{"id":578886,"date":"2026-04-01T16:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T16:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/578886\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T16:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T16:28:09","slug":"jermain-defoe-grateful-and-happy-to-earn-his-stripes-before-start-as-woking-manager-jermain-defoe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/578886\/","title":{"rendered":"Jermain Defoe grateful and happy to \u2018earn his stripes\u2019 before start as Woking manager | Jermain Defoe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s been a long time coming,\u201d says Jermain Defoe<\/a> on his first day as Woking\u2019s manager. Dressed in a sharp grey suit that he admits he is wearing on the instructions of his mother, Sandra \u2013 \u201cI know she\u2019ll be watching this, and she\u2019ll be like: \u2018You\u2019ve got to look smart!\u2019\u201d \u2013 the former England striker certainly looks the part as he fields questions in the unassuming surroundings of the Cardinal Bar at the Laithwaite Community Stadium.<\/p>\n

From missing the buzz of playing top-level football since retiring in 2022 to acknowledging why it is crucial to \u201cearn your stripes\u201d as a manager, Defoe is brutally honest about the task that awaits him at the club that has never made it to the Football League in 139 years of existence. He even jokes that he turned down his former team Tottenham to take over at Woking.<\/p>\n

Defoe, who had a spell as Steven Gerrard\u2019s assistant while playing at Rangers, spent two years in the Spurs academy working with the under-18 and under-21 sides before leaving in July 2024 after being told there was no role with the first team, then managed by Ange Postecoglou. He has since been on the lookout for his first head coach opportunity, although it took almost two years until Woking\u2019s director of football, Jody Brown, came calling when looking to replace Neal Ardley at the mid-table National League side.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t ever think: \u2018It\u2019s not going to come and I\u2019m just going to give up,\u2019\u201d Defoe says. \u201cI\u2019ve never really been like that, to be honest. I think you always have to remain positive. When you do all your hard work, that\u2019s all I could do really. All I could do is finish my badges and then just hopefully the opportunity will come. I\u2019ve had loads of conversations with clubs, so it was always getting close. And I knew it would come at some point. But in football, you just never know what\u2019s around the corner.\u201d<\/p>\n

If one word crops up more than any other during his press conference then it is \u201cgrateful\u201d, another lesson the man who won 57 England caps and scored more than 300 goals over a 23-year career learned from his mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has always said to appreciate the opportunity. It\u2019s no different than when you\u2019re a player. When I was a 16-year-old at West Ham in the youth team, you have to earn your stripes, you have to do your apprenticeship. Just because I\u2019ve had a good career, I can\u2019t expect to just jump in at the top or get that big job. It\u2019s one I\u2019m really looking forward to.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fact that Defoe is only the fifth black manager or head coach working in English football\u2019s top five divisions is an indication of the battle he has faced.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that\u2019s been spoken about for many years,\u201d he says. \u201cI remember as a player, obviously all the different campaigns. Speaking to the likes of Les Ferdinand, Ian Wright, Andy Cole. That sort of generation before me who did their coaching badges and obviously [there was] a lack of opportunity. I\u2019m so grateful for the opportunity but I\u2019d like to think going forward that other black managers will get them too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does it place more pressure on him to be successful? \u201cThere\u2019s always going to be expectation on any manager at any level,\u201d he says. \u201cThe expectation you put on yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defoe is itching to get back out on the grass again after watching Woking\u2019s draw with Altrincham on Tuesday evening from the directors\u2019 box, with Eastleigh his first opponents in a Good Friday home game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still get that same feeling,\u201d he says. \u201cI remember as a young kid, that feeling you get in the morning before a game. It\u2019s the same with coaching: putting your boots on and planning the session, delivering the session and then going into the game, and you can see the patterns that you\u2019ve worked on, and actually winning football matches. There\u2019s nothing like it. For me, the love for football\u2019s never changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Promotion is the target next season, and Defoe, who never played at this level, is hoping the vast experience of his assistant Paul Bracewell \u2013 the former Everton midfielder with whom he worked at Sunderland and Tottenham \u2013 will help the process of settling into life in deepest Surrey. \u201cHe keeps reminding me of the trophies that he\u2019s won,\u201d says Defoe. \u201cHe\u2019s had 35 years in the game so he\u2019s priceless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sam Allardyce and Harry Redknapp are among the former managers to have been in touch since his appointment, and Defoe plans to draw on their experience as his career progresses. But no prizes for guessing who has been the most influential person in his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mum knows that this is something that I\u2019ve waited a long time for so she has said I have to make sure that I enjoy it,\u201d said Defoe. \u201cI think it\u2019s important to have those kind of influences in your life because those are the people that love you. I\u2019m sure there will be constructive criticism, because it\u2019s your mum and you have got to take it on the chin. Even at the age of 43 that is still the person that I want to make proud.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s been a long time coming,\u201d says Jermain Defoe on his first day as Woking\u2019s manager. Dressed in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-578886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}