The Rowdies signing midfielder Joe Cole is evidence of two things:

Owner Bill Edwards does not mind opening up his pocket book

and

Edwards is favorable of taking chances on former soccer stars

The Rowdies signed Freddy Adu in 2015 and he has seen minimal action since. Adu appears to be a reclamation project as the 26 year old former US National Team star has been a journeyman for the past decade.

It can only be speculated to why Adu has not seen the field in the Rowdies first slate of NASL competition. Whether he doesn’t fit the team concept, or isn’t in form, Adu remains sidelined.

As opposed to Adu, Cole is expected to play Rayo OKC this Saturday which is a positive sign. Cole mentioned he could have taken two weeks to acclimate, but would rather see the field sooner than later. This is significant due to the Rowdies hanging mid table needing to put W’s on the board.

A win Saturday night would propel the Rowdies into contention to start battling for the top of the league standings

The Rowdies 2016 campaign has so far shown the team to be a sound defensive team, with a rock solid veteran keeper in net Matt Pickens. Pickens has scored 3 clean sheets thus far.

The Rowdies momentous struggle has been in their finishing quality. The squad is fairly good at creating chances, but not finding the back of the net.

There’s no doubt the Rowdies brought Cole on to be an offensive tactician. Cole scored 47 goals in his Premiere League tenure.

The immediate expectation would be that Cole would play a vital role in the Rowdies attacking midfield creating chances for Hristov and Heinemann. So far the two primary forwards have combined for 2 goals. The Rowdies have scored a total of 4 goals in 5 matches.

So far Cole has said all the right things. Cole, like Edwards, says he’s in Tampa Bay to bring home some hardware.

Signing Cole seems to be a step in the right direction, but his value will be measured in what offensive spark he can bring to the team.

Best case scenario is Cole bringing goals and swagger to Al Lang Stadium. I might start bringing myself to the Rowdies Den if Cole is in top form.