Excerpts from Ashley Cole’s autobiography are just starting to leak into Britain’s tabloid press. Tabloids themselves, player autobiographies are often chock-full of petty hatreds and wild accusations to ensure that they too, sell. In the first published extracts from the player’s book, Cole accuses Arsenal of favoring Thierry Henry, the Gunner’s all-time leading scorer at just 28 years of age, as central to his desire to leave the club. Cole’s contractual negotiations often took a back-seat to those involving Henry, whose contract was also set to expire. Retaining Henry was Arsenal’s top priority last season, which made Cole feel like an “invisible man.” While club officials and fans questioned his character and commitment to Arsenal, “The club made Thierry feel wanted and special, wooing him, wining and dining him, speaking in public about how much they want him to stay, going on a deliberate charm offensive,” he said. “But me? I didn’t have one dinner, one meeting or one phone call from anyone. That’s not sour grapes, it’s just a sad truth. The truth is that the Gunners had done nothing all season to hold on to me.” Well, it certainly sounds like sour grapes. He does have one good point though: goal-scoring forwards, especially the special ones like Henry, are always paid better than defenders and defensive-minded midfielders. They’re job is to get the goals, and if they do, they get paid big money for it. That’s just the way it goes in soccer. But $100,000 a week isn’t half-bad either, now is it?