Former Reading striker Les Ferdinand revealed that manager Steve Coppell encouraged him to fly his helicopter to training.
The iconic former Newcastle United and England striker spent the latter part of the 2004/05 campaign in Berkshire, scoring his last professional goal with the Royals in defeat to tomorrow's opponents Coventry City.
A big name in the football world, a rumour has done the rounds ever since that the now QPR Director of Football used to fly a helicopter to training.
Appearing as a guest on the Football Ramble podcast, the 56-year-old revealed that it was in fact true.
Happy Birthday to the nicest bloke in the game, Sir Les Ferdinand! 🎂
— Football Ramble (@FootballRamble) December 8, 2022
Make sure you fly yourself somewhere nice for the day, with a buzzing Lloyd Owusu in the cockpit 👑 pic.twitter.com/9a9ANllXAD
"None of them believed me," he started. "So, Steve Coppell heard the conversation. We played on Saturday, and we were playing on the Tuesday or the Wednesday, so we were in on the Sunday. He said to me, ‘why don’t you fly in and give the boys a bit of a gee up?’ I said no problem and so I flew.
"It used to take me 45 minutes to an hour to get from my house to Reading, it took me 12 minutes in my helicopter. He said ‘wait until I bring the boys out and then you can fly in’ so as they were coming out, I flew in. I remember Lloyd Owusu, more than anyone, couldn’t believe it. That was the only time I brought it into training because the manager told me to as it would be a bit of fun."
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