Ashley Cole leaves Cesena job just THREE months after landing role
Ashley Cole has left his role as head coach of Italian second-tier side Cesena just three months after being appointed.
Cole, 45, was handed his first managerial role when taking over in March and won one of his eight matches in charge of the Serie 'B' outfit, who finished 11th after their play-off push faltered.
It was reported at the time that the ex-Chelsea and Arsenal defender must meet 'certain conditions' in order to be offered a new contract. There had also been uproar from Cesena fans at the decision to sack his predecessor, Michele Mignani.
But Cole claims he has decided to seek a new challenge elsewhere after his deal ended.
'As my tenure at Cesena FC concludes today, I want to thank the players and staff for their hard work and commitment over the last few months,' Cole wrote on Instagram.
'I was proud to bring my experience to such a passionate club, and I’ve truly enjoyed working with the squad to introduce a new identity and prepare for the season ahead.
View this post on Instagram
'Following recent discussions with the Sporting Director regarding a change in the club’s strategy, I have decided that it is best for me to move on.
'I leave with great respect for all the people there, as well as the fans, and look forward to my next challenge.'
Cole has been a coach at various levels since retiring from football in 2019, most recently with the Football Association as a full-time national coach.
He has also served as Frank Lampard's assistant at Everton and Chelsea, and held the same role at Birmingham City when Wayne Rooney was in charge.
The 107-cap England international then worked with the U21 national team and assisted Lee Carsley for the senior squad.
As a player, Cole made more than 700 appearances before retiring with Derby County in 2019.
He won the Champions League with Chelsea, as well as a Premier League title and four FA Cups during his time at Stamford Bridge. He also won the Europa League, League Cup and Community Shield with the Blues.
The defender moved to Chelsea after breaking through at Arsenal, where he had collected two Premier League titles, three FA Cups and two Community Shields.
He has played on Italian soil before, too, having joined Serie A giants AS Roma from Chelsea in 2014, spending two years in Rome before joining LA Galaxy and finishing his career at Derby.
How much is David Beckham set to pocket from his World Cup brand deals? Take on our quiz in our newsletter HERE.
Ford's AI experiment backfires as car giant rehires humans
Ford has admitted its push to rely heavily on AI fell short, revealing it has hired hundreds of veteran engineers after concluding the technology alone could not deliver the quality improvements it expected.
The US automaker has hired more than 350 veteran engineers over the past three years to help address quality problems that have cost the company billions of dollars.
Ford, however, insisted it is not abandoning AI and said the improvements have come from combining the technology with decades of engineering expertise.
'This reorg allowed us to look at the entire lifecycle of a vehicle – from software development to suppliers on our plant floor - as one continuous and collaborative flow,' a Ford spokesperson told the Daily Mail.
'At the same time, we have rallied the whole company around a clear vision: Quality Comes First. We've built a culture of relentless problem-solving and recognizing our teams when they prevent issues from reaching customers.
'Using AI is just a small part of this. One tool in a toolbox and culture that relies on experience and expertise as it does modern manufacturing tools.'
The so-called 'gray beard' engineers - many of them former Ford employees or recruits from suppliers - were brought in to reprogram the company's AI tools and tackle quality problems that have cost Ford billions of dollars.
'Artificial intelligence is a fantastic tool, but it's only as good as the information you use to train it,' Charles Poon, Ford's vice president of vehicle hardware engineering, told Bloomberg and other reporters on a call Wednesday.
Ford has admitted its push to rely heavily on AI fell short, revealing it has hired hundreds of veteran engineers after concluding the technology alone could not deliver the quality improvements it expected
Chief operating officer Kumar Galhotra told the outlet the company implemented mandatory meetings to troubleshoot quality issues and reprogrammed AI tools to identify glitches before they occur
The US automaker has hired more than 350 veteran engineers over the past three years to help address quality problems that have cost the company billions of dollars
'Over prior years, we didn't pay as much attention as we should have to the experience of our most knowledgeable engineers that have been with us through many product cycles.'
Chief operating officer Kumar Galhotra told the outlet the company implemented mandatory meetings to troubleshoot quality issues and reprogrammed AI tools to identify glitches before they occur.
Galhotra acknowledged Ford's reliance on automated quality systems alone did not produce the 'desired results,' prompting the automaker to bring back technical specialists to 'hunt for failure points before a part ever reaches the plant floor.'
Ford says pairing experienced engineers with its AI tools has helped improve vehicle quality.
'We're seeing our warranty coverages come down. We're seeing our recall costs come down,' Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley said Thursday on Bloomberg TV.
'These are all contributing to literally hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of a tailwind for Ford on cost.'
The company also remains on track to achieve its goal of cutting $1 billion in costs this year.
Ford learned that AI could not replace the expertise accumulated by longtime engineers.
Ford says pairing experienced engineers with its AI tools has helped improve vehicle quality
Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley said the company is seeing warranty and recall costs decline, helping drive hundreds of millions of dollars in savings
Read More
Timothée Chalamet's favorite EV maker fights for survival as it slashes 18% of staff and loses ANOTHER key executive
'Mistakenly, we thought that by just introducing artificial intelligence and ingesting the design requirements that we had, that that would produce a high-quality product,' Poon said.
He added that the only way to get the most out of the company's automation, machine learning and AI tools is to ensure 'they were trained by the most experienced individuals.'
The strategy appears to have paid off. Ford climbed to the top of J.D. Power's closely watched Initial Quality Study among mainstream brands, finishing ahead of rivals Toyota and Honda and behind only luxury brands Porsche and Genesis overall.
The result marked a significant turnaround after Ford ranked 10th among mainstream brands and below the industry average in last year's survey.
Three Ford models - the F-150 pickup, Super Duty truck and Mustang sports car - ranked highest in their respective categories.
Ford nevertheless remains the most recalled automaker in the US despite the improved quality rankings. The company said it expects about $1 billion in warranty and material costs this year.
Galhotra said recalls are a 'lagging indicator' of vehicle quality and predicted they would decline as newer models reach customers.
By focusing on preventing issues 'upfront,' he said Ford expects recall numbers to 'steadily come down with the newer vehicles.'
