Woking chief issues statement on Jermain Defoe after surprise exit announced

Woking director of football Jody Brown has issued a statement following his departure of Jermain Defoe as the club's manager.

Defoe was appointed to his first managerial role by the Cards last March, and won two of his six matches in charge to end the 2025/26 season.

Despite pre-season already being well underway, and with Woking having made seven new signings under Defoe, it was announced on Thursday that the former England striker had left via mutual agreement.

In a statement posted to social media, Defoe said that 'circumstances have ultimately made it impossible for me to continue in this position'.

Woking's official statement on the matter did little more than announce their manager's departure, adding: "We would like to place on record our sincere thanks to Jermain for his contribution during his time at Woking Football Club, and we wish him every success in the future."

For his part, Defoe acknowledged the support of majority owner Todd Johnson in his statement, as well as assistant manager Paul Bracewell, head of performance Karl Halabi, the players and the supporters.

READ MORE: Jermain Defoe leaves as manager of his first club after 116 days of 'eye-opening experience'

But he made no mention of director of football Brown, who appeared alongside Defoe for his opening press conference as manager back in March.

Woking director of football issues lengthy Defoe statement

Brown subsequently issued his own statement to the club's official website, in which he made various accusations about Defoe's time in charge.

He describes Defoe as an 'outstanding player' and a 'very likeable guy', stating that he made the initial recommendation to the club's board to appoint the 43-year-old.

"After meeting with him on several occasions, I believed he was the right person to lead the club into an exciting new era," Brown says. "As we have seen many times before, success as a player does not always translate into management and leadership. I sincerely hope to see him succeed in whichever direction he follows."

Fans argued that Woking had not sufficiently backed Defoe in the transfer market, and quoted comments made by Brown himself that some new signings had been identified as possible targets long before the former England striker took charge.

"I have seen the speculation. Instead, I want to make clear that the club was fully committed to supporting Jermain in every sense throughout his time in the role.

"All player recruitment, staffing decisions and football matters were heavily influenced by Jermain, and he was given the necessary operational and board support. In any organisation there are processes to follow.

"Just days before his departure, the club were delighted to finalise the signing of an excellent player identified by Jermain, again illustrating the support the club had given right up until his final day."

Brown went on to allege that, in 'recent weeks', there had been feedback from 'across the club, including players, staff and other departments' about unnamed 'growing concerns', and that he had asked Defoe and Bracewell for a 'brief report outlining the squad's current depth, recruitment targets and any operational challenges', which he said was not received.

He then accused Defoe of not turning up to a meeting involving the directors, manager, assistant manager and head of operations to review preparations for the season.

"Every football club faces challenges," Brown said. "Players want more game time, improved contracts or transfers. The media team might want better equipment, the medical department more interns, the strength and conditioning staff larger gym space, and the car park attendants may want more coffee. But people do not just fail to turn up."

Defoe's representatives state that the the former England striker is taking legal advice following Brown's comments, with the statement regarding him described as 'a serious defamation of character'.

They describe the suggestion that Defoe was 'making unreasonable demands' as 'simply untrue'.