- Paul Scholes and Joe Cole were asked to identify thirteen former footballers
- Only one player’s face escaped their memory – and fans loved the content
- Chelsea are a mess and it’s hard to find the answers… but they need to keep the faith and stay patient. It’s all Kicking Off podcast
Paul Scholes and Joe Cole struck up a social media romance while indulging in that familiar pastime: hanging out and naming old footballers.
The former England stars were tasked with identifying players from a bygone era based on just one photo.
Scholes and Cole scored an impressive 12/13 in the TNT Sports quiz, with Yaniv Katan – eight-time West Ham striker in 2005/06 – the only unfortunate soul not to be recognised.
Royston Drenthe, Matthew Etherington and Claudio Pizarro were among the nostalgic names that popped up, and fans enjoyed the content.
“The professional version of naming old footballers, I could watch this for hours,” wrote one user on X, formerly Twitter.
Paul Scholes and Joe Cole had loads of fun identifying old footballers – and the viewers loved it
Commenters on
Eight-time West Ham player Yaniv Katan was the only player not identified
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“Strange (yet completely understandable) compelling content,” wrote Adam Hurrey of Football Cliches.
“Guys can literally just hang out and mention old sports players and just have the best time,” said another.
“I could honestly look at this for hours. Make it a competition. 64 ex-professionals. One round per week. Guess who the old player is,” one suggested.
“But we need good participants,” they continued. “Long term PL players love these two. Every Sunday morning before the footy. Film it and we’ll watch. I promise.’
“Great content,” said another.
The video started by identifying Pizarro, the former Chelsea striker who called Cole ‘good, player, mate’ – although Scholes admitted he almost linked him to Roque Santa Cruz.
Next up was David Bellion, who earned a move from Sunderland to Manchester United in 2003/04.
Katan was next and both former pros admitted they couldn’t figure out who he was.
Claudio Pizarro (left) and Pierre van Hoojidonk were among the other players
From there it was mostly smooth sailing as they sailed through Rigobert Song (‘good boy’), Pierre van Hoojidonk, Mark Fish, Ivan Campo, Drenthe (‘some buy that too’), Michael Johnson, Etherington and Pascay. Cygan.
There were a few stumbles at the end, as they struggled with Mart Poom and racked their brains to remember Moritz Volz.
Still, 12/13 was a strong score and viewers were impressed, with one claiming there was an ‘electric rapport’ between the two football quizzers.