Ledley King's birthday: A look back at his Spurs career

Today marked Tottenham Hotspur club ambassador Ledley King's 44th birthday. With it, let's take a look back at his time in North London, before and after retirement.

King joined Spurs as a 15-year old, having previously played for renowned London based Sunday league side Senrab before that. He made his first team debut for Spurs in May 1999 at Anfield, when he was just 18 years old.

In his early years at the club, then manager George Graham would deploy King as a midfielder, becoming a regular there in the 2000/2001 season. In that season, his goal against Bradford City after 10 seconds set a record for the fastest ever Premier League goal, a record that stood until 2019.

In the years after this, King continued to establish himself as a regular in the Spurs first team, moving to central defence as he moved towards his mid 20's. His fine form in the 2003/04 season lead to him being a part of the England squad for Euro 2004, playing twice, including a start against France, where he made 14 clearances.

King would remain a regular whenever he was fit, though that gradually began to become less frequent. He was an ever present for the first and only time in the 2004/05 Premier League season, but did not play more than 26 games in a season after that, as his chronic knee issues continued to eat at him.

In the 2007/08 Premier League season, King only featured four times. However, he showed a perfect example of quality over quantity. Despite just four league appearances, King was fit to captain Spurs to glory in the 2008 League Cup final, playing the 120 minutes along side Jonathan Woodgate, who scored the winner in extra-time.

Former Spurs manager Harry Redknapp explained how King would not be able to train all week, but would be the best player when it came to the games, calling him "an absolute freak" for being able to play despite not training.

King continued to feature sporadically, although did make 20+ Premier League appearances in three of the next four Premier League seasons. Unfortunately, all the injuries forced him to retire in 2012, aged just 31. He could have still played for another 5+ years without all the issues.

After retirement, King has continued to be associated with the club, mostly as a club ambassador, but also as a first team coach under Jose Mourinho in the 20/21 season.

The fact he has been retired for over a decade and yet turned 44 today sums it up a bit. He is only five years older than former team-mate Luka Modric, and only four years older than Thiago Silva.

When you look back, King still had a solid career. He played over 300 games for the club, and as mentioned above, won the League Cup. He had 21 England caps and represented them at Euro 2004 and World Cup 2010. That was all with chronic knee injuries. Just imagine the heights he would have got to without them.