Tottenham legend Ledley King on Champions League Final bounce back, Harry Kane injury and new stadium lift

Bouncing back: Ledley King hopes Tottenham's players will take great confidence from their run to the Champions League Final
Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I
George Flood3 July 2019

For Tottenham, the challenge of how to improve on a rollercoaster 2018/19 campaign looms large as the players prepare to commence pre-season preparations.

A painful and lacklustre Champions League Final defeat to Liverpool wrapped up a strange year that saw Spurs experience the highest of footballing highs en route to Madrid, while on the domestic front a potential Premier League title challenge devolved into a fierce and nervy top-four battle that was only eventually settled on the final day.

Tottenham have already made considerable strides to keep pace with their rivals and both limit the need for manager Mauricio Pochettino to continue to far exceed expectations and to match his obvious ambition.

On Tuesday, they ended a transfer drought that had run for 518 days by signing Jack Clarke - and loaning him straight back to Leeds - and, more prominently, broke a club record to bring in France midfielder Tanguy Ndombele from Lyon.

For Tottenham's cohort of England internationals - specifically Harry Kane, Danny Rose, Eric Dier and Dele Alli - the disappointment of Madrid was amplified by their Nations League experience in Portugal, where England committed two catastrophic errors in an extra-time, semi-final loss to Netherlands.

However, club legend Ledley King does not think that Pochettino faces a tough task to lift spirits in the camp over the coming weeks.

“I don’t think it will be difficult," he told Standard Sport. "There was the initial disappointment to lose the game, but then you have to take a step back and look at the season as a whole.

“To reach a Champions League Final is an unbelievable achievement considering we haven’t been playing in that competition that long.

In Pictures | Tanguy Ndombele signs for Tottenham | 02/07/2019

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“What I hope it will do is give the players that confidence to know that they can beat any team in the competition and they are capable of winning the competition, having come so close.

“That is what I would expect the players to feel coming back into the season and they will be hungry to try and get back to the Champions League Final, but also to make a good contribution to trying to win the Premier League, which is never easy as well.

“That’s how the players will hopefully feel coming back in, to be the best they can be and to improve on last season.”

One of the dominant Tottenham storylines towards the end of last season concerned Harry Kane, who suffered significant ankle ligament damage in the Champions League quarter-final first-leg victory over Manchester City, spending almost two months on the sidelines before returning for the final against Liverpool.

A subdued performance in Madrid gave rise to debate over whether he came back not fully ready - something King readily admits he did repeatedly during an illustrious career that was plagued by a chronic knee issue.

However, the former long-serving Tottenham captain believes the correct decision was made in featuring Kane in such a momentous fixture.

“Not really, I haven’t [offered Kane any advice on injuries and the dangers of wanting to come back too soon]. If I had the opportunity to speak to him, then every injury and every situation is different," he said.

In Pictures | Jack Clarke signs for Tottenham | 02/07/2019

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“I know what it is like to want to come back and help your team as soon as possible. I was someone who did that.

“But he got through the game. Maybe he wasn’t able to be at his best in terms of form, but as long as he didn’t damage his injury, if his injury was healed... As I say I was someone who sometimes 70 per cent, 60 cent played if I was fit, trying to give the team a lift.

“As long as there is no long-term damage in doing that, of course I understand what it’s like to try and be there - it’s a Champions League Final.

“I would expect anyone to try to make that game - you never know if you will get another opportunity to be there.

Getty Images

“As I said, the most important thing is that the ankle is fine. That makes the decision the right one in my respect.”

King was speaking at the NFL Academy Showcase, where 150 teenagers took part in final tryouts as they compete to be selected for the inaugural NFL Academy intake to be based at Barnet and Southgate College from September.

The event was the first to be held by the NFL at the state-of-the-art, £1billion Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which finally opened its doors to much excitement and fanfare in April.

King, who has served as a club ambassador for Tottenham since injury forced an end to his 13-year Spurs career in 2012, says the new venue has offered a real, sustained boost to both the players and also the local area, providing no shortage of employment opportunities.

"It did - the back end of the season it really did give the players a lift, everyone connected with the club to come home," he said. “It’s also having a big impact in the community, which is important. Obviously being in a new stadium has given thousands of job opportunities.

"I’ve been able to see people that didn’t have a job and were at a jobs fair held by the club that are now working in the stadium and I’ve bumped into them walking around the stadium and they’ve said ‘do you remember me, when I was looking for a job’.

"That’s really rewarding and great to see and shows the impact that the stadium has.”

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