upset anyone so I just went along with it.
“But obviously they’re not the biggest club in the country any more. How do you judge how big a club are? Nottingham Forest won the European Cup twice but they’re not a bigger club than Chelsea.”
Cole will no doubt have one eye on Liverpool’s clash with Chelsea at Anfield this Saturday at 12.30pm. Arne Slot will be looking to cement Champions League qualification for 2026/27 during the fixture, needing just four points from his side’s remaining three matches to achieve that goal.
Liverpool currently occupy fourth place in the Premier League table with 58 points to their name. While they have fallen short of defending the title they claimed just 12 months ago, securing their place in European football’s most prestigious competition for the forthcoming season will offer some consolation.
Chelsea, meanwhile, saw their own Champions League aspirations effectively extinguished on Monday evening following a 3-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest. Calum McFarlane’s side languish ninth in the top flight with 48 points, trailing the top five by 10 points with only three matches remaining.
Although there remains an outside chance of securing a place in European competition via the Europa or Conference League, they would need Bournemouth, Brentford or Brighton to slip up in the closing stages of the season. They would also have to produce a flawless run of results against Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Sunderland AFC.
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