Les Ferdinand MBE (born 8/12/1966, London) played for clubs Reading, QPR, Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur and Bolton Wanderers. He also made a number of appearances for England and was capped 17 times.

 

Ferdinand started playing for QPR in 1987 and remained there for 8 years, scoring 90 goals in 183 games for the club. He is regarded as one of the finest players to have played for QPR and the fans gave him the nickname 'Sir Les', which followed him throughout his career.

 

In 1995 he was sold to Newcastle for £6 million. He scored an impressive 50 goals in just 84 games at Newcastle, forming a successful partnership with Alan Shearer. He was and is still very highly thought of by Newcastle fans, receiving a standing ovation when he came on as a substitute at Alan Shearer's testimonial and subsequently scored.

 

Ferdinand was bought by Tottenham in 1997. 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. He scored the 10,000th goal in Premiership history on 15 December 2001 playing for Spurs against Fulham.

 

In 2002 he moved to West Ham where he remained for a year. He went on to play for clubs Leicester City, Blackburn Rovers, Reading and Watford before retiring from the game in 2006, shortly before his 40th birthday.

 

In 2005 Ferdinand received his MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. In November 2008, Ferdinand joined fellow ex-Spur Tim Sherwood on the coaching staff of Tottenham. Ferdinand is now a pundit for the BBC.