'A dream' - ex-Portsmouth, Spurs and England striker expresses interest in vacant Championship manager's job

Former Pompey and England striker Jermain Defoe has confirmed his interest in managing another of his former clubs - Sunderland.

The Championship club sacked Michael Beale in February after just nine weeks in charge and have since been coached by interim head manager Mike Dodds. It is expected the Stadium of Light side will appoint a permanent manager once the 2023-24 campaign comes to a close. Sunderland currently sit 13th in the league with just one win in their Past five fixtures - but the ex-Blues forward believes it would be a ‘dream’ to take on the Black Cats role ahead of the 2024-25 season.

The 41-year-old former Tottenham Hotspur star spoke to the media ahead of launching the Jermain Defoe Academy at East Durham College. He admitted he would not turn down the opportunity to manage a club with whom he spent two season from 2015-17, before returning for a brief stint in 2022.

Defoe had also previously enjoyed a successful season at Fratton Park in 2008-09 - during which time he scored 17 goals in 36 appearances. But after pushing to return to Spurs after less than a year, his reputation at PO4 took a battering, with Pompey fans recently naming the striker as a player they ‘wished was never signed by the club’.

The ex-England international has been coaching at Spurs, but when asked if the Sunderland job interested him, he said: If I got a phone call now and they said ‘”Do you want to be Sunderland manager?” When you’ve had these dreams (to go into management) it’d be a dream because I understand it’s a massive club, it’s a Premier League club.’

‘Why not?; he added. ‘Even when I was a player, I always used to say I'd love to manage this club. I don't know if other players are like that, if other players have a relationship with fans and a club and think they'd love to manage this club.’

The role would require a close working relationship with Sunderland’s sporting director Kristjaan Speakman, with whom Defoe became familiar during his second spell at the club. This appears to be of no concern to the former Pompey striker, who has already his desired signings lined up.

‘I won't mention names but I know exactly who I'd bring in,’ Defoe added. ‘When you look at the current squad of young players, I hear people talk about needing experience. My experience is working with young players, understanding what they need and it forces you to coach.

‘The coaches who I'm working with, one of the coaches has coached in the academy for 17 years. Another one who has managed and coached me here at Sunderland, Paul Bracewell. Me and Brace are so close. He's experienced, a great player. I'm getting all these gems from experienced coaches.

“The other one is a young coach who has the same love for the game as me, he's obsessed. You have to be obsessed with the game, I say that to young players all the time. A lot of young players don't watch football now, that blows my mind. It's so important to watch football, not just being on the grass and training, but watching players in your position. Even now, I go home and watch games.’

Defoe, who has 57 international caps, was also probed on whether he would consider starting his management career with a League One or League Two job, to which he replied: ‘It depends on the opportunity. If it's right for me then of course. Of course, it helps when you have good players. That's some of the advice I've got from a lot of managers I played under.

‘I've put my CV into a few clubs and had conversations, just conversations to see where I'm at in terms of my badges. A lot of people don't remember but I had the year experience at Rangers as player-coach, so I was exposed to that level of coaching.

‘These are players I played with and the season after I was coaching. Stevie Gerrard wanted to give me that exposure because he knew I wanted to go into coaching. He was at Liverpool for a year in the academy and was lucky to get the opportunity at Rangers. He knew I still wanted to play but by being a player-coach it made the transition a lot smoother.’