Spurs stories | Off The Shelf | Sir Les on leaving Toon and his dream coming true at Spurs
In the latest story from the series - and as we count down to face Newcastle United at St James' Park on Sunday (1.30pm UK) - we take a trip back to the summer of 1997, when 'Sir' Les Ferdinand made the switch from Newcastle United to Spurs, and, in doing so, joined his boyhood club.
The first series of our official podcast Off The Shelf delivered a library's worth of Spurs stories from legends of our Club. In this series, we've returned to those 30 episodes to bring you some of those stories as our legends told them - their Spurs life in their words.
In the latest story from the series - and as we count down to Sunday's Premier League trip to face Newcastle United at St James' Park (1.30pm UK) - we take a trip back to the summer of 1997, when 'Sir' Les Ferdinand made the switch from Newcastle United to Spurs, and, in doing so, joined his boyhood club.
Les was snapped up alongside David Ginola from the Toon that summer, but things didn't quite go as planned in that first season as we battled relegation. However, those testing days turned into a trophy at Wembley the following season as we lifted the League Cup in 1999 and Ginola secured the PFA Player of the Year/FWA Footballer of the Year double.
That was a highlight for Les, who readily admits that his time at Spurs was tough, often laid low by injury, as he scored 39 goals in his 149 appearances in all competitions before moving to West Ham in January, 2003.
Still, the day he signed on the dotted line at Spurs, and pulled on our Lilywhite shirt for the first time, remain treasured memories...
Les Ferdinand | Off The Shelf, EP. 11
149 appearances, 39 goals, 1997-2003
"I often say to people, when I talk about my career, and people talk about dreaming about being a professional footballer and ask, 'do dreams come true?' And I say, well, my dream came true because I played for the team that I supported as a boy. That first day, you know... I'd always played against Spurs, and I'd actually done alright against Spurs in terms of scoring goals, but this is where I wanted to come and this is where I wanted to score goals, and that part of it was probably the biggest disappointment for me because I picked up lots of niggly little injuries while I was here. If there was one club that I wanted to come to and continue my goalscoring, it was here, but the team wasn't quite where it needed to be and, like I said, I picked up a lot of injuries, so that part of it was a disappointment, but pulling on the Tottenham shirt and walking out at White Hart Lane... I always remember speaking to the late Gary Speed one day, who had played against Tottenham and he said to me, 'of all the grounds I play in, this is my favourite ground' and I said, well, it's been mine for donkey's years! We were having a chuckle as we were walking out and there were a lot of players back in the day who loved playing at White Hart Lane, and I was no different. I just wish I'd scored more goals here."