Woking chief says concerns grew before Jermain Defoe’s shock exit
Concerns were already building at Woking before Jermain Defoe left after 116 days, with the club claiming he missed a meeting and training.
Woking director of football Jody Brown said "growing concerns" had been building across the club before Jermain Defoe left the Surrey side, sharpening the sense that the former England striker's first managerial job had unraveled quickly. Woking and Defoe had "mutually agreed to part ways with immediate effect" after only four months and six league games in charge.
The club had announced Defoe’s appointment on 29 March 2026, when it confirmed he was taking over as manager after Neal Ardley. By the time the split came, his spell had lasted 116 days, and Woking moved straight to put Craig Ross and Jake Hyde back in interim charge of the first team for a second spell.
Defoe described the job as an "eye-opening experience" after his exit, a line that underlined how quickly the former striker’s first move into management became a test of how much support a lower-league club can realistically give to a first-time boss. A later claim from Woking said Defoe did not turn up for a meeting and training before the shock exit, adding another layer to a departure that had already been presented as a mutual decision rather than a dismissal.
Brown has also defended Woking’s transfer policy, suggesting the issues were not limited to one man on the touchline. His warning that concerns were growing across the club points to a broader problem than tactics alone: a short-lived appointment, a rapid return to interim leadership and a manager who was in place for barely more than three months.
For Woking, the episode became a case study in the risk of hiring a big-name former player without a strong enough structure around him. Defoe arrived with profile and expectation; he left after six league games, and the club’s own response showed how quickly a lower-league season can be thrown off course when internal confidence starts to fray.
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