Speaking to Troy Deeney on a recent podcast, Jermain Defoe discussed the disappointing end to his career which saw him play seven games for Sunderland before hanging up his boots.
COACHING ROLE AT RANGERS
“Before I went to Sunderland, I hadn’t played in about two or three months. Stevie (Gerrard) went and Giovanni van Bronckhorst come in. I had a meeting with him and he basically said to me, ‘listen, what’s this player/coach thing?’. ‘I see you in training, you’re sharp, what’s the situation Do you want to play or do you want to coach?’ I said I want to play. To be totally honest, I didn’t even want the player/coach role. It was forced upon me. So I decided to go to Sunderland.”
ALEX NEIL TREATMENT
“Alex Neil come in and to be totally honest, what I was promised just never happened to be honest. I think the manager just went against everything the people upstairs were telling me."
FRUSTRATING NIGGLES
“I remember training, and it was sort of on my mind anyway, because of the way my body was feeling. I picked up a hamstring, so I was getting frustrated at the niggles, so I was restricted anyway and then just thinking I don’t know if I can do this."
BLOCKING THE PATH FOR YOUNGSTERS
“Also, there were a few other young forwards in the building and I thought, if I’m feeling like this – I’ve never felt like this before – I just felt just because of my name I was blocking the path for someone else coming through. I thought this isn’t right and if I’m not in it fully there’s no point in me being here so I just phoned my mum and I said ‘that’s me done’.”
