Queen's Park (Scotland),
Brentford (England), Queen's Park (Scotland), Newcastle United (England),
Tottenham (England), West Ham United (England), Leicester City
(England)
Honours
2002 League Cup
Finals (Tottenham)
Biography
Les Ferdinand (born December 18, 1966 in London) is an English
footballer. He is also famed for his superb jumping ability and
is the cousin of Rio Ferdinand.
Ferdinand started his career in non-league football, first at
Southall and then moving to Hayes. He was spotted by QPR and
moved there for £30,000. Ferdinand had two loan spells at
Brentford and Besiktas (in Turkey). He became first choice at
QPR in 1991 and made his England debut in 1994. He had a great
career with Rangers and was a often seen leaping like a salmon
to power home headers. Much to the fans' disappointment,
Ferdinand was sold to Newcastle in 1995 for £6 million, scoring
29 goals in his first season with them, and getting within
touching distance of the Premiership title. This precipitated
Queens Park Rangers relegation in the 95/96 season.
In 1997 Ferdinand was bought by Spurs, again for £6 million. In
the 2002/2003 season he moved to West Ham, but the club was
relegated at the end of the season. Ferdinand joined Leicester
on a free transfer at the beginning of the 2003/2004 season.
After the Foxes were relegated at the end of that season he
joined Bolton Wanderers, but left them on January 2, 2005. Four
days later, Ferdinand signed with Reading. His contract at the
club lasts until the end of the 2004/2005 season, at which point
he has said he will retire from professional football.
For England, Ferdinand was capped 17 times, scoring five goals.
He was part of the Euro 96 and 1998 World Cup squads.
