I signed for Tottenham and it was the worst mistake of my football career – I told Lord Sugar just how bad it was

FORMER England striker Les Ferdinand has revealed joining Tottenham was the “worst mistake” of his football career.

The forward, 57, joined boyhood club Spurs for £6million in 1997 following a stellar two seasons at Newcastle.

Les Ferdinand, centre, spent six years at TottenhamAction Images - Reuters

News Group Newspapers Ltd

Ferdinand told Spurs’ then owner Lord Sugar, left, about the poor standards at the club[/caption]

He had scored 50 goals in just 84 games at St James’ Park, but failed to come close to that ratio in North London.

Across six seasons with Tottenham, Ferdinand hit the back of the net just 39 times in 149 appearances.

And Ferdinand has now admitted he was left disappointed as soon as he arrived at the club as their facilities were not up to scratch.

Speaking on Upfront with Simon Jordan, he said: “When I say it was the worst decision, I said it was the worst decision for our footballing career.

“One of the things I say to people is that when I got there we were sponsored by Pony and that was quite apt.

“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.

“They built their own training ground, a new training ground, and the changing ground were like going into Hackney Marshes. I remember saying to Alan [Sugar] you have just built your own training ground and have changing rooms like this.

“I walked into the medical room and that was the room that was the most comfortable room, they had six beds and had TV’s on and I thought no wonder everyone is injured at this football club.

CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO WELCOME OFFERS

“They had TV’s in the medical room. It was too comfortable.”

Ferdinand did win one of the two major trophies in his career with Tottenham – the League Cup in 1999.

Yet he does not appear to have fond memories of playing at Tottenham – and even raised his concerns to the then owner Lord Sugar.

He went on to add: “Everything about it, Gerry [Francis] was the manager then, and I always remember my first day of pre-season I walked out and there was a group of players doing keepy uppies in one corner and a group in another corner, and another one in another corner.

“There used to be like a slope and a couple of boys were lying on it waiting for the manager to come out and I thought ‘What the hell have I come to?’

“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.”

TRANSFER NEWS LIVE: All the latest transfer deals from around the world this January