Defoe: Redknapp set me on the road to stardom
Published 05:00 13/03/10 By Darren Lewis
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp played a major role in shaping Jermain Defoe into one of England’s top strikers.
As boss of West Ham 11 years ago, Redknapp swooped to take Defoe from the FA National School of Excellence at Lilleshall where Defoe had been given a scholarship.
Since then the striker has had a loan spell at Bournemouth where he scored in 10 consecutive games, equalling a post-war record set by John Aldridge.
He then went on to play for West Ham before leaving for two spells at Tottenham, with a move to Portsmouth in between.
He explained: “I was only 16 when I went to have a look at West Ham but the manager at the time, Harry, was great to me. As soon as I walked in I saw players like Ian Wright, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand. As a young boy it was like a dream. This was where I wanted to be.
“When I was in the youth team, I’d signed my contract and I’d got my foot in the door playing for the U-17 side. I’d only had a few games before I was moved up to the U-19s.
“In my first season with them we won a cup and I scored nearly 50 goals and I was loving my football.
“I’d go to bed at nine o’clock, get in early the next day for training and stay behind practising my finishing with legends like Wrighty, Paolo Di Canio, Lampard.”
That shooting practice paid off as Defoe went on to make his first-team debut – aged just 17 – in a League Cup game against Walsall in 2000, scoring the only goal.
He recalled: ‘‘I came on for six minutes and I hit the winner. After that, Harry told me that he didn’t want me playing in the reserves any more.
‘‘He wanted me to go out on loan to another team, to get some experience then to come back to play with the first team.
“So just before my 18th birthday I went on loan to Bournemouth. Harry would watch the games and that gave me the confidence to break that record.”
He first moved to Spurs in 2004 and recalled: “That was another dream. When you look at the calibre of player that has played for the club over the years you realise just how much.’’
