Les Ferdinand

Les Ferdinand MBE

Ferdinand watching the last QPR home game of the 2014–15 season v Newcastle
Personal information
Full name Leslie Ferdinand
Date of birth (1966-12-08) 8 December 1966
Place of birth Paddington, London, England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position Striker
Youth career
Southall
1985–1986 Hayes
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1986–1987 Hayes 33 (19)
1987–1995 Queens Park Rangers 163 (80)
1988 → Brentford (loan) 3 (0)
1988–1989 → Beşiktaş (loan) 24 (14)
1995–1997 Newcastle United 68 (41)
1997–2003 Tottenham Hotspur 118 (33)
2003 West Ham United 14 (2)
2003–2004 Leicester City 29 (12)
2004–2005 Bolton Wanderers 12 (1)
2005 Reading 12 (1)
2005–2006 Watford 0 (0)
Total 443 (184)
National team
1998 England B 1 (1)
1993–1998 England 17 (5)
Teams managed
2015 Queens Park Rangers (caretaker manager)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Leslie "Les" Ferdinand MBE (born 8 December 1966)[1] is an English former footballer and current football coach and Director of Football at his former club Queens Park Rangers. A former striker, his playing career included spells at Queens Park Rangers, Beşiktaş, Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United, Leicester City, Bolton Wanderers, Reading and Watford during which period he earned 17 caps for England. Ferdinand is the eighth highest scorer in the Premier League with 149 goals.[2]

He is the cousin of players, brothers Rio and Anton Ferdinand, and Dagenham & Redbridge player, Kane Ferdinand.[3]

He was made an MBE in the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours.[4]

On 5 November 2008 Ferdinand joined fellow ex-Tottenham player Tim Sherwood on the coaching staff of Tottenham Hotspur, to work with the strikers.[5][6] Ferdinand left the club on 19 June 2014.[7]

Club career

Early career

Ferdinand started his career in non-league football, first at AEL (a KOPA Cypriot team in England) then to Southall then moving to Hayes. He was spotted by Queens Park Rangers and moved there for £30,000.

Queens Park Rangers

Ferdinand made his QPR debut on 20 April 1987, aged 20, as a substitute in the 4-0 league defeat by Coventry City at Highfield Road - the first of two league appearances that season. He played a further league game in 1987–88, and was loaned for three games to Third Division Brentford. In 1988, he was loaned to Turkish side Beşiktaş for a season, and performed well with 14 goals in 24 games.

He returned to the QPR side for the 1989-90 season, and appeared in nine First Division appearances as well as scoring his first two English league goals. He fared better in 1990–91, playing in 18 league games and scoring eight goals as QPR ended up in a mid-table position. His 10 goals from 23 games in 1991–92 helped ensure QPR's status as founder members of the new FA Premier League for the 1992-93 season, and it was during this campaign that he established himself as a top striker, scoring 20 goals in 37 games as QPR finished fifth — the highest placed of all the London sides.

His fine form continued into 1993–94, during which his 16 goals from 36 games helped QPR finish ninth. Despite mounting speculation of a move to either Manchester United or Arsenal, he signed a two-year contract with QPR that summer.[8]

In 1994–95, he scored 24 times in the Premier League and speculation grew that he would soon be on his way to a bigger club. In nearly a decade at Loftus Road, he played under four different managers - Jim Smith, Trevor Francis, Don Howe and Gerry Francis.[9]

Newcastle United

Ferdinand was sold to Newcastle in 1995 for £6 million, with Hayes receiving £600,000 due to a sell-on clause agreed following his move to QPR (with the money received Hayes built a function suite and named it "The Ferdinand Suite" in his honour). His arrival at the club came nearly three years after the Magpies had offered QPR £3.3million for him during their Division One promotion season — but the offer had been turned down.[10]

The spell on Tyneside was arguably Ferdinand's most successful club tenure. He scored 29 goals in his first season with Newcastle, and significantly contributed to the side's getting within touching distance of the Premiership title in the 1995–96 season. Newcastle led the league by 12 points at one stage, but were overhauled by Manchester United in the final three months of the season.

In both of his seasons on Tyneside, Ferdinand collected runners-up medals in the Premier League. In the second season, they contested a four-horse race with Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool before Manchester United won the title. Ferdinand scored 50 goals in only 84 games at Newcastle, forming a successful partnership with Alan Shearer. He was and indeed is still very highly thought of by Newcastle United.

Ferdinand received a standing ovation when he returned to St. James' Park as a Tottenham player, trying to put Alan Shearer's number 9 shirt on to complete a lap of honour, he broke down in tears and could only manage to put the shirt on inside out and back to front before being helped from the field. Ferdinand returned again, when he also received a standing ovation, coming on as a substitute at Alan Shearer's testimonial and subsequently scored.

Tottenham Hotspur

In 1997 Ferdinand was bought by Tottenham Hotspur, the club he supported as a boy, again for £6 million. Injuries heavily disrupted his first season at the club, but towards the end of the campaign he formed a good partnership with Jürgen Klinsmann, and the pair's goals saved Spurs from relegation from the Premiership. Ferdinand helped Spurs win the League Cup in 1999, defeating Leicester City 1–0 in the final at Wembley, but injuries restricted him to just 12 goals in his first three seasons at the club.

