Former Tottenham striker Les Ferdinand has opened up on his decision to join the club back in 1997.
Tottenham paid a fee of around £6 million for the former Newcastle United striker and they expected him to develop into a key player for the side.
Ferdinand was one of the brightest attacking talents in the country back then, but he failed to make his mark at Tottenham and he left the club after scoring just 39 goals in 149 games for them across all competitions.
The striker arrived after two successful seasons with Newcastle United, where he scored a total of 50 goals across all competitions. However, he believes that his decision to join Tottenham was the worst decision of his career.
According to the player, Tottenham lacked the professionalism and the footballing culture within the club back then and players were too comfortable. The striker was expecting a more professional environment which he had experienced at Newcastle back then.
The former striker also revealed that he was warned against joining the North London club, but he decided to go through with the decision eventually and he has regretted it ever since.
Ferdinand said on Upfront with Simon Jordan: “When I say it was the worst decision, I said it was the worst decision for our footballing career.
“I went to Tottenham who I would have thought were on par with Newcastle in terms of the way they did things. It wasn’t, it was so, so different.
“I walked into the medical room and that was the room that was the most comfortable room, they had six beds and had TVs on and I thought no wonder everyone is injured at this football club. They had TVs in the medical room. It was too comfortable.
“I had been warned, a couple of players had said, ‘Les, Tottenham isn’t what you think it is’. And to be fair, when I spoke to Alan [Sugar], he knew it wasn’t what he wanted it to be.”
Tottenham eventually let the player join West Ham United and he never quite managed to get back to his best. Ferdinand clearly feels that he could have made the most out of his peak, had he joined a club with more professionalism and a better footballing environment.
