ANDY Cole today admitted he took the decision to quit Blackburn Rovers in the summer because he could no longer work for Graeme Souness.

Speaking exclusively to the Evening Telegraph, Cole has confessed he was the one who instigated a free transfer to Fulham after deciding his relationship with Souness had become untenable.

Cole and Souness were involved in a number of heated bust-ups during their time together at Ewood and at one point Cole even took the unprecedented step of reporting Souness to the Professional Footballers' Association for 'victimisation'.

The situation finally came to a head in the summer when Cole demanded a move.

But the former Manchester United and England striker has admitted he would probably still be a Blackburn player today had Souness joined Newcastle two months earlier.

"I was sad to leave but I think everyone knows the reasons why I left in the end," said Cole, whose Fulham side face Rovers tomorrow.

"I had no relationship with the manager and I didn't want a relationship with him so I thought the time was right to move on.

"Regardless of what he says or anyone else, it was my decision to move on.

"When you're doing your job you want to be enjoying your work but when he was the manager at Blackburn Rovers that wasn't the case, so the best solution was for me to go elsewhere."

Asked if he would have stayed on had Souness relinquished his place in the Ewood hot-seat, Cole added: "Everyone knows (the answer to) that. If Graeme hadn't stayed on in the summer then I probably would have stayed.

"But it wasn't looking possible that he would move on in the summer because the board - or anyone else - weren't prepared to do it.

"So I had to make a decision and that decision is made now."

Cole had virtually made up his mind that it was time to move on by the final day of last season, when he received a standing ovation following the 1-1 draw with Birmingham.

That turned out to be his last game in a Blackburn shirt and he was genuinely moved by the touching send off he received.

"To be perfectly honest, I did genuinely feel that was going to be my last game," said Cole.

"Everyone knew the situation I was in, there was no relationship between me and Graeme Souness, I didn't want to work for the man anymore and I think people started to realise that.

"The ovation they gave me was absolutely top drawer and you always feel special when you get something like that."

Referring to the latter days of Souness's reign, Cole had become increasingly frustrated by the tactics his former manager was adopting.

"The fans pay good money to watch good football and last season we didn't play good football.

"We stayed up basically because we scrapped out a few results at the end.

"By the end, we were resorting to the long ball in a bid to get results.

"That was disappointing for me and it was disappointing for the rest of the lads because we weren't playing to our strengths."

In the meantime, Cole has backed Mark Hughes to bring the good times back to Blackburn, even though his old club are currently bottom of the Premiership.

"I've always thought highly of Sparky. I've got nothing but respect for Mark Hughes as a player and a person and I've no doubts he'll do a great job as a manager," said Cole.

"I believe he's going to be a success as a Premiership manager."

"Once he gets his own players in and gets the team to play the way he wants to, then I think he'll do a great job and he's got a great backroom team behind him.

"I've only got good things to say about him."