He scored 10 goals in the 2000–01 season and 15 in 2001–02. He played in a second League Cup final for the club, against Blackburn Rovers, but was thwarted by three saves by Rovers' goalkeeper Brad Friedel as Spurs lost 2–1. Ferdinand scored the 10,000th goal in Premiership history on 15 December 2001 for Spurs against Fulham.

Later career

In January 2003, he moved to West Ham United, and scored his first goal for the club against former club Tottenham,[11] but was unable to prevent the club's relegation from the Premier League and opted to remain in the top flight by signing for newly promoted Leicester City on a free transfer. While at Leicester Ferdinand scored 14 Premiership goals, despite being 37 years old. After the Foxes were relegated at the end of that season, he rejected a new contract and joined Bolton Wanderers.[12]

Ferdinand memorably scored for Bolton Wanderers against rivals Manchester United in the last minute, despite playing from a centre back position, which looked to have given the Wanderers the win, but a goal from David Bellion even deeper in injury time gave United a point.[13] This goal, his last in the Premier League, came three months before his 38th birthday.[14]

He found opportunities from the start limited, but proved useful for all his experience when coming off the substitutes` bench, and scored against former club Tottenham in the League Cup, with what proved to be a mere consolation goal in a 4-3 thriller which Bolton lost.[15] He left them on 2 January 2005. Four days later, he signed with Reading. His contract at the club lasted until the end of the 2004–05 season. He scored one league goal in his time at Reading, in a 2-1 loss to Coventry.[16]

Ferdinand committed to non-contract terms with Watford during the 2005–06, but did not play a competitive game for the club and left after their promotion to the Premier League via the Football League Championship playoffs. He retired from football a few months short of his 40th birthday.

On 4 February 2015, Ferdinand became Director of Football at Queens Park Rangers.[17]

International career

Ferdinand made his England debut in February 1993 against San Marino, scoring the final goal in a 6–0 victory at Wembley.[18] Ferdinand was capped 17 times, scoring five goals. He was part of the Euro 96 and 1998 FIFA World Cup squads.[4]

Career statistics

Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
England League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
1986–87Queens Park RangersFirst Division20
1987–8810
1987–88BrentfordThird Division30
Turkey League Türkiye Kupası League Cup Europe Total
1988–89BeşiktaşSüper Lig241454103019
England League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
1989–90Queens Park RangersFirst Division92
1990–91188
1991–922310
1992–93Premier League37202224
1993–9436160218
1994–9537241126
1995–96Newcastle United37252153–4429
1996–97311631104440[19]21
1997–98Tottenham Hotspur2152010–245
1998–992457040–355
1999–009200000092
2000–0128104030–3510
2001–022593155–3315
2002–031120020–132
West Ham United1420000–142
2003–04Leicester City29122100–3113
2004–05Bolton Wanderers1212021–162
2004–05ReadingChampionship1210000–121
2005–06Watford000000–00
Total England 419169
Turkey 2414
Career total 443184

Playing honours

Club

Beşiktaş
Tottenham Hotspur

Individual

Autobiography

His autobiography, "Sir Les", was published in 1997.[20][21][22][23]

References

  1. ↑ Weekend birthdays, "The Guardian", Guardian Newspapers Limited. (11 August 2007); accessed 15 August 2007.
  2. ↑ http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/players/index.html?paramSearchType=BY_STAT
  3. ↑ "Peterborough United sign Kane Ferdinand from Southend". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  4. 1 2 Kate O'Hara (11 June 2005). "Queen's Birthday Honours List". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  5. ↑ "Ferdinand set for Tottenham role". BBC Sport. 5 November 2008. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  6. ↑ Haynes, Deborah (5 November 2008). "Les Ferdinand is to return to Tottenham Hotspur". The Times. London, UK. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  7. ↑ "The Club can announce that Les Ferdinand and Chris Ramsey have left the Club". Tottenham Hotspur. 19 June 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  8. ↑ Profile, google.com; accessed 22 June 2015.
  9. ↑ Profile, sportingheroes.net; accessed 22 June 2015.
  10. ↑ Hodgson, Derek (31 December 1992). "Football: QPR ready for Ferdinand offers". The Independent. London, UK.
  11. ↑ "Hammers see off Spurs". BBC. 1 March 2003. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
  12. ↑ "Ferdinand joins Bolton". BBC Sport. 5 July 2004. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  13. ↑ "Bolton 2-2 Man Utd". BBC. 11 September 2004. Retrieved 27 August 2009.
  14. ↑ Martin, Clare (9 February 2010). "Goal-den oldies: Kevin Phillips becomes the latest Premier League veteran to hit the net". Mail Online. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
  15. ↑ "Bolton 3-4 Tottenham (aet)". BBC. 27 October 2004. Retrieved 27 August 2009.
  16. ↑ "Reading 1-2 Coventry". BBC. 19 February 2005. Retrieved 27 August 2009.
  17. ↑ Les Ferdinand named Director of Football at Queens Park Rangers, qpr.co.uk; accessed 22 June 2015.
  18. ↑ "Leslie Ferdinand". www.englandstats.com. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  19. ↑ Includes Charity Shield
  20. ↑ L. Ferdinand (1997). Sir Les: The Autobiography of Les Ferdinand. Headline Book Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7472-1997-2. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  21. ↑ Profile, soccerbase.com; accessed 22 June 2015.
  22. ↑ Doyle, Paul (10 August 2007). "Small Talk: Les Ferdinand". London: Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  23. ↑ SPORT, BBC (21 October 2000). "Ferdinand and the Blue Peter scandal". London: BBC SPORT.
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