Ledley King
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| Ledley King | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ledley Brenton King | |
| Date of birth | October 12, 1980 | |
| Place of birth | Bow, England | |
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | |
| Playing position | Centre back, Defensive midfielder | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Tottenham Hotspur | |
| Number | 26 | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 1997–1998 | Tottenham Hotspur | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1998– | Tottenham Hotspur | 197 (7) |
| National team2 | ||
| 2007 2002– |
England B England |
1 (0) 18 (1) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Ledley Brenton King (born October 12, 1980 in Bow, London) is an English football player of Antiguan descent and first choice central defender and club captain for Tottenham Hotspur. He is the longest serving player at the club and is currently contracted to Tottenham until 2010. He is regarded as one of the best central defenders in the Premier League.
Contents |
[edit] Club career
King joined Tottenham as a trainee in July, 1997, and became a professional the following year. His debut came in May 1999 at Anfield ending in a 3-2 defeat to Liverpool. When breaking into the first team under former manager George Graham he was often used as a midfielder, and it was with a fine performance in central midfield during Tottenham's 2-1 win over Liverpool in November 2000 that he established himself as a regular in the Spurs side. His first goal for Tottenham, scored in December 2000 in a 3-3 draw away to Bradford City, was scored in 10 seconds, setting a new and as of yet, unbeaten, Premier League record for the quickest goal.
However, after Graham was sacked, King was moved back into defence under new manager Glenn Hoddle, and with the departure of Sol Campbell to rivals Arsenal, there was a chance for King to establish himself as the club's top centre-back. He rose to the challenge brilliantly, kicking of the 2001-2002 season with a clean sheet against Aston Villa and an excellent performance man-marking Duncan Ferguson as Spurs held on for a point against Everton at Goodison Park despite playing the final 25 minutes with 9 men. By the end of the season he'd been capped for England and was regarded as one of the best young defenders in the country as Tottenham finished 9th, their highest league finish in 6 years.
A hip injury sustained in the summer meant he didn't start the 2002-2003 campaign until November, but he continued to impress with some excellent displays at the back. However, King was criticised due to the large amount of goals Tottenham were conceding. The season ended with Tottenham letting in 9 goals in their final two games against Middlesbrough and Blackburn Rovers. However, people[citation needed] defended King, saying the reason Spurs were conceding so often was because of Hoddle's poor choice of tactics in using a 3-5-2 formation and Tottenham's lack of a proper defensive midfielder that left the defence unprotected.
It was for this reason that when Hoddle was sacked in September 2003, caretaker manager David Pleat moved King into midfield to offer a better defensive presence in the middle of the park. Despite Tottenham battling relegation, one of the few bright spots for the season was King's performances in midfield. In February 2004, having not scored in over 3 years, King scored an excellent goal from the edge of the box in the FA Cup against Manchester City, and followed that up by scoring against Charlton a week later, before scoring on his first start for England the following week. Despite playing out of position for most of the season, he had done enough to convince Sven-Göran Eriksson to call him up to England's Euro 2004 squad.
In the summer of 2004, the Tottenham management team and squad was changed dramatically. Jacques Santini was appointed as manager and with defensive midfielders such as Michael Carrick, Pedro Mendes and Sean Davis joining the club, King was able to move back into his preferred centre-back slot. Noureddine Naybet was signed to bring experience to the Tottenham defence and King formed a fine partnership with him. This new partnership, as well as the form of newly signed England goalkeeper Paul Robinson meant that compared with 57 and 62 in the previous two seasons, Tottenham conceded just 41 goals in the Premier League, the fewest amount of league goals Tottenham had conceded in a season since the 1970-1971 season (albeit some of the seasons played in that time were 42 game seasons instead of 38). King played the full 90 minutes in all 38 of Tottenham's league games and 9 of Tottenham's 10 cup games, the only game he missed all season was a 3-0 win away to Nottingham Forest. Spurs kept 13 clean sheets in the Premiership, including a fantastic man-of-the-match performance[citation needed] from King as Spurs drew 0-0 at Stamford Bridge against eventual champions Chelsea, and against Manchester United at Old Trafford. King scored 3 goals that season, one in the North London derby against Arsenal, one in a 5-1 demolition of Aston Villa, and another against Brighton & Hove Albion in the FA Cup. In January 2005, after the sale of Jamie Redknapp to Southampton, new manager Martin Jol appointed King as club captain.
In the summer of 2005, King captained Tottenham to win the Peace Cup, beating French champions Lyon in the final. Expectations were high for the season and King did not disappoint, forming a new excellent partnership with Michael Dawson. King's excellent displays at the back meant that Spurs were even stronger in defence than the previous season, conceding only 38 league goals. King was helping at the other end of the pitch too, with goals against Charlton, Portsmouth, and once again in the derby against Arsenal. For much of the season, Spurs occupied 4th place and there was a real hope that King could lead Tottenham to the UEFA Champions League. However, after fracturing his metatarsal in April, King missed the final four games of the season, where Spurs picked up just 4 points. On the last day of the season, several players from the Spurs squad were struck down with food poisoning and were beaten 2-1 by West Ham, meaning Arsenal stole 4th place right at the death. It was a bitter blow, but King had captained Tottenham to their highest league finish in 16 years.
