BLONDE.. AND AMBITION INSPIRING CORK.

Byline: ALAN POOLE

JACK Cork was accompanied by a stunning blonde when he took his seat in the Ricoh Arena to watch England Under-21s' 6-3 thriller against Macedonia last weekend.

But that was a rare concession to the clich image of a footballer barely out of his teens who has just signed a three-year contract with one of the richest clubs in the world.

The Chelsea midfielder, who is nine games into a loan spell with Coventry City, is as thoughtful and polite a young man as you could hope to meet in any walk of life.

Cork, who has represented his country at every level from Under-16 to Under-21, confessed he was disappointed when Stuart Pearce declined to grant him at least a place on the bench in his latest home from home.

But he insisted: "It was a great experience being able to train with quality players like that under a really good manager - you can only improve from things like that.

"Because I'm at Coventry, there was quite a bit of media interest before the game and the gaffer said some nice things, so I thought I might be involved. It was disappointing to miss out, but that's football."

Although Chelsea are currently barred from drafting in fresh recruits, Cork knows there is a formidable squad of world-class talent queuing up for a starting role in the Londoners' midfield so he is more than happy to maintain the learning curve that took in spells at Bournemouth, Scunthorpe, Southampton and Watford before he followed Patrick van Aanholt on the road from Stamford Bridge to the Ricoh.

"I'm really enjoying it at the minute," he said. "The Championship is a good level of football even though, as people say, it's a lot more physical than the Premier League.

"It's more cut-throat because people's jobs are always on the line and they've got families to support. But it's good fun, too, and I'm really enjoying being a part of that.

"Having Patrick here is a big advantage because he came here two or three weeks before I did and helped me settle into the dressing room. We've got a small squad but there's a good mix of experienced players and young lads and it's a very tight group.

"It's going well because we've put in some solid performances and got some good results.

''We've got some hard games coming up against the likes of Cardiff and West Brom but we're looking forward to them because we've proved that we can compete with the best teams in this league."

Cork's father Alan, once the muscular spearhead of Wimbleon's Crazy Gang, had a spell with the Sky Blues as Micky Adams's assistant before being sacked in 2007. But there were no hard feelings - "Dad had nothing but good things to say about the club" - and Jack is hoping that he can extend his own stay when the loan deal runs out at the end of the year.

"We'll have to see how Chelsea and Coventry feel when it gets nearer to the time," he said, "but I'd definitely like to stay on. There are some great coaches here who are helping me to improve as a player and I know that Chelsea are monitoring my progress because, after games, I'll get messages telling me what I've done right or wrong.

"I think my form has been reasonably good although I want to try to be more consistent. But the important thing is the team performance, the three points - there is a lot of potential here and I want to get my head down and help them achieve that."

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GLAMOUR BOY: Jack Cork and his mystery guest