Ex-Rangers star who played under Steven Gerrard makes telling Celtic ‘gap’ comment
EXCLUSIVE: Jermain Defoe won the league with Rangers under Steven Gerrard in 2021 and has now reflected on the contrast between his jubilant spell at Ibrox and the club’s current domestic predicament. Jermain Defoe is dismayed Rangers haven’t kicked on since his Premiership-winning spell at Ibrox and that a gap between themselves and Celtic has opened up.
Having carved out an iconic Premier League career with Spurs, Portsmouth, and Sunderland, English striker Defoe was brought to Glasgow on an initial loan deal in 2019. One year later, a pre-contract agreement was signed, making the deal permanent the following summer. Under manager Steven Gerrard, Defoe helped deny the club’s bitter rivals from achieving 10 in a row as Rangers claimed the title with a mammoth 102-point total. However, in the years since his 2022 departure, Celtic have regained the upper hand with three successive titles and closing in on a fourth.
The 42-year-old exclusively told the Daily Record he’s been left disappointed to see the great club fail to kick on since that famous season four years ago – and by the sizeable gap Celtic have since opened up. “I was in a team where we won… it was 55 league titles. It was the special one, really,” admitted Defoe, speaking courtesy of bet365’s new Sub On Play On product. “The one that the fans were craving – stop Celtic from doing 10 in a row, that sort of stuff. To have that experience, it was amazing. I still keep in contact with a lot of the people there at the club. Of course, when we won the league, with Steven, the squad that we had… And obviously, I left and Calvin Bassey left. Everyone sort of left and Gio came in and was so close to winning the European trophy. “But then you just thought that the club would sort of kick on from then and sort of just dominate and go on and win the league every year. And it’s just not happened. It’s been frustrating to sit back and see. And even more recently, knocked out the cup and the gap between us and Celtic at the minute. The manager has just lost his job, which is part and parcel now. Especially at a club like that, where it’s just all about winning.
“That’s sort of like the demand, the pressure that you get from the board and the fans. You have to win. You know, if you come second, you might as well come last. That’s the sort of like mentality up there.” Despite a monumental 3-1 away win in the Europa League against Fenerbahce last week, Barry Ferguson’s side are miles behind on the domestic front and still trail their bitter rivals by 16 points in the Premiership, with an Old Firm trip to Parkhead beckoning. Though Defoe backed interim Rangers boss Ferguson, he still feels that whoever takes over the job permanently will be lucky. He added: “Barry Ferguson has gone in and you like to think that he will sort of do well from now to the end of the season and then see what direction the club goes in. But it is a huge football club, and whoever gets that job, you know, they’re a lucky manager.”
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