BLACKBURN Rovers defender Jay McEveley has found the road to redemption - and it's all thanks to his former team-mate Andy Cole.

The England Under 21 international, who is currently on loan to Ipswich Town, admits there was a point in his career when he was guilty of having a serious attitude problem.

However, some wise words from Cole helped to put him back on the straight and narrow, and now McEveley appears to have rediscovered his focus once again after spending several years in the football wildnerness.

McEveley was first thrust into the limelight as a 17-year-old, when he was given a Premiership baptism of fire by Graeme Souness in a Lancashire derby with Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok in December 2002.

He then went on to make a further 12 appearances in the first team that season, including both legs of a League Cup semi-final with Manchester United in which he was given the task of marking David Beckham.

But, instead of kicking on from there and trying to nail down a regular starting place in the side the following season, the Liverpool-born defender sulked when he was eventually axed by Souness and it took a pep-talk from Cole to bring him to his senses.

McEveley, now 20, and older and wiser than the teenager who made his Blackburn bow, said: "When Graeme Souness took me out of the side I did not know what to do.

"I was being selfish and stupid. If I was out of the team, I would sulk and moan and say I didn't care.

"The penny dropped when Andy pulled me aside one day. He reminded me how I had got into the side by working hard and doing things properly.

"They were brilliant words and, from that moment, I have never slacked off.

"I went off the rails a bit but, as I've grown older, I've learned how to deal with it."

McEveley's fit of pique ultimately cost him the chance to make the left-back spot his own at Blackburn.

Souness questioned his attitude on several occasions and eventually shipped him out to Burnley on loan in December 2003, the first of three such spells with Championship clubs.

Mark Hughes briefly offered him a route back last season; McEveley made four Premiership appearances on the bounce last Autumn.

But he was then sent out on loan again, this time to Gillingham, before he returned in time to appear in Rovers' game at Tottenham on the final day of last season, the last time he pulled on a shirt in the Premiership.

Ipswich was McEveley's next port of call and since August, he's been a regular in Joe Royle's side, clocking up 12 appearances and scoring once.

It remains to be seen whether McEveley still has a future at Blackburn or not, but, wherever his career ends up leading him, he will always be grateful to Cole for saving him from football's scrapheap.