Ledley King

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Ledley King
Personal information
Full name Ledley Brenton King
Date of birth October 12, 1980 (age 26)
Place of birth    London, England
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Nickname King Ledley, Deadley Ledley, Ledders, Super Leds
Playing position Centre Back, Defensive midfielder
Club information
Current club Tottenham Hotspur
Number 26
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1998–present Tottenham Hotspur 188 (7)   
National team2
2002–present England 017 (1)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 15:02, 2 February 2007 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 12:00, 7 October 2006 (UTC).
* Appearances (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. Ledley currently resides in Chelsea, West London, in a flat dubbed "Postage Stamp" due to its small size.

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 in a 3-2 defeat to Liverpool. 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 yet, unbeaten, Premier League record. Six years on, he has only scored six more competitive goals for Spurs.

King is very highly rated at Spurs as a player with much to offer with his lightning natural pace (King is rarely beaten for pace, often catching and making successful last ditch challenges on speedy forwards) and strength allied with his coolness in defence.[citation needed] He enjoyed a fine season in 2003-04 despite also featuring for much of the campaign in midfield, an unfamiliar role he took to with considerable success and added some much needed bite and physical presence.

King is the longest-serving Spurs player in the current squad and is firmly established as club captain. He signed a new four year contract with Tottenham in early May 2006.

King wears the number 26 shirt for Spurs, declining the chance to take one of the other numbers such as 5 or 6, which are traditionally associated with central defenders.

He was voted 9th favourite Post War Spurs Player, ahead of current team-mate Robbie Keane and former colleagues David Ginola and Les Ferdinand.[citation needed]

King has been ruled out of action for a further 6-8 weeks after suffering a stress fracture in the fourth metatarsal of his left foot. This follows a three week absence with bone bruising of the same metatarsal and a lengthy absence earlier in the season with a knee injury, which required surgery.

[edit] International career

King's England debut came in Peter Taylor's one game as caretaker manager in 2000.

He was called into the England squad for the friendly against Portugal on February 18, 2004, and netted his first goal from central defence.

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. 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, Rio Ferdinand or Jamie Carragher. He has also been used in a holding midfield role.

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, Ashley Cole and Jermaine Jenas and with strong cover at the back it was one risk too many.

[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 the 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. Happily, his son Coby was perfectly healthy.King Was a Student Of Primary School John Scurr Primary School

[edit] Club statistics

Club Performance
Club Season Premiership FA Cup League Cup Europe Others Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Tottenham Hotspur 2006-07 16 0 - - - - 5 0 - - 21 0
2005-06 26 3 - - 1 0 - - - - 27 3
2004-05 38 2 5 1 4 0 - - - - 47 3
2003-04 29 1 3 1 3 0 - - - - 35 2
2002-03 25 0 1 0 - - - - - - 26 0
2001-02 32 0 3 0 7 1 - - - - 42 1
2000-01 18 1 5 1 - - - - - - 23 2
1999-00 3 0 - - - - - - - - 3 0
1998-99 1 0 - - - - - - - - 1 0
Total 188 7 17 3 15 1 5 0 - - 225 11

[edit] External links


Tottenham Hotspur F.C. - Current Squad

1 Robinson | 2 Chimbonda | 3 Lee Y.P. | 4 Zokora | 6 Tainio | 7 Stalteri | 8 Jenas | 9 Berbatov | 10 Keane | 11 Mido | 12 Černý | 13 Murphy | 14 Ghaly | 15 Malbranque | 17 Alnwick | 18 Defoe | 19 Taarabt | 20 Dawson | 22 Huddlestone | 24 O'Hara | 25 Lennon | 26 King | 28 Barnard | 29 Ifil | 30 Gardner | 32 Assou-Ekotto | 33 Rocha | 35 Dervite | 38 C. Lee | 39 Barcham | Manager: Jol
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