TOTTENHAM legend Ledley King has revealed staying on his feet was key to never being sent off.
The former centre-back, 42, racked up 354 appearances across a 13-year career despite being plagued with knee problems.
He featured more than 300 times for Spurs and earned 21 England caps between 2002 and 2010.
Yet despite playing at the top level for more than a decade, King was never red carded.
And it was even a rarity for the defender to be booked by a referee – with just eight yellow cards to his name.
King has now spoken about why he believes his disciplinary record was so clean – and even insists it should have been better.
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Speaking to FourFourTwo, he said: “I always tried to stay on my feet as much as possible.
“If someone went past me, I’d try to use my speed to rescue the situation.
“The funny thing is, you say I’ve got eight [yellow cards]; in my head, I still think it should be only three or four.
“Actually, I remember one stat: in one season, I hadn’t made a foul in seven or eight games.
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“They highlighted it, and I got a yellow card for the first foul that I made – which wasn’t even a yellow card.”
King’s only major trophy came in 2008 when he lifted the Carling Cup as Tottenham captain.
He went to two major tournaments with England – Euro 2004 and the 2010 World Cup.
Towards the end of his career, he was known for playing games despite not training all week.
This was in order to manage the inflammation in his knee.
King would often work alone in the swimming pool and gym, but did very little on the training pitch.
He would then start Spurs games on a weekend and frequently be one of their best players.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
