Rangers star names Steven Gerrard among best bosses, says he’s like old school English pair

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The Rangers striker Jermain Defoe reunited with his former teammate at Ibrox last year.

The Rangers striker Jermain Defoe has likened Steven Gerrard to two of his high-profile former managers.

Defoe and Gerrard played together for England before linking up at Rangers in January last year.

And although their reunion has yet to yield any silverware, it can be deemed a successful one with the 37-year-old having scored 25 goals in 52 games for Rangers.

Discussing the best bosses he has worked for on Talksport earlier, Defoe said: “I have to give a shout out to my current manager right now, Mr Gerrard, because he’s gonna be a top, top, top manager.

“It’s a funny one because when I signed for Rangers, you know what it’s like, you have a little bit of banter in the changing room with the lads, saying JD’s mate’s with the gaffer and stuff like that. But he’s brilliant. He’s a natural. And in terms of management, he’s still fresh and he’s still new but you can just see that, naturally. he’s got everything.

“He always says to the players, if you want to come and talk to me about everything my door is open. He’s approachable, which is really important for a manager. Sometimes there’s stuff you want to talk about, you might have personal problems, but you feel uncomfortable going to the manager.

“But with Stevie you can go and talk to him about anything, he’s chilled. He reminds me a bit of Harry (Redknapp) and the Sam Allardyces when you can just approach them and speak to them about anything. It’s important.”

Redknapp managed Defoe at three clubs, West Ham United, Portsmouth and Tottenham Hotspur, and scored 65 goals in 144 games for the Londoner.

And Allardyce coaxed a similar rate of goals out of Defoe – 13 in 27 games – at Sunderland.

Gerrard has faced some criticism following Rangers’ post-2019 decline.

But the continued support of senior players such as Defoe is encouragement, perhaps, for the Gers to persevere with their 39-year-old boss.

Defoe has already agreed a deal to stay at Rangers when his spell on loan from Bournemouth ends this summer.