West Ham striker Carlton Cole believes he is finally growing up when it comes to football.

The 25-year old England international admits he thought life and football were going to be easy when he was running around in a Chelsea shirt just a few years ago.

But things didn't go as planned and Cole was loaned out despite being labelled by then Blues coach Claudio Ranieri as the future of the club.

Now, Cole has made a niche for himself at Upton Park and puts it down to maturity and becoming more professional.

"I had a big dip in my career and put that down to not concentrating, thinking life was going to be easy and not being professional," Cole said.

"Ranieri used to call me his lion but then Roman Abramovich came to Chelsea and signed all these multi-million pound players. That pushed me out.

"I had to go on loan and I was a bit peed off by that and didn't see the bigger picture. I didn't take my game seriously after that.

"But this is a new dawn for me and a chance to progress in my life and make my family proud."