Andy Cole reveals what Sir Bobby Charlton said to him in Man Utd dressing room, it solved goalscoring drought

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Manchester United legend Andy Cole has been speaking about his own experience addressing a goals drought, as the club’s current strikers struggle.

The struggles at Manchester United in 2024/25 are made only more painful by the greatness the club has put together on the pitch in the recent past.

The famous 1998/99 Treble season was the pinnacle of the Sir Alex Ferguson era in terms of achievement, even if you happened to prefer the greatness of the 1993/94 side, or the 2007/08 heroics that also yielded another Champions League, amid three consecutive Premier League titles.

Andy Cole was also part of a three-peat of league wins, 1999, 2000, and 2001, on the way to scoring 121 goals for Manchester United, a figure that currently ranks him 19th in the club’s history books.

Andy Cole had Manchester United form frustrations

Andy Cole arrived at Manchester United as a record signing in 1995, and despite scoring five goals in a 9-0 win over Ipswich Town, his spell was not an immediate success.

Cole was one of many United players to miss chances in a final day heartbreak at Upton Park in 1995, when United failed to retain the title.

Acknowledging that there were bumps along the way in his United stint, Cole says he welcomed help from a club legend, a man who was at the time the all-time leading scorer, Sir Bobby Charlton.

Speaking to Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel, Cole admits to being frustrated with his form despite putting in extra effort, until Charlton’s words helped him get back to basics and lifted his confidence.

He said: “I can talk from experience. I can talk about my time at Manchester United.

“It was mad. It was mad because I was getting so frustrated. Because ultimately, you always gonna get frustrated because you gone the to score goals. And your not scoring as many goals as your expected, you gonna get frustrated.

“I remember the work I was doing after training, me and kiddo, you know, 20 minutes, half an hour after training, every single day, just doing, doing it. Basics, basics, basics, basics.

“This is what I have to do this to get myself back to where I want to be at. 

“I remember Sir Bobby, he used to come in the dressing room. And he used to say, ‘Coley you get yourself in a position to smash it as hard as you can.’

“Seriously, that’s what I’m going to do from now on, getting in and smashing it, and then that’s what I used to do, get in there, smash it as hard, and it starts going in.

“I can start caressing a few now, because my confidence is coming back. I mean, go for the little dinks and all those kind of things, but you can only do those things, me personally, when your confidence is thriving, and once you’ve got confidence.”

Manchester United under pressure in 2024/25

Manchester United could do with an Andy Cole caliber striker right now, and a figure able to impart some wisdom like Sir Bobby Charlton.

That is why the loss of Ruud van Nistelrooy from the coaching set up could have been detrimental to United, because he could have imparted some wisdom to help Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund along the way.

It has been a real struggle in recent weeks, Rasmus Hojlund and Alejandro Garnacho have not scored a goal since the start of December, while Joshua Zirkzee has just one in 2025. Young forward Chido Obi offers hope – but pinning the fate of the club on a 17-year-old is a tough ask.