FOR too many ominous seasons the visit of today’s opponents QPR almost certainly meant one thing to Evertonians - Les Ferdinand’s name would be on the scoresheet.

A generation of Goodison regulars still shiver at mention of the former England striker, forever in association with the sight of the net bulging and torn betting slips raining down like confetti.

Throughout a 20-year professional career Ferdinand netted against Everton 16 times – more than any other player.

It wasn’t just in the blue and white of Rangers that he struck either, Sir Les did the damage for Newcastle and Spurs before moving on to West Ham, Leicester and Bolton.

Now on the coaching staff at Tottenham Hotspur, the 44-year-old admitted that Blues fans do not miss a chance to remind him of their dismay at seeing him run out at Goodison over the years.

"If I see an Evertonian anywhere in the world they say they hate me!,” he says.

“No matter how my season was going, if I only scored two goals in a season they would be against Everton.

"It was just an amazing thing that when I played against Everton more often than not I found the net."

And Ferdinand would have been on hand last weekend to encourage Spurs’ strikers to continue his work against the Toffees, if it were not for the game’s postponement in the wake of the London riots.

"I now work more with the development squad than with the strikers but I still lend a hand in that department and trying to keep them on the right path," he explained.

“I think last season Rafa (Van Der Vaart) came into some form and scored goals and caused the manager a problem with his selection.

“Before Rafa came into the club we played with two strikers in a 4-4-2.