Jermain Defoe answers critics over ad for personal assistant

Sunderland striker Jermain Defoe made news earlier in the week when Defoe Enterprise Ltd. posted a detailed advert for a personal assistant, which was met with contempt from media and football fans alike.

The pint-sized Black Cats goal-machine responded to the naysayers Saturday, with a rebuttal fit for a charitable fellow seeking somebody to help grow his global brand ... and stock his fridge.

Frustrated by the negative reaction to his ad, Defoe vouched for his own character in an attempt to separate himself from the legions of professional footballers in the spotlight for the wrong reasons.

"If I was one of those footballers who was stumