Ledley King has opened up on the trials of being unable to train at Tottenham due to his knee problems, and revealed what he had to do to ensure that he could still perform when he went out on the pitch at the weekend.
The story of the second half of King’s career is a remarkable one. The centre-back who was well on his way to becoming one of the best in the Premier League suffered chronic knee issues midway into his career.
After multiple operations, it left him in a situation where he simply could not afford to run a lot without his knee swelling up.
That meant that the former Tottenham Hotspur captain could not train during the week, but he remained the first name in the teamsheet for successive Spurs managers as he would still be among the team’s best players in every game.
Ledley King explains how he could play without Tottenham training
To be a world-class performer at the highest level without being able to train was a mind-boggling feat, which is why many Spurs fans consider him one of the club’s greatest players of the Premier League era.
In fact, many neutrals are even of the opinion that King was the greatest English defender of his era, which is a huge claim considering the fact that he played at the same time as the likes of John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Jamie Carragher, and Sol Campbell.
Ledley King has now explained what his routine used to be during the week in the lead-up to the game on the weekend.
The 44-year-old told OLBG: “Harry (Redknapp) used to say that I just turned up on Saturday, but I was working hard all week, I just wasn’t on the training pitch. While the players came into the changing room and went to the training pitch, I came in and went to the gym.
“I had boring days in the gym, work that no player really wants to do, but I knew I had to do. Then there was the swimming pool, even to this day, I’m not a great swimmer, so that tells you everything you need to know about me in the swimming pool.
“I just had to kind of do my work to try to get out onto the pitch to try and help my team. It was tough, there’s no doubt about it. It was tough. For five years, I didn’t train. I just kind of had to have my own schedule, away from the banter and camaraderie on the pitch.
“But yeah, my main focus was just trying to help my team, and I knew that I was still an important player for the football club. I knew it was a better team when I was there.”
King reveals his focus changed following his injury troubles
The Spurs legend admits that once his knee injuries prevented him from training, his focus shifted from being the best player he could be to helping those around him.
Ledley King explained that he knew he would be undercooked going into matches, which is why he decided to become more of an organiser and make others around him better.
He added: “It became less about how good I could be, but more about how good I can make the team be when I’m there, how I can influence everyone else to be much better.
“That became my sole focus. It’s easier when you’re able to train every day and you naturally don’t have to think about yourself too much because you know that you’ve done the work, and then you can start to think about other things.
“I had it in a kind of different way where I knew I was going on the pitch kind of undercooked, so to speak, so my job solely became about forgetting about yourself and let’s make everyone else better and make sure that the team is winning.
“I had to do that, I just had to kind of make the team a better team when I was there, otherwise there’s no point in me being there. I had to make sure that the players alongside me were better players when I was there.”
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