It took Jermain Defoe’s mum just 90 minutes of Old Firm action to work out why her son had fallen in love with life in Glasgow.
But the former Rangers star admits it will take far longer to get over his sudden departure from a club he had taken to his heart. It’s just over a year since Defoe called time on his three-year Gers stint, slipping out the door with barely a chance to say goodbye after a failed experiment combining playing and coaching left the veteran poacher questioning his hunger for goals and action.
A brief return to former club Sunderland followed but even in those familiar surroundings, the 40-year-old admits there was no replicating the buzz that pulling on a blue jersey could offer - a buzz that even his mum Sandra could appreciate. “My mum has come to almost every game I’ve played in and she’s been everywhere, at every club,” said Defoe.
“I remember we played here in my first Old Firm and she said to me, ‘You know what, I now know why you love it here'. She said she’d never experienced anything like it. All the games she’d come to, and I played about 800 games, and she said it was unbelievable - ‘I now understand why you love it’.
“If my mum says that, then it must be a special place. (So leaving) was difficult to be honest.
“When you go from the high that I had here, winning the league title - and 55 was arguably one of the most important titles in the club’s entire history. But after that it’s really difficult to have that feeling. I knew I was at the back end of my career but I felt like a kid again when I came to Rangers.
“I got that fire back. I’d come from Bournemouth and I got that fire back because I knew every game was important. I had to win every game. Every training session for me was important.
“And I think it’s even more because when you’re coming to the end, I think you enjoy it more as you know you’ve not got long left. That’s why I enjoyed every session, every game I played in. It was a chance to win the title and we did that so it’s of course special.”
Defoe’s final season in Scotland began with Steven Gerrard offering his old England buddy the chance to take his first steps into coaching, combining a back-room staff role with his first-team playing duties. But it ended up becoming a juggling act Defoe didn’t enjoy.
The former West Ham, Spurs and Portsmouth striker managed just nine minutes of action before Gerrard returned south to join Aston Villa in November 2021. Defoe himself called it quits at Ibrox two months after that.
He’s previously admitted he’d “switched off” from playing by the time Gio van Bronckhorst was recruited as Gerrard’s replacement. He hoped his move to Sunderland would flick the switch back on but within eight weeks he’d chosen to retire.
He said: “I’ve always looked after my body. Even when I left I still felt sharp. Obviously the season we won the league and the last two games were against Celtic and Aberdeen.
“That physically was probably the best I’d felt during me entire time up here. The season after I got the player-coach role but no player wants to finish playing and I just still wanted to play. There’s been many players I’ve spoken to about leaving this club and they all say it’s difficult to leave here, go somewhere else and get that same feeling.”
Defoe’s departure last year was announced just four days before Rangers returned from the winter break with a 1-1 draw at Aberdeen. It was that rushed exit from the club that prompted the 57-time capped ex-England ace to return to Ibrox at the weekend for Sunday’s legends kick-about.
When the invite came from Kris Boyd, Defoe knew he couldn’t pass up the chance to bid a proper farewell. And for old time’s sake, he signed off with a trademark double in a 4-3 defeat to a World Select.
“It was really nice to be back because I don’t feel like I got a proper chance to say goodbye,” he said. I sort of left and didn’t feel like I’d got the chance to say goodbye to the fans properly.
“It just happened so quick when Gio was here. So that’s when Boydy sent me the message asking if I wanted to play in this game that I was like 100 percent!
“I’m back at Tottenham coaching with the academy so I’ve been joining in the sessions trying to get myself sharp. Everyone knows what this place means to me. I enjoyed my football here. It’s a special place to play football so to come back and play again run front these fans was amazing.
“What a turnout. I think there was about 30,000 there on Sunday for game like that, which is just crazy. You won’t find that kind of support at many clubs.
“I was just happy to be back. Did I feel like I had to come back and say goodbye? 100 percent.
“I still speak to Mick. I keep in contact with a lot of the boys, the staff here too. But I just wanted a chance to come back and say bye properly because I didn’t get that chance.
“It was tough leaving. It happens at football clubs. I’ve played at clubs and players are just gone all of a sudden. They’re there one day and the next they’re at another club.
“That’s part and parcel of the game now. But as I had so many special times here it was nice to come back and do it properly.”
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