Gerrard tells Clarke to lay off Defoe over penalty comments

| 05 February 2019

Gerrard tells Clarke to lay off Defoe over penalty comments

The Rangers manager stuck up for his player before the striker found out he would not face retrospective action for diving.

Rangers boss Steven Gerrard told Steve Clarke to mind his own business on Jermain Defoe before the Ibrox striker learned he would face no ban for diving.

The Kilmarnock boss had called for Scottish Football Association compliance officer Clare Whyte to show consistency after Jordan Jones was handed a two-game suspension for a penalty incident against Dundee in October last year.

But no fast-track cases were taken forward before the 3pm Tuesday deadline and it is understood that Whyte deemed there was insufficient evidence against Defoe over his fall during Rangers' 4-0 win over St Mirren. Three former match officials would have needed to have reached a unanimous verdict for any case to be brought.

Defoe went down as Paul McGinn throw out a leg then quickly pulled it back before the England striker got up quickly. However, Andrew Dallas had already awarded Rangers their second of four penalties.

Gerrard earlier claimed there was no comparison between the incidents involving Defoe and Jones, his pre-contract signing, and expressed disappointment in his former Liverpool coach Clarke.

Clarke had said: "Hopefully the compliance officer will do her job. It doesn't affect us, I am not particularly advocating (a sanction), but I just want consistency."

Gerrard responded: "I was very surprised by Steve's comments, first and foremost because it's got absolutely nothing to do with Steve Clarke or Kilmarnock. We didn't punish Jordan Jones, we didn't give the Kilmarnock player a two-game ban, so why he's trying to get one of my players banned is a surprise and a disappointment.

Steven Gerrard and Steve Clark in a friendlier moment — Steven Gerrard and Steve Clarke in a friendlier moment (Jeff Holmes/PA)

"Because that's not the type of guy I know Steve Clarke for. He is usually first class, the dealings I had with him as a player when he used to coach me, and since I've been at Rangers. So very surprised by his comments and I don't think there's any need for them at all.

"The two situations are completely different. Jordan Jones was a yard away from the opponent, dives and buries his head in shame on the turf because he's embarrassed over it.

"There is small contact on Jermain. None of my players appealed for the penalty, none of my players gave the penalty, so why should Jermain Defoe be banned?

"The referee made the decision, nothing to do with Rangers, nothing to do with the Rangers players. Jermain tried to bounce back up, didn't appeal for a penalty."

Defoe would have missed Saturday's William Hill Scottish Cup tie at Kilmarnock if he had received a ban.

"If that's the case that's probably why he's (Clarke) doing it.," Gerrard said.

"That's disappointing, to try and get an opposition player banned for two games.

"There was a game we played against them recently which was a blatant red card on Ryan Jack. I never mentioned it in the press out of respect for Steve Clarke and Kilmarnock. So it's very disappointing and surprising to me that he's trying to get my player a two-game ban."

ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Gavin McCafferty, Press Association Sport');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', 'fe3cf944-5155-40d6-b31d-9a7cbbf89060');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:club-news,paservice:sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Gerrard tells Clarke to lay off Defoe over penalty comments'});