Sports
‘Only thing that came close’: Ex-Rangers striker Jermain Defoe reveals which Celtic player’s golden moment surpassed Old Firm memory
Former Rangers title winner Jermain Defoe confesses that only one game in his 23-year career has equalled the intensity of an Old Firm derby, as he reflects on his three seasons at Ibrox.
The striker, now 42, was signed to the club on loan from Bournemouth by Rangers manager Steven Gerrard in 2019, before signing permanently and being an integral component of the club’s unbeatable 20/21 title winning squad.
Defoe scored one of his final goals for the club in a 4-1 victory over Celtic before returning to his former club Sunderland and retiring shortly after. He was part of three Rangers squads on Derby Day and remembers the atmosphere vividly.
“I actually said to Graeme Souness that I’d love to go to an Old Firm [before he joined Rangers],” recalled Defoe. “There were a few times when I’d done some Sky with Graeme, and I remember on one occasion when it was an Old Firm, he was sort of pacing up and down, like really sort of anxious. He said to me: ‘J, it’s the best game in the world.’ I thought wow, this is amazing. Someone of his stature, playing for Liverpool and with what he’s won and stuff – he loves that football club.”
Prior to his departure north of the border, Defoe was a fan favourite at English Premier League clubs West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur, and Sunderland due to his goal-scoring abilities. The small striker also represented England in the 2010 World Cup, when he scored 20 goals.
However, despite having played in some of the country’s most important derby games, Defoe says that the intensity of the Glasgow rivalry surprised him, stating that only one game came close to matching the emotion he felt during an Old Firm encounter.
“The Old Firm is just on another level,” explained Defoe “When I went up there I was in my late 30s in the back end of my career, I’d seen it all – and then you play a game like that. I’d never experienced anything like this.
“It’s crazy, you have to put it at the top of the list. The North London Derby, of course, was amazing when I signed for Tottenham. I knew very quickly that it was ’the game’. Then you go to Sunderland and you play against Newcastle and you’re just like, wow, we don’t get bigger than this. The only thing that came close to that was when I played against Scotland at Hampden Park for England. I came on for about 10 minutes. It was 2-2, [Leigh] Griffith’s scored the two free kicks.”
Adding in an interview with Gambling.com: “I remember looking around Hampden during the national anthem. In my 57 caps for England, that was the best atmosphere I’ve experienced. So to be up there and to play in the Old Firms and to win was just mad.”
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