England Player Sacked for Playing ‘Very badly’

Former West Ham and Chelsea striker Carlton Cole has been sacked by Indonesia’s Persib while retaining their Ghanaian midfielder Michael Essien in a massive shake-up at the top-flight club after just six months at the club.

The Bandung based club fired the former England attacker on Tuesday, slamming his performances as ''very bad'' as he has failed to score since arriving at the club in March.

Charlton (right) and former team mate Essien (left)

The club says Cole will be replaced during the second stage of the season, which starts on Saturday.

“It’s the management’s decision to dismiss him, we will have a new player in the second round of the season,” Persib manager Umuh Muchtar told AFP.

“He plays very badly compared to the other (foreign players) who have joined Persib. He had the worst performance,” Muchtar added.

Note that Cole featured just five times for Persib. He was member of the Indonesian side in 10 outings, started just 2 times, was substitute in 3 occasions, and put on the bench 5 times.

Cole joined Persib two weeks after his former Chelsea team-mate Michael Essien in what was a buying spree for the Bandung-based club.

When Cole signed for Persib

The former England international, 33, signed a one-year contract for an undisclosed fee with Persib, owned by Indonesian businessman Erick Thohir – who is also president of Italian giants Inter Milan.

The centre forward who started his career with Chelsea youth team has also played for Wolves, Sacramento FC, Celtic and Aston Villa. Cole has entirely totaled 397 matches since he started club football, netting just 36 times. 

He won seven caps with England scoring no goal.

Eighteen teams play in the new Liga 1, which was formed after a row between Indonesia’s sports ministry and football association prompted the country’s suspension by FIFA, and left it without a soccer competition for two years.