Jermain Defoe's brief tenure in the Woking dugout has ended, and the former England striker has called it an "eye opening experience". That phrase car...
Jermain Defoe's brief tenure in the Woking dugout has ended, and the former England striker has called it an "eye opening experience". That phrase carries a lot of weight, doesn't it It suggests a man who walked into the National League thinking he knew the game, only to discover that football management is a different beast entirely.For a forward of Defoe's calibre, a man who made a living off clinical finishing and predatory movement, the transition to the technical area was always going to be fraught. You can't just coach players to have your instinct. Woking, a side scrapping in the fifth tier, are not built for fluid possession football. They live in the low block, they chase lost causes, they fight for second balls. Defoe's squad lacked the tactical flexibility to impose his ideas, and nine matches is a ridiculously small sample size to judge anyone.Let's be honest, the Non League is a world away from the pristine pitches of White Hart Lane. It's about budgets, bruised egos, and travelling to places where the rain blows sideways. Did Defoe expect a walk in the park Maybe. But credit where it's due: he took the job, he gave it a go, and he walked away when he realised the fit wasn't right. That takes a bit of bottle.So what now for the 42 year old He will have learned more in those four months than in a decade of being an assistant. The real question is whether this stint has put him off management for good or given him the hunger to try again at a club with better infrastructure. One thing is certain: the romance of the dugout has a nasty habit of humbling even the best strikers.For Woking, they move on. For Defoe, the road back to the touchline just got a little longer. But in football, you never write anyone off. Not yet.
