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called Jermain Defoe, who I’ve heard has scored a goal or two in his time.
The Defoe situation is one that’s been in everyone’s mind (well, everyone of a Sunderland persuasion) since he announced his departure from Rangers, probably, to be honest, more in hope than expectation. At his age there were always going to be questions, but the way he’s looked after himself over the years has added years to his playing time, and the time he spent at Bournemouth probably taught him that there’s more to football than getting paid huge amounts, as he, by far the best striker
at the club, was mainly overlooked. The advice of many former players is to carry on with your boots as long as possible, as you’re a long time retired, and Defoe has obviously heeded this advice. The contract might only be until the summer, but an awful lot can happen in those few short months. We hope. It’s not just his goals, though, imagine how the younger players (and let’s face it, some are young enough to be his son) feel about the prospect of working with someone of his pedigree? Also, imagine how much he’ll affect the opposition, as there’ll be a heady mixture of blokes wanting to make a name for themselves and targeting Defoe, thus diverting their attention away from the already prolific Stewart, and blokes who are simply in awe of him.
other hand, switching from “glass half full” to “somebody knocked my glass over” mode, he might turn out to be goosed. But I doubt it, and anyway, with fans celebrating his return like an American who’s just been given a deep fried handgun, the club announced that they’d be donating £1 for every ticket sold for the Donny game to the Bradley Lowery Foundation. Lovely gesture.
Defoe’s arrival has given the whole set-up, from groundsman to fans to KLD, a lift and raised expectations. Somehow, we’ve pulled off arguably the second cleverest deals in our history (well, third if you add getting Phillips for next to nowt) by getting Jermain to come back, which is equally
as impressive as swapping Altidore for him seven years ago. At the time, some so-called experts reckoned he was too old, that was seven years ago, and he’s scored another 73 (an omen, surely?) goals and won the Scottish League title. On the
Of course, without a manager, sorry, head coach, to pick him, things could be tricky. I’d like to think that, unlike previous regimes, the folks with the power had somebody in mind before giving the lad the boot, or at least a very short shortlist. The fact that nobody has emerged as a red-hot favourite anywhere but in people’s heads and the media worries me more than a little, but we’ve all been here before, and we’ll just have to grin (just think
of Defoe, that’ll make it easier) and bear it until someone arrives. There have been comments that we need a coach who’ll galvanise the fans, but to them I’d say we fans don’t need galvanising, the players do. Also, don’t forget the earlier remark that the Head Coach is only the final cog in the machine, and that machine should still keep running because all of the other cogs will keep turning.
Onwards and upwards.
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