1. Leslie Ferdinand was born on 8 December 1966 and is an English football coach, former professional footballer and television pundit.
21 Facts About Les Ferdinand
1. 2.
Les Ferdinand played in Turkey with Besiktas and in the Football League with Brentford, Reading and Watford.
3.
Les Ferdinand earned 17 caps for England and was part of the Euro 96 and World Cup 98 squads.
4.
Les Ferdinand is the eleventh-highest scorer in the history of the Premier League, with 149 goals and he contributed a further 49 assists in the division.
5.
Les Ferdinand then returned to QPR, first as head of football operations and subsequently as director of football.
6.
Les Ferdinand is the second cousin of football-playing brothers Rio and Anton Ferdinand and a cousin of Maidenhead United player Kane Ferdinand.
7.
Les Ferdinand was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2005 Birthday Honours.
8.
Les Ferdinand started his career in non-league football, first at Viking Sports before moving to Southall.
9.
In both of his seasons on Tyneside, Les Ferdinand collected runners-up medals in the Premier League.
10.
Les Ferdinand scored 50 goals in only 84 games at Newcastle, forming a successful strike partnership with Alan Shearer.
11.
Les Ferdinand was very highly thought of by the Newcastle United supporters during his spell with the club and is known affectionately as 'Sir Les' on Tyneside.
12.
Les Ferdinand received a standing ovation when he returned to St James' Park as a Tottenham player, trying to put 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.
13.
Les Ferdinand returned again, when he received a standing ovation, coming on as a substitute at Alan Shearer's testimonial and subsequently scored.
14.
Les Ferdinand was inducted into the Newcastle United Foundation Hall of Fame on 7 November 2017.
15.
Les Ferdinand scored his first goal for the club against former club Tottenham, 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.
16.
Les 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.
17.
Les Ferdinand retired from football a few months short of his 40th birthday.
18.
Les Ferdinand was part of the Euro 96 and 1998 FIFA World Cup squads, although he did not feature in any of the tournament matches.
19.
On 5 November 2008 Les Ferdinand joined fellow ex-Tottenham player Tim Sherwood on the coaching staff of Tottenham Hotspur, to work with the strikers.
20.
In October 2014, Les Ferdinand became head of football operations at Queens Park Rangers, before being appointed as director of football in February 2015.
21.
On 16 June 2023, it was announced that Les Ferdinand had stepped down as director of football with the west London club, citing it was the right time to move on after eight years at the helm.