For anybody starting a new job, a few messages of good luck can help settle nerves.
That’s no different in the glamorous world of professional football, it seems.
Jermain Defoe, who scored 162 Premier League goals prior to hanging up his boots in 2022, has revealed that some of the game’s best-loved names messaged him after he took the manager’s role at Woking back in late March.
‘I think they always knew that it was going to go into management’ Defoe reveals what Harry Redknapp told him when he moved into coaching
“Yeah, I still speak to Harry Redknapp a lot,” Defoe tells FFT in partnership with a new E.ON Next campaign. “I spoke to Harry before I got the job. I also spoke to Big Sam before I got the job. They're buzzing for me. They said, ‘Listen, you're fully equipped, you're ready to do it, you love the game, and how you were as a player, those sort of standards that you set as a player, is what will make you a success.’
“I think they always knew I was going to go into management, because I was the sort of player that never cut any corners and wanted to learn and grow. When it comes to my football, I've always been like that, from day one.”
Defoe reveals that some ex-team-mates have also been in touch to wish him well.
“Yeah, it’s not just the manager,” he beams. “Some of the boys have reached out, too. Even players that I've worked with on TV who I never played alongside, like the great Alan Shearer. He messaged me on Instagram, saying, ‘Good luck, gaffer!’ That meant a lot as Al’s a hero of mine.”
Defoe was speaking to FFT as the face of a new campaign from energy provider Eon, which is encouraging football fans to put a wash on at night, during World Cup matches, in order to save on their energy bills.
“I think it's amazing that E.ON has thought of a great idea to help football fans save their energy bills,” Defoe tells FFT. “With the cost of living, things are tougher than ever for people right now. Over the next six weeks, or however long the World Cup is, football fans are gonna be setting their alarms to get up to watch the country play, because obviously the kick-off times are crazy. So, what an idea to try and encourage fans to do their washing at that time.
"Because the later you do it, the cheaper it is. So Eon are encouraging fans to put a wash on before the game starts, and after like 90 minutes or 100 minutes take your washing out and dry it. That habit makes things much cheaper. So it's just a good way of killing two birds with one stone: enjoying the football and saving on your energy bills.
"Myself, Tony Duggan and Ray Parlour are behind the campaign.We did the shoot.
"It was really good because there were different challenges, like chipping balls into big bins and all that sort of stuff.
"It was really fun. And nice, obviously to be involved in a campaign which is looking to help people to lower their energy bills. So it's a really good campaign.”
