First Team Player Profiles
Ledley King
The longest-serving member of our playing staff having recently completed a decade of First Team football at The Lane.
Having come through the Club's Academy ranks, Ledley made his senior debut as an 18-year-old, coming on as a substitute during a 3-2 defeat against Liverpool at Anfield in May 1999.
It took another season before the London-born youngster properly established himself in the First Team, but once he did so during the 2000-01 campaign, there was no looking back.
Over the next few seasons, Ledley earned recognition as one of the best young defenders in the country, also often operating as a defensive midfielder.
He gained full international honours for England during this time, and was part of Sven-Goran Eriksson's Euro 2004 squad, starting the first game of the tournament against holders France.
But the pivotal season of his career was the 2004-05 campaign. Ledley was an ever-present in our Premier League campaign, in which we conceded just 41 goals and kept 13 clean sheets. During that season, he was also named Club captain.
The following season, he led the Club to a top five Premier League finish, but missed the final games of that campaign due to a broken foot that kept him out of that summer's World Cup Finals in Germany.
Since then, injury problems, particularly knee trouble, have blighted Ledley's career.
This forced him to feature in less than half of our 59 competitive games in 2006-07.
The following season did not kick off for Ledley until Boxing Day, but although he only managed to play 10 games in 2007-08, the defining moment of his career so far came during this campaign.
He lived a boyhood dream of captaining Spurs to their first major trophy in nine years after a heroic performance in a 2-1 extra-time win over Chelsea in the Carling Cup Final at Wembley in February 2008.
Ledley called time on the season soon after, and following a summer of rehabilitation, 2008-09 saw a marked improvement in his fitness levels as he played 29 games in all competitions.
He has established a strong defensive partnership with Jonathan Woodgate as the foundation of a back-line that conceded just 10 goals at home in the league all season.
Although Robbie Keane now wears the captain's armband, Ledley did get the opportunity to lead the team out at Wembley again in March 2009, although walked up the famous steps as the losing captain this time around after after a penalty shoot-out defeat against Manchester United in the Carling Cup Final.
At present, Ledley still holds the record for the fastest ever goal in Premier League history, scored after 10 seconds against Bradford City at Valley Parade in December 2000. This was also his first ever goal for the Club!
He currently holds 19 caps for his country, and has scored one goal.
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| LEDLEY KING INFO |
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| Name Ledley King |
| Born October 12, 1980 |
| Position Defender |
| Squad No. 26 |
| Joined Spurs July 1998 |
| Previous Club(s) None |
