Andy Carroll has revealed that some of his Liverpool team-mates would not speak to him after he joined the club in 2011. The 37-year-old singled out former Reds star Joe Cole in particular as he opened up in his new autobiography, Owning It.
Carroll emerged as a prodigious talent in 2006 when he made his Newcastle United debut aged 17. After a brief loan spell at Preston, he became the Magpies' prolific No. 9. At the start of the 2010/11 season, he bagged 11 top-flight goals in 19 games.
A record move to Anfield
Kenny Dalglish's Liverpool turned to the physical forward in January 2011 after Fernando Torres' £50m move to Chelsea. The Reds parted with £35m for Carroll, making him their then-club-record signing and the most expensive British footballer in history at the time.
Luis Suarez was also snapped up to fill Torres' boots. Carroll's stint at Anfield began slowly, due to a thigh injury, but he never truly got going. He lasted just 18 months, scoring 11 goals in 58 appearances and winning the League Cup before Brendan Rodgers made it clear his style didn't fit and he joined West Ham.
'Some of the lads wouldn't even speak to me'
But Carroll has now claimed that during his time at Liverpool, the dressing-room atmosphere was strange and stars like Cole barely said a word to him. In his newly released autobiography, Owning It, Carroll writes: "The Liverpool dressing room seemed a lot less joined up than at Newcastle - sometimes you just don't have the right blend of personalities - and some of the lads wouldn't even speak to me.
"Our pegs in the dressing room were ordered by squad number, so I had Gerrard (8) on one side and Joe Cole (10) on the other. Gerrard would ask me what I'd been up to, but Joe was basically mute.
"I'd looked up to him as a kid and I thought he'd take an interest in me given that he'd also been earmarked for great things as a teenager, but he didn't even say good morning. I'd be thinking, 'Mate, I'm new here, this isn't easy, give me something!'"
Joe Cole explains his silence
Carroll initially left Liverpool for West Ham on loan, a deal that was made permanent in 2013 for £15m. He recalls bumping into Cole again and discovering an explanation for the silence.
"But here's the thing: when me and Joe were at West Ham together, he was a completely different person," Carroll said. "He'd be dancing around the dressing room, cuddling and high-fiving me. I said to him when we were out one night, 'I thought you were a bit of a pr**k at Liverpool. You sat next to me for months and never said a word. Now you're acting like my best mate. What happened?'
"Joe explained that he'd felt really low at Liverpool, that he knew the club didn't want him, so he didn't want to be there. He'd got into the mindset of, 'Just turn up, keep your head down, do your job and get out.' He apologised and what had seemed very strange at the time suddenly made sense."
Cole's nightmare at Anfield
Cole's time at Anfield was a nightmare. He signed under Roy Hodgson as a big-name free agent after his Chelsea deal expired, but poor performances and injuries hampered him. He spent the entire 2011/12 season on loan at Lille in France and terminated his contract with the Reds in January 2013 before reuniting with his boyhood Hammers.
Carroll, on the other hand, spent seven seasons with West Ham after waving Liverpool goodbye, scoring 34 goals in 142 appearances. He later rejoined the Magpies and played for Reading and West Brom before heading to France in 2023.
In his first year abroad, Carroll played for Amiens and later signed for Bordeaux before jetting back to England last year to join National League South side Dagenham & Redbridge, where he is currently based. He serves in a dual role as player, assistant manager and minority shareholder.
