King Ledley - Ledley King: my autobiography

First published in Great Britain in 2013 by

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Copyright Kyngdom Limited 2013

The moral right of Ledley King to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

HB ISBN 978 1 78206 904 1
TPB ISBN 978 1 78206 905 8
EBOOK ISBN 978 1 78206 906 5

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One day youre primed and ready to play for your country against the host nation in the knock-out stages of one of the worlds biggest international tournaments, and the next youre a thousand miles away, watching the game on TV and feeling completely torn. Its your country, theyre your teammates, and one or two of them are good friends. You should be there yourself, battling alongside them.

Youre willing them to win of course you are but if they win, it forces you to make a decision you really dont want to have to make. Whatever you decide, its probably the wrong decision. Whatever you decide, youre going to be letting people down. Letting down loved ones, family, friends, comrades, perhaps even the whole country. And certainly letting down yourself.

I cant bear to let anyone down. Im not exaggerating when I say my conscience wont allow it. I have always tried to do my best to pay back all the encouragement, support and belief that people have offered me and which has helped me strive to reach the highest levels.

So, watching that game, I cannot deny that part of me wanted my team, my country, to lose. I should have been there helping them win, but instead I was a thousand miles away, half-willing them to be beaten. Watching the drama unfold on TV, I was alone, physically exhausted, emotionally battered, gripped by tension. Every second was agony

Back in 2002, when I was twenty-one years old, I won my first senior England cap. It was just before the World Cup hosted by Japan and South Korea, and it was never very likely that, with so little full international experience, I would be called up for the England squad as one of the choices at centre-back, a position that above all demands steadiness and experience.

But two years later I was ready to be tested. The club Id played for all my life, Tottenham Hotspur, had struggled to find the best way to achieve its ambition of playing the winning, entertaining, glorious football which the fans and its history as one of Britains very greatest clubs demanded. But as an individual player I had made progress, and that is even despite spells of injury that were becoming a bit too frequent for comfort. I was now sure I had the ability and experience to pull on the England shirt, get out there and play my full part against the best the world could throw at us.

So I felt Id fully earned my place among the thirty-two players called up to Englands pre-tournament training camp in Sardinia. We were there to acclimatize ourselves to the hot conditions wed face when we came to the real test: Portugal, hosts of Euro 2004.

In Sardinia I got to know some of the England players as people. Off the pitch, Gary Neville was a bit of a character. He had an older head with a mature attitude. He could be opinionated, but always for the benefit of the team. If he saw something needed saying to the coach, on behalf of all the players hed be the one to say it. Any problems, whether with the hotel or training pitch, hed be one to raise them. And he would get the team together to find out if anything needed fixing if he couldnt see it for himself.

Then there was David Beckham. He had a friendly relationship with the coach. They found it easy to talk to each other at any time. The coach was Sven-Gran Eriksson. He was very quiet, calm and relaxed. Sven was very likeable. He made it easy for players to approach him. He also made the camp comfortable and relaxed for everyone. He let the players be adults and didnt place too many restrictions on them. They were allowed to spend time with their wives and girlfriends, going to their hotels after training, though not every day.

Svens policy of treating the players as adults led to all the controversy about Englands WAGs the wives and girlfriends who were shopping and sunbathing and distracting the players, if you believed everything you read. In my opinion, the media made something out of nothing. Players can tell the difference between a relaxed training camp and a holiday. Were there to train and we know it, and dont want any distractions while were actually working.

But after youve done the hard work, I dont think theres any problem spending time with your family. Not every player wants to spend time with their family during training, but I think they should have the option. Like anyone else, to do the best job possible, players need to feel comfortable. Ive been in environments where players are bored, unhappy and on edge, with nothing to do to take their minds off football and the game theyre preparing for. I think it works much better when players go into a game relaxed. Youll see that a relaxed team performs as a team, a real group.

And me? My girlfriend wasnt in Sardinia, but not because I didnt want her there. Three years before, Id met Stephanie at a night out, and we started going out.

But now, while I was in Sardinia, she was back in the UK. She was seven months pregnant so it hadnt been advisable for her to fly out with me.

Back in the Sardinia training camp, not all the thirty-two players would be going to Portugal. The squad would only number twenty-three. So we werent just training. We were competing to make the cut. And we wouldnt be told which of us had succeeded until the training camp was over and we were back in England.

In the thirty-two there was only one other Tottenham player: Jermain Defoe. He was an East End lad like me, and since joining Spurs Id become very close to him. When I heard the news that he was one of the nine players who had missed out on selection for Portugal, I was gutted for him. But I was delighted to be involved in the squad myself and was looking forward to a great tournament, where we would be testing ourselves against really good opposition.

I had just five caps, including only one start in a draw that February against Portugal so I was still a novice compared to most of the England squad. Sol Campbell was a fixture in central defence, and hed been my chief inspiration at Tottenham when I was a young player learning my trade. But alongside him, instead of Rio Ferdinand, whod been suspended for missing a drug test and so could not take part in the tournament, Svens next choice of centre-back was my old teammate when we were kids playing for Senrab FC, John Terry. But he was carrying a niggle, so that might give me my opportunity. Yet I would be competing for that spot with Jamie Carragher, who also had more experience than me. Realistically, though, I fully expected John Terry to be fit for the first game of the tournament, so I resigned myself to sitting on the bench if I was lucky.