FERDINAND DELIGHTED WITH DEFOE COACHING ROLE

Queens Park Rangers (QPR) director of football Les Ferdinand has expressed his delight with the decision to hand veteran striker Jermaine Defoe a player/coach role at Rangers. Ferdinand spoke to the Scottish Sun about Defoe as he praised Steven Gerrard and Rangers for the decision to give the former England international striker a vital role at the club. According to him, Defoe can help influence the next generation of strikers at the club positively with his new role.

Ex-Tottenham Hotspur, Portsmouth and Bournemouth attacker Defoe is winding down his career as a professional footballer and his role at Rangers has been transformed from being a player to a player/coach thanks to Steven Gerrard and other  club officials.

Defoe initially joined Rangers from Bournemouth on loan before the move was made permanent. The Englishman signed for Rangers partly due to the influence from manager Steven Gerrard whom he played together with for the Three Lions of England.  Defoe has been excellent for Steven Gerrard and Rangers since he started playing for the Scottish Premiership giants. He was not a regular in the Rangers starting XI last season but the veteran player still played his part as the club ended the campaign with the much coveted league title.

Defoe, Gerrard and Rangers won the Scottish Premiership title at the expense of defending champions Celtic last season. Celtic had won the league title for nine straight seasons and they were favourites to win a tenth league title in a row but Steven Gerrard and Rangers had other ideas. Gerrard led Rangers to league title number 55 and it was won in style as the club managed to go through the season without a single defeat.

Veteran striker Defoe has played for many teams in his career but didn’t win the league title until last season at Rangers.