Andy Cole accused Teddy Sheringham of ruining his England debut & they never spoke again

Despite playing together at Manchester United for four seasons, Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham disliked each other.

While this might sound bizarre considering they enjoyed so much success on the pitch together, it’s absolutely true.

But how did their career-long feud start? And why did they never patch up their differences, even after becoming teammates at Old Trafford in 1997?

The animosity began two years earlier in March 1995.

Cole was left “embarrassed” by Sheringham, who was five years his senior, after coming on for his England debut at Wembley against Uruguay.

Sheringham appeared to blank Cole as he left the pitch.

You can watch the footage here:

#OnThisDay in 1995 the moment that started a 20-year feud.

Teddy Sheringham blanks Andrew Cole on his England debut, and they never speak again…pic.twitter.com/ltE2KglpsO

“I didn’t want to play the game after that,” Cole told The Daily Telegraph in 2019. “That’s how embarrassed I felt.

“Snubbed on the line when you’re making your debut as a young kid… I think I hit the bar in the game but I couldn’t get it out of my mind.”

In a 2010 column for The Independent, Cole added: “I walk on to the pitch, 60,000 or so watching. Sheringham is coming off. I expect a brief handshake, a ‘Good luck, Coley’, something. I am ready to shake. He snubs me. He actively snubs me, for no reason I was ever aware of then or since. He walks off. I don’t even know the bloke so he can’t have any issue with me. We’re fellow England players, it is my debut and he snubs me.

“You know what my immediate thoughts were? ‘Jesus Christ! How many people just saw Teddy Sheringham do that to me?’ I was embarrassed. I was confused. And there you have it. From that moment on, I knew Sheringham was not for me.”