Celebrating goals against your old club has become something of a taboo subject in the modern-day Premier League, but there was no way Jermain Defoe was going to simply and solemnly shake hands when netting against West Ham United.
While Defoe would later apologise for that infamous transfer request, the damage was done in the eyes of the more unforgiving members of the Hammers fanbase.
When you add in that eventual move to bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur, the three red cards he picked up in quick succession during his final season at Upton Park, and the fact Jermain Defoe used to celebrate scoring against his old employers, he remains a divisive figure among many West Ham United supporters.
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West Ham famously paid £1.6 million to sign a teenage Defoe from Charlton Athletic in 1999.
The former England international can certainly understand the animosity – some felt he did not pay back all the faith shown in him as a young man – and he admits he occasionally felt a pang of guilt after hitting the target against the club who gave him his break.
Jermain Defoe explains why he celebrated goals against West Ham United
In 16 matches against the Hammers for Tottenham, Portsmouth and Sunderland, Defoe would find the net six times.
Speaking to Midnite Sports, though, he insists this was nothing personal. Just the natural reaction of an arch poacher doing what he loves most.
“The only reason I used to celebrate was because, for one, it’s hard not to because scoring a goal, you can’t even describe the feeling. And [also] all the songs and the stick I used to get from the West Ham fans,” Defoe explains.
“It was just a bit of banter. But then at the same time, quietly when you get home, it’s a little bit like… you know what I mean? Because that’s where I started and every goal that I scored for West Ham was a dream because I was so young.
“You just love scoring goals! So it’s hard to score goals and not celebrate.”
Defoe eventually joined Spurs in exchange for Bobby Zamora in January 2004. Considering that the former would become one of the hottest strikers in the Premier League while Zamora scored the play-off final winner which brought top-flight football back to Upton Park, both clubs would end up benefiting from such an arrangement.
Defoe was sent off three times in four months before joining Tottenham Hotspur
Defoe netted 15 times in 22 matches during the first half of that 2003/04 season. What those few months are best remembered for, though, are the three red cards which led to plenty of probing questions about the youngster’s temperament.
“I didn’t feel like the referees were protecting me. It was just that frustration,” recalls Defoe, who would only pick up two more red cards in the next 15 or so years of his career. “With that West Brom one, when I kicked out, it was so out of character. Obviously I got the red card, and then the two after…
“Me and the manager [Alan Pardew sat down and he said, ‘You can’t be doing this. What’s going on? This isn’t you!’ I didn’t even get booked before! It was mad.
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“It was a tough time for me. Handing in the transfer request and getting sent off, it’s unforgivable really.”
Defoe also reflects on the discussions with his agent which encouraged that transfer request.
Between 2001 and 2004, Joe Cole and Michael Carrick left for Chelsea and Tottenham while Frank Lampard, Glen Johnson and Rio Ferdinand also departed; an exodus of arguably the club’s greatest-ever crop of academy talent.
“When we got relegated, I remember my agent at the time, he said to me, ‘You have to hand in a transfer request because you can’t be playing in the Championship if you want to get in the England squad. You need to be playing in the Premier League and everyone else is going to leave, and you don’t want to be the last one because it’ll be difficult to get out’,” Defoe says.
“I remember having a conversation with my mum, and I think my mum was just naive to it anyway because the backlash was horrific!
“Had I known, of course, I wouldn’t have done it. And I think the worst thing about it was actually going on my own to hand over this transfer request. I’ve said it loads of times, I would love the agent to come out and speak about it. I’ve not seen him since, to be honest.
Years later, I did two years of coaching at Tottenham. I always said to the players, ‘if you want to leave a football club, you don’t need to do anything. All you need to do is play well and, in the background, it will happen.’
“It’s definitely one of the things I regret doing.”
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