He bought and sold Cole when he was at Newcastle without losing regard for his skills and it

He bought and sold Cole when he was at Newcastle without losing regard for his skills, and it is one of the paradoxes of today's FA Cup final that the No 9 in red made his name and number in black and white on Tyneside.Of course, given the striking riches at Alex Ferguson's disposal there is the possibility Cole will be rested with an eye on the European Cup final on Wednesday, although he will resist that notion "I want to play in the final," he said "Definitely. It's against my former club and you always want to play against your former club. The romance of the FA Cup is something special and I don't want to be missing out on that."Not that Cole is swooning at the romance of it all. The FA Cup has been the third most coveted jewel in United's potential triple crown, but whereas most of Old Trafford craves the European Cup his personal choice was the Premiership."For me it had to be the League," he said listing his priorities. "You go through 38 games, the ups and downs, and to prove you're the best team in England is the most important thing. The cup games are a bonus, the European Cup is a very big bonus, but you have to win your domestic title first."His priority was accomplished against Tottenham last weekend and the bonuses lie ahead: Newcastle at Wembley today and Bayern Munich in Barcelona in the European Cup final on Wednesday.

"As a lot of the boys were saying before the Spurs game, we've got three cup finals and I know we're more than capable of winning all three I don't see why we can't beat Bayern. They're a very tall team and they play like the English, the Germans always work hard. It'll be a physical game but I thought we handled them well in the Champions' League games and we should have won both to be honest."A goal to grace his best season? "I don't care who scores," replied. "If we nick a 1-0 and Peter Schmeichel gets the goal I won't be fussed. It's the European Cup, something the club has looked forward to for a long, long time.

After watching for so many years and thinking `one day I'd love to be in the European final' it's going to be a special day."You suspect it will be more so for the doubts of four years ago. Cole is no longer the man who cost United the championship but the one who clinched it in 1999 and if he gets the winning goal next Wednesday he will enter the lists of distinction at Old Trafford. Not bad for a player whose worth has been part of a debate from the moment he joined United.. THE COUNTY champions, Leicestershire, suffered a crushing nine- wicket defeat yesterday after being forced to follow on against Somerset at Taunton.

Aftab Habib's 147 helped Leicester to 313 all out, which at least forced Somerset to go through the formality of collecting the 34 runs for victory. There was the annoyance of losing Jamie Cox for seven with the score on 17, but by then it was too late. Jason Kerr's 7 for 23 in Leicestershire's second innings had laid the foundation for Somerset's win. Derbyshire recorded their first Championship win against Northamptonshire for nine years at Derby. The home side marched to an eight-wicket win after all the hard work had been done in the first innings when they took a crucial lead of 196, thanks to centuries from both Michael Slater and Steve Titchard.Slater was then unable to see the job through in the second innings, falling for 30, but Titchard and Matthew Cassar sealed victory for Derbyshire in the 16th over. Earlier, 111 from the Australian opener, Matthew Hayden, was the highlight of the Northamptonshire innings as they were bowled out for 261.A last-wicket stand of 99 between Hampshire's Derek Kenway and Peter Hartley helped put the pressure on Middlesex at Lord's. The visitors started the third day just 29 runs ahead, but Kenway, who made a career- best 75 not out, and Hartley (58) established a 123-run advantage.