Cole joins Blackburn

England forward Andy Cole has joined Blackburn Rovers FC from Manchester United FC for an undisclosed fee.

Official approach
United disclosed on Friday that they had held initial discussions with Blackburn after an official approach to sign the player from the Ewood Park club. On Saturday a United club spokesman confirmed that the two clubs had agreed a deal, subject to Cole agreeing personal terms.

Discussions with Souness
After discussions with manager Graeme Souness, Cole, who had been at Old Trafford stadium for seven years, was officially unveiled as a Blackburn player after his side's FA Premiership defeat against Derby County FC on Saturday afternoon.

'Looking forward to it'
"We [Souness and I] spoke in great depth," Cole said. "That made up my kind. He [Souness] was an ambitious player and he's an ambitious manager. The board will back him 100 per cent. They [Blackburn] are not as big as [former clubs] Manchester United or Newcastle [United FC], but I'm very much looking forward to it."

'You have to move on'
"I need to play football," Cole continued. "I'm 30 and when you get to that age you want to play football. Football means more to me than sitting on the bench at the biggest club in the world. Things like this happen in football - you have to move on."

Considerable success
During his time with United, Cole enjoyed considerable success winning five FA Premiership winners' medals, two FA Cup winners' medals and a UEFA Champions League winners' medal. In all he scored 104 goals for the Manchester club in 234 starts. He joined United in 1995 for €9.8m after just under two years with Newcastle, where he scored 68 goals in 84 starts. To date, Cole has won 15 international caps for England, scoring once.