Norman Cole

Norman Cole may refer to:

Norman Cole (politician)

Norman John Cole (1 June 1909 – 22 January 1979) was a British Conservative and National Liberal Member of Parliament. He represented South Bedfordshire from 1951 to 1966, when the seat was taken by Labour candidate Gwilym Roberts.

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Norman Cole (footballer)

Norman Philip Cole (7 November 1913 – 29 November 1976) was an English footballer who played in the 1930s at centre-forward, spending most of his career with Southampton.

Football career

Cole was born in Woolston, Southampton and was educated firstly at Sholing School and then at Taunton's School in Shirley, Southampton. He played football for both schools as well as the local Itchen Sports, before joining the works team from the Thornycroft shipbuilding works at Woolston. From there he joined the Isle of Wight side, Newport, before signing as an amateur for Southampton, then playing in the Football League Second Division, in August 1932, aged 18.

His professional contract came a few months later and after starring in the reserves, he made his first-team debut on 30 December 1933, when he took Ted Drake's place at centre-forward in a 2–2 draw at Bradford City. When top-scorer Drake was sold to Arsenal in March 1934, the "Saints" forward line was rather depleted – despite receiving a record fee of £6,000 for Drake, Southampton's finances were such that manager George Kay was not able to purchase a replacement an, as a result, Cole was promoted from the reserves. The local press described Cole as "big, strong and ruddy of hair" and "vigorous and fast" and at first it seemed that Cole was going to be an adequate replacement for Drake, scoring twice in his first five matches followed by a hat-trick in a 3–2 victory over West Ham United on 7 April 1934.