Tottenham hero reveals the truth about Rangers decision that

Tottenham hero reveals the truth about Rangers decision that pushed him towards career crossroads

Jermain Defoe says Rangers coerced him into a player-coach role, which drove him to leave Ibrox.

The seasoned striker was on loan from Bournemouth to Glasgow in 2019 to try his hand at the Premiership; Defoe didn’t leave until

2022, when he went back to Sunderland. Following a brief second stint with the Black Cats, he retired.

also featuring for Portsmouth, Toronto and Bournemouth throughout his successful time as a player.

After joining the team under Steven Gerrard, Defoe gained popularity and assisted the team in winning the Premiership in 2021.

However, the Tottenham star did not leave Rangers on his own terms since, near the conclusion of his playing career,

he felt pressured into taking on the position of player-coach.

That left him with a choice, and in the end, he decided to go back to England. “I hadn’t played in about

two or three months before I went to Sunderland,” he said to Football Firsts.

“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 noticed you were sharp in training. Could you tell me what’s going on?” Are you more interested in coaching than in playing?

“I want to play, I said. To tell the truth, I had no desire to be a coach or player at all.

I was made to do it. Thus, I chose to travel to Sunderland.

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