John Terry and Andy Cole have been inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame.
Terry, 43, captained Chelsea to five Premier League titles between 2005 and 2017, making 492 appearances in the division. Former striker Cole is the Premier League’s fourth-highest scorer, with 187 goals to his name, and won the title five times with Manchester United.
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The pair were voted in following a global online poll from a shortlist of 15 former Premier League players.
They are the 23rd and 24th inductees into the Hall of Fame, which recognises individuals who have a significant contribution to the Premier League, which replaced the old First Division in 1992.
Terry is widely regarded as one of the best centre-backs in Premier League history, winning 17 trophies across his Chelsea career including five FA Cups and the Champions League in 2012.
He joined Chelsea as a 14-year-old and made his first-team debut in 1998, also featuring 78 times for England. Terry left in the summer of 2017 and spent the final season of his career at Aston Villa in the Championship.
The defender, who spent three years as assistant coach to manager Dean Smith at Villa and briefly at Leicester City last year, has been inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame in the same year as his former Chelsea team-mate Ashley Cole.
Terry’s Premier League career was not without controversy, though. In October 2011, he was accused of using racially abusive language towards Queen’s Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand during a Premier League match between the teams. Terry denied the accusations, admitting he used the words but insisted he had only been repeating what he thought Ferdinand had accused him of saying.
In December 2011, Terry was charged by the Crown Prosecution Service for allegedly using racist language, which he denied.
Two months later, the English FA stripped Terry of the England national team captaincy, stating that he would not captain the side until the allegations against him were resolved. Terry entered a not guilty plea during his trial in July 2012, where he was acquitted of the charge.
In September 2012, Terry was banned for four matches and fined £220,000 after an FA disciplinary hearing found him guilty of using racially abusive language towards Ferdinand. Terry had retired from international football earlier that month.
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Former striker Cole began his career at Arsenal before joining Bristol City in 1992 but it was at Newcastle United where he rose to prominence, scoring 68 goals across two years at the club and helping them to promotion to the Premier League in 1993. He won the Premier League Golden Boot in the 1993-94 season with 34 goals.
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Cole joined Manchester United from Newcastle in January 1995 in a deal worth £6million plus Northern Ireland international Keith Gillespie — setting a new British transfer record.
Cole scored 121 goals across eight seasons at Old Trafford, winning a plethora of trophies including being part of the treble-winning United team in the 1998-99 season.
The striker then spent two and a half seasons at Blackburn Rovers before further Premier League stints with Fulham, Manchester City, Portsmouth and Sunderland.
This year’s three new inductees will be recognised at a celebratory event in London on Tuesday.
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Premier League Hall of Fame inductees:
- Alan Shearer (2021)
- Thierry Henry (2021)
- Eric Cantona (2021)
- Roy Keane (2021)
- David Beckham (2021)
- Dennis Bergkamp (2021)
- Frank Lampard (2021)
- Steven Gerrard (2021)
- Patrick Vieira (2022)
- Wayne Rooney (2022)
- Ian Wright (2022)
- Peter Schmeichel (2022)
- Paul Scholes (2022)
- Didier Drogba (2022)
- Vincent Kompany (2022)
- Sergio Aguero (2022)
- Sir Alex Ferguson (2023)
- Arsene Wenger (2023)
- Rio Ferdinand (2023)
- Petr Cech (2023)
- Tony Adams (2023)
- Ashley Cole (2024)
- John Terry (2024)
- Andy Cole (2024)
(Top photos: Clive Mason/Getty Images, Ben Radford /Allsport)