The 2006-2007 season was a hard time for King as he struggled with injuries. After injuring his knee in training before the start of the season, King didn't start his season until mid-September. Then after breaking his metatarsal again, King didn't feature for Spurs from Boxing Day until the UEFA Cup quarter-final clash with Sevilla FC in mid-April. Spurs played 59 games in all competitions that season, but King featured in less than half of them. Without him, Tottenham's defence struggled and only managed 3 clean sheets against top flight opposition without King in the side. However, when King was fit his performances were of a consistently high level. King's finest moment of the season came in a Premier League clash with reigning champions Chelsea at White Hart Lane, when Chelsea's pacy forward Arjen Robben was played through on goal. Despite Robben having several yards head start, King was able to catch up and make what was arguably the best tackle of the season just as Robben was about to shoot[neutrality disputed]. Spurs went on to win the game 2-1, meaning King had captained Tottenham to their first league win over Chelsea since 1990, and the first at White Hart Lane since 1987.
King made his return from injury in the 07/08 season on Boxing Day, playing 73 minutes against Fulham before being replaced by Adel Taarabt. He then played just over an hour against Reading in a thrilling 6-4 Spurs victory and was replaced for tactical reasons by Jermain Defoe who scored Tottenham's fifth goal of the game. He has continued to appear for Spurs as he looks to steer clear of injury.
Ledley captained his Tottenham side to a 2-1 victory over Chelsea in the Carling Cup Final on the 24th February 2008 playing in the heart of defence alongside Jonathan Woodgate.
On 3rd April 2008 it was announced that he would be rested for the remainder of the season, Spurs having been knocked out of the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and unable to qualify for the Champions League through the League.[1]
[edit] International career
King's England debut came in a 1-2 loss to Italy in March 2002. He was called into the England squad for the friendly against Portugal on February 18, 2004, and netted his first goal on his third appearance.
King received his England summer call-up for Euro 2004 and competently deputised for the injured John Terry in the opener against France in Portugal. Playing a starring role by man-marking Thierry Henry out of the game and not putting a foot wrong, he impressed everyone with his composure.[citation needed] He also made a substitute appearance in midfield in the final group game against Croatia.
King has continued to make the England squad, where he fights for a starting place alongside either John Terry or Rio Ferdinand. He has also been used in a holding midfield role.
After featuring regularly in the qualifiers, King looked a likely participant in the England 2006 World Cup squad before fracturing a bone in his foot on 15 April 2006. Although not as bad as a similar injury affecting David Beckham, Gary Neville and Steven Gerrard, King's injury prevented him from being named in Sven-Göran Eriksson's squad.
His club manager Martin Jol was optimistic for his skipper's World Cup hopes. "This injury will take him three or four weeks so of course he will be fit," he claimed. Sven's feeling was that he was already taking injured players in the case of Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen and Ashley Cole, and with strong cover at the back, it was one risk too many.[2]
King's injury problems have meant he has rarely figured for England recently, playing just four games in the last 2 years. His most recent England game was a Euro 2008 qualifier against Estonia on June 6th 2007. King played 90 minutes and England won 3-0. Though managing to get into Capello's first squad he later had to pull out through injury, again.
[edit] Honours
Tottenham Hotspur
[edit] Personal details
Of Antiguan descent via his parents, King and girlfriend Stephanie Carter have a son Coby who was born 9 weeks early on 21 June 2004. Ledley was away in Portugal on international duty playing in Euro 2004 when he got the call telling him she had gone into premature labour; he had to leave the England camp on the day of the quarter final against Portugal to dash home for his son's birth but unfortunately he missed the birth and England went out on penalties. Fortunately, his son Coby was perfectly healthy. King was a student at Olga Primary School in Bow and currently owns a Bentley Continental Flying Spur[1]
[edit] Club statistics
Correct up to 23 March 2008
| Club | Season | League | Domestic Cups | Europe | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Games | Goals | Games | Goals | Games | Goals | Games | Goals | ||
| Tottenham Hotspur | 08-09 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 07-08 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 0 | |
| 06-07 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 27 | 0 | |
| 05-06 | 26 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 27 | 3 | |
| 04-05 | 38 | 2 | 9 | 1 | - | - | 47 | 3 | |
| 03-04 | 29 | 1 | 6 | 1 | - | - | 35 | 2 | |
| 02-03 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 26 | 0 | |
| 01-02 | 32 | 0 | 10 | 1 | - | - | 42 | 1 | |
| 00-01 | 18 | 1 | 5 | 1 | - | - | 23 | 2 | |
| 99-00 | 3 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 3 | 0 | |
| 98-99 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | |
| Career Totals | 197 | 7 | 35 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 236 | 11 | |
[edit] Accolades
| Preceded by Jamie Redknapp |
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Captain 2005-Present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Ledley King FIFA competition record
- TheFA.com profile
- Ledley King career stats at Soccerbase
- King's international data at England Football Online
- The Unofficial home of Ledley King: Forum, Facts, Stats and Videos
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