Les Ferdinand

Leslie Ferdinand (born 8 December 1966) is an English football coach, former professional footballer and television pundit. Quotes I always feel like I could have done more, I’m happy with the way it went but I look back and I think ­‘trophies’. Didn’t win that many. I caught people’s eye at Hayes because the step up hadn’t stopped me scoring goals, As you step up, things happen quicker. It is the same transition for players now but the game at the top level is even quicker. But we are in a phase where that avenue is not as closely examined as it was. If you aren’t ­spending £20million on a player, you aren’t competing. If you aren’t winning and look to sign someone from Dulwich Hamlet, the fans will say ‘what are you talking about?’ Yet they still ask ‘where’s the next Jamie Vardy?’ The talent is there. But is the patience around for that person to come through? Probably not. I probably stayed at QPR a little bit longer than I should have, I felt like I was learning under Gerry Francis’s tutelage. In hindsight, I think, ‘could have got where I wanted to go if I left a bit earlier? I watched it late at night after getting in from playing, I called [team-mate] Warren Barton and said ‘have you seen this? All people want from players is to wear their hearts on the sleeves and give their all. That’s what Kevin did in that moment. But from the media’s perspective he’d lost the plot. I was there for six years. They had five different managers and a change of board. But I picked up an ­Achilles problem which manifested itself time and time again. Nobody could get to the bottom of it. An operation didn’t resolve it and another physio spotted a cyst on the opposite side. I had two more operations but lost three years of my career. Les Ferdinand interview: ‘Top clubs don’t have the patience to find players like me any more’, February 06 2020 External links Category:Football (soccer) coaches Category:1966 births Category:Soccer players from England Category:Living people