Jermain Defoe claims a player/coach role at Rangers was “forced” upon him before Giovanni van Bronckhorst sanctioned his pre-retirement exit to Sunderland.
The legendary English striker, now 41, spent three years at Rangers between January 2019 and 2022, leaving a big impression on the club.
Playing a key role in the team which won 55, Jermain Defoe had been signed initially on loan by Steven Gerrard and fired his way into the hearts of Rangers fans.
But whilst discussing his retirement from the beautiful game, the former West Ham, Tottenham and Portsmouth striker claims he was forced into a coaching role at Ibrox.
Jermain Defoe “forced” into Rangers role
Speaking as part of the Football Firsts podcast (from 5:05) which the ex-striker co-hosts with Troy Deeney, Jermain Defoe has been discussing his exit from Rangers.
Defoe would exit Rangers for Sunderland in January 2022 in one final attempt to continue his playing career after moving into coaching at Ibrox.
Handed a player/coach role in the 21/22 season, Jermain Defoe claims it is not the route he actually wanted to go down Rangers.
After a chat with Giovanni van Bronckhorst following the exit of manager Steven Gerrard to Aston Villa, Defoe then decided on the switch to the Black Cats.
“Before I went to Sunderland, I hadn’t played in about two or three months,” said Defoe. “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.”
Sunderland move pushed striker to retirement
Jermain Defoe then went on to discuss his retirement from the game, which came only three months on from his exit from Rangers.
Claiming that Sunderland failed to deliver on their promise of game-time, injuries and a losing mental battle made his second stint at the Stadium Light a short one.
The striker also claims that guilt around potentially blocking the pathway for younger players when he wasn’t up to task helped make up his mind.
“Alex Neil come in and to be totally honest, what I was promised just never happened to be honest,” said Defoe. “I think the manager just went against everything the people upstairs were telling me.
“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.
“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’.”
Jermain Defoe made 74 appearances in an impressive stint as a Rangers player, scoring 32 goals for the club and laying on 10 assists.
