Anton Ferdinand

Club

_Retired Soccer

Position

Defender

Nationality

England

Date of birth

1985-02-18

Birthplace

London, England

Height

1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)

Weight

77.1

Anton Julian Ferdinand (born 18 February 1985) is an English footballer who most recently played for St Mirren as a defender.
He was a product of the West Ham United academy and has also played for their senior team, Queens Park Rangers, Sunderland, Bursaspor, Antalyaspor and Reading. He has also played for England at under-21 level.

Background
Ferdinand was born in Peckham, London, to Janice from Ireland and Julian from Saint Lucia. His brother, Rio, played for Queens Park Rangers and Manchester United, and is a former captain of the England national football team; and his cousin, Les, is a former England international. Anton showed considerable talent from an early age. Like his brother, Rio, he preferred to play in defence. His ability in this position led to him being signed to West Ham United's famed academy.

Club career
West Ham United
Ferdinand joined West Ham aged nine signing a three-year contract in the summer of 2002. He was handed his first team debut, by manager Glenn Roeder, in August 2003 when he started the 2–1 victory at Preston North End on the 2003–04 season's opening day. He went on to feature in 26 games that season.


Anton with brother Rio in a West Ham testimonial match
In the 2004–05 season, he cemented his first team place with several key performances including scoring the opening goal, and his first for West Ham, on the final day of the season as West Ham beat Watford 2–1 at Vicarage Road to make the play-offs. In the Final Ferdinand was a member of the team which beat Preston 1–0, earning them promotion back into the Premier League after an absence of two years. At the end of July 2005, Ferdinand signed a three-year contract extension with the club.

Ferdinand won the Premier League Player of the Month award in January 2006 following his brother Rio to become the first brothers to win the award. In the 2006 FA Cup Final against Liverpool in Cardiff, Ferdinand fell to his knees after missing the decisive penalty in the shoot out.

In March 2007 it was revealed that Ferdinand had been fined two weeks' wages (estimated at £45,000) for lying about his whereabouts. Ferdinand told the club he needed to go to the Isle of Wight to visit his grandmother when in fact, he went to South Carolina to celebrate his 22nd birthday. West Ham lost the following game to relegation rivals Charlton Athletic 0–4. His last goal for West Ham was against Fulham on 12 January 2008, scoring in the 69th minute to put West Ham 2–1 ahead,