By Alex RobertsHe’s the latest member of England’s ‘golden generation’ to move into management. After completing his badges at Derby County under former teammate Frank Lampard, Cole went on to work in Chelsea’s academy.Cole then moved on to assistant manager roles at Everton, again with Lampard, then Birmingham City under Wayne Rooney, and within the England national team set‑up under Lee Carsley.That’s seven years of coaching experience, but he couldn’t find any club in England willing to take a chance on one of the country’s greatest ever defenders. So, Cole broadened his horizons, and Cesena came calling.“I was getting kind of discouraged by a lack of opportunities, from some clubs in England I spoke to. They like to throw the ‘you don’t have experience’ line. And I’m like, I get what you’re saying, I agree – but how am I going to get experience?” he told BBC Sport.“That’s the battle you have to fight as a number two for six or seven years – you have to take a leap of faith, but a club also has to take a leap of faith. I don’t think there are too many black English coaches working in Italy, so yes, it is a massive leap of faith from them and I’m very proud to be here.“It is a great place to be and to start. I’m glad I’m back. We’re going to do something different – a bit special.”Cesena aren’t one of the big boys, they couldn’t even ben considered a ‘fallen giant.’ It’s been over a decade since they were last in the Serie A, and they’ve been floating about Italy’s second and third divisions since their relegation from the top flight. Cesena’s recent season finishesStill, a place in the Serie B play-offs is the expectation this season. They achieved just that last season under Michele Mignani, but were knocked out in the semi-finals by Catanzaro, thanks to Pietro Iemmello’s 54th minute goal.Sitting in eighth, Serie B’s final play-off spot, with one win in his last ten games, Migani was given the boot. Harsh or not, the club felt like they needed to roll the dice and Cole was brought in with the mission to right the ship and take the side to the next level.One of the seemingly hundreds of Italian teams under American ownership, the decision to hire Cole stemmed from their desire to internationalise the club. Cole is a well-known name even in Italy, a former international, with a Champions League on his CV as a player.It was a risk, and unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it’s worked out. The ex-Arsenal and Chelsea man signed a short-term contract, until June 2026, with an option to extend it by another year. That’s looking unlikely.Now that the regular Serie B season is over, we can have a bit of a retrospective. Cesena ended up in 11th, which is very much not in the play-offs, and Cole won just one of his eight games in charge, with a win percentage of just 13%.Coming into any club mid-season is incredibly hard for any manager, never mind one who’s just starting the trade. Tactically, Cole made the bold decision to go from Italian football’s beloved back 3 to a back four.Under Migani, Cesena were happy to let opposition sides have the ball, use their wing-backs to provide width and pack out the centre of the park with three midfielders in well-structured 3-5-2.That shifted almost as soon as Cole walked through the door. A fresh 4-2-3-1 saw them move to a more intense possession-based style, having 50% or more of the ball in all but one of their games under Cole, the 0-0 draw with Carrarese.“A lot of fans will say you can’t play attacking football,” he said in 2023. “But me being a defender, I hate defending. I don’t want to work on defensive work. I want to do the attacking play. Lee Carsley really gave me the license to come up with certain game plans and style of play.”It’s a more modern approach to football that we’re currently seeing very little of in Italy, Cesc Fàbregas’ Como are doing it exceptionally well. Cole isn’t restricting in his self-imposed responsibility to bring Italian football into 2026 to matters on the pitch.During his time at Everton, Cole would often watch matches from a higher vantage point and feedback his analysis. He’s brought that technique to Cesena, bringing in high vantage cameras to get a bird’s eye view of training, not unlike Luis Enrique at PSG.Cesena’s season statsHe’s also a huge proponent for more in-depth video analysis. Now, it would be WILD, if Cesena weren’t already doing something similar, but given Cole’s time with two top Premier League sides and the England set-up, there are levels to it.All of this sounds amazing, the issue is, is it too much? Young managers tend to come in and want to stamp their authority on things very quickly, and it can often result in too much change too soon. Cole went through something similar as a player, when André Villas-Boas took over at Chelsea.The results haven’t been good enough, and we’re sure Cole would be the first to admit that. Cesena’s only win under him, 3-1 at home against Catanzaro, was one of their best of the season, regardless of the man in the dugout.Cole’s career is new, but it’s clear he’s a project manager, one with a clear philosophy, wanting to play free flowing attacking football. IF, and it’s a big if, Cesena stand by him and decide to give him a full season, there are some positive signs.Either way, Cole deserves his flowers for taking that ‘leap of faith’ and taking charge of the Italian side. It’s not the early 2000s anymore, ‘Cashley’ the boy is dead, Ashley Cole the man killed him. (Images from IMAGO)You can follow every game from Serie B on FotMob – with in-depth stat coverage, xG, and player ratings, where available. Download the free app here.Add FotMob as a preferred news source on Google by clicking – here.