FORMER England striker Andy Cole has said that he was blackballed from the national squad during his playing career.

Cole is currently third on Premier League’s all-time top-scorer list, when he retired he was second on 187 behind Alan Shearer on 260, but won a measly 15 England caps.

The forward netted a total of 229 goals in 509 appearances for a range of clubs, from Newcastle and Blackburn to Fulham, and was a leading figure for the Manchester United side that dominated English football in the late ’90s that culminated in the treble in 1999.

Speaking exclusively to the The Beautiful Game podcast, he spoke about how growing up, he noticed that if you played well for your club, you would get a call-up and the “opportunity to forge an England career,” but that his journey didn’t pan out like that.

The now-retired goalscorer put his exclusion down to “politics” at the time. But when asked if he was blackballed by one the hosts, Cole replied: “Yeah, it was crazy.”

“In my case, football is not just football, football’s politics as well — politics play a big part.

“When I first was playing well at Newcastle, scoring goals — I should have been in England squad. [Newcastle manager] Kevin Keegan brought me into his office and I had to listen to the phone call that he had with a guy called David Davis.

“He was giving Kevin every reason why I wasn’t in the England squad. I turned around and said to myself: ‘As a kid watching the England squad play, if you played well for your club you always got into the England squad. Naturally you get yourself into the team and you play, and you get the opportunity to try and forge some kind of England career. 

“That wasn't happening for me. So, there's a big battle not to get me into the England team, or the England squad, and then when I finally got in the England squad, no-one would play me.”

Re-telling the only time he said he felt “comfortable” with England, Cole added: “Howard Wilkinson took over for one game.

“I remember Howard Wilkinson pulling me over and he goes: ‘Right, you’re going to play today. As long as I’ve got this job, you’re going to play.’

“I’m like saying: ‘Well, by this time I’ve seen off a few England managers by then.’ And that was the strangest thing. That was my situation with England.

Cole was pressed on his exclusion from the 1998 World Cup.

Despite finishing that season with 25 goals in all competitions, the then-United striker was overlooked for the emerging Michael Owen, Paul Merson, Teddy Sherringham and Les Ferdinand.

Asked who he would replace himself with if he was the manager, Cole said that it wasn’t about swapping himself, “I knew I should have gone.”

“I'm not looking to swap myself anybody. That season I had done more for Manchester United, think I ended up getting 20-odd goals for Man United that season.

“If you look at everyone else’s goal return that year, I’m not sure how many got 25 goals. But that’s when the shenanigans started with Glenn Hoddle ... so when I got left out, I had to laugh to myself. I had to. I knew I should have been going to that World Cup.

“I knew, if it wasn't for the politics involved in the football, I’d have gone to the World Cup.”

In an honest and frank interview, Cole also spoke eloquently on the current Black Lives Matter movement and said that he would have no problem speaking out against racial injustices if he was playing now.

Cole praised the work Raheem Sterling is doing, in raising awareness, and added: “If I was playing now, my platform would be going mad. That’s me as a person. First and foremost, I’m a proud man. I am a proud black man, 100 per cent.

“In my time playing, I was never scared to voice my opinion on nothing. So something like this, if I was playing now, I’d be going crazy.

“We have a great opportunity now. Raheem Sterling is doing a great job. We have the opportunity now to talk up, you know, get it off our chest.”

Watch the full interview with Andy Cole here