Many players have played for both Newcastle and Tottenham over the years, with some of them becoming legends of the game, and a who’s who of great players.
Paul Gascoigne, David Ginola, Chris Waddle and more, have pulled on the famous White shirt of Spurs and the black and white of the Magpies.
But at a time of contrasting fortunes at the two clubs in the striking position, Les Ferdinand is a player who is revered by both sets of fans.
A prolific striker on the pitch, and a gentleman off it, Ferdinand is a fantastic example of how to be a role-model for kids who look up to professional footballers.
How Newcastle could do with a player like ‘Sir Les’ now, with his aerial prowess and goalscoring instinct seeing him firmly installed as a hero to go down in Geordie folklore.
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Signed from Queens Park Rangers for around £6 million in 1995 – which looking back, was a complete steal – he went on to score 41 goals in his 68 appearances for Newcastle.
His partnership with Alan Shearer was the focal point of Kevin Keegan’s Entertainers at St James’ Park, and is one of the best striker pairings in the Premier League era.
Ferdinand had good and bad Newcastle memories against Manchester United
He came so close to winning the league title with Newcastle, and many fans look back at the home game with Manchester United in the 1995/1996 season as the game that led to them letting it slip that year.
They lost to 1-0 to an Eric Cantona goal, but Ferdinand had three great chances to score for Newcastle, but was foiled by Peter Schiechel twice, and blazed another one way over the bar.
But that was one of the few bad moments in his Toon career, with him scoring many goals that got Newcastle into a position to win it in the first place.
He was on the score-sheet against the Red Devils a season later, when he was part of the side that demolished Alex Ferguson’s side 5-0 at St James’ Park, in one of the most memorable games in the club’s history.
Fans were left devastated when Ferdinand was sold to Spurs for the same amount as they paid for him, and he played 118 times for the team he supported, and notched a credible 33 goals, winning a League Cup Winner’s medal in 1999.
He was not as prolific at Tottenham, but his all-round play endeared him to fans, in the same way he was at Newcastle.
He was a centre-forward in the most traditional sense, and although Spurs have a similar type of hero now in Harry Kane, since Alan Shearer retired, Newcastle have had some pretenders to the number nine throne, but never truly found someone to succeed either their local legend and the hero that is ‘Sir’ Les Ferdinand.