Steven Gerrard taught Jermain Defoe a thing or two about management when he asked him to pick the team to face Real Madrid in a friendly, the former Ibrox striker has revealed.
Defoe is keen to move into management after hanging up his boots last year having watched many of his former England teammates such as Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard make the step with mixed fortunes. He worked under Gerrard as a player-coach at Rangers and cut his teeth on the coaching side of things before leaving to play for Sunderland after Gio van Bronckhorst was brought in to replace him.
Defoe, 40, is now fully retired and focused on coaching and works in the Spurs youth set-up under Yaya Toure after calling it a day on his playing career almost 12 months ago. He is eager to work his way up the coaching ranks to become a manager in future, but he is fully aware of the downsides to a job he hopes will be second only to playing.
