Ashley Cole has been appointed the new manager of Italian side Cesena. Cole, 45, joins the Serie B club on a deal until the end of this season.

The move marks Cole's first head coach position, having learned his trade at various clubs and with the FA. The 107-time England international worked with Frank Lampard at Chelsea and Everton, and alongside Wayne Rooney at Birmingham City.

Cole also assisted Lee Carsley during his time as England's interim manager. In September 2024, the ex-Arsenal and Chelsea left-back was appointed a full-time national coach by the FA.

Now Cole has signed a short-term contract with Cesena, who sit eighth in the Italian second tier, occupying the league's final play-off spot. The club sacked Michele Mignani on Saturday announced Cole's appointment on Sunday.

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A statement on Cesena's website read: "The entire Cesena FC family is thrilled to welcome manager Ashley Cole to lead the Bianconeri first team and extends a warm welcome to him and his staff in Cesena, wishing them all the best of luck in this new adventure."

Although his deal initially runs until the end of the campaign, it can be extended 'upon the fulfilment of certain conditions'. Cole will be assisted by the former Chelsea academy coach Jack Mesure.

The 45-year-old's first game in the dugout could be as soon as Tuesday. Cesena will travel to face Mantova before hosting promotion-chasing Catanzaro next Saturday.

Will Ashley Cole be a successful manager? Give us your prediction in the comments section.

Cesena are hoping to gain promotion to Serie A but face a difficult task. The second division works on a play-off system, with the sides between fifth and eighth competing in an eliminator round before the winners join third and fourth in the semi-finals.

Fourth-placed Palermo currently sit 17 points clear of Cesena. Venezia and Monza occupy the two automatic promotion places.

At the start of his coaching career in 2019, Cole opened up on his ambitions. "Everyone has their own philosophy but you also have to take ideas that you like from different coaches," he told Chelsea's website.

"The first thing I learned on my coaching badges was that every coach is a thief! I want to take parts of Jose Mourinho in terms of how organised he was, Carlo Ancelotti for his man-management and how he would give players faith to go out and express themselves within his system and Arsene Wenger, who was definitely a great man-manager and put a lot of trust in young players to find things out for themselves and learn quickly from mistakes. It's about being adaptable."

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