Cole reveals details of Keegan spat after defeat at Southampton

Prolific goalscorer Cole went AWOL for a cup match at Wimbledon following the visit to the Dell, which Saints won 2-1. 

On October 24, 1993, Matt Le Tissier scored a brace to cancel out England international Cole's goal for Newcastle United. 

Cole went on to score 34 league goals in 40 matches that season but not before a falling out with Magpies boss Keegan. 

Speaking on Stick to Football podcast, Cole explained: "We had a falling out the year before I moved to Man United.

Kevin Keegan played for Saints between 1980-1982 (Image: Echo)

"We played Southampton at the old Dell and in those days we travelled by coach, so imagine a coach from Newcastle to Southampton.

"We played on Sunday and then from Southampton, we were going up to London for the League Cup midweek.

"We played at Southampton, lost 2-1 and then drove up to London and had a warm-down the morning after the game."

Cole added: "Kevin came out and said, ‘Morning Coley, do you fancy it today?’ I told him, to be honest, I was a little bit tired.

"He responded, ‘Do you fancy it? Well, if you don’t fancy it you can F off’. I said that’s not a problem, got showered and left.

"I was not having people talk to me like that. We lost on Sunday and Kevin was a very emotional manager.

Andy Cole scored 187 Premier League goals

"I had done nothing wrong, I was just being honest and you don’t come back with that - so I left to see my missus for a few days.

"Kevin wasn’t in contact with me, he knew I didn’t want to talk to him and I was speaking to my agent at the time.

"I spoke to Freddy Shepherd, who is no longer with us, and he said, ‘Coley come on we’ve got to sort this out.’

"I ended up playing on Saturday at the end of the week, I think I scored although I hadn’t trained all week and thought that was the end of it.

"But Kevin holds onto things and by Christmas the next year he moved me on and said they had to change how they played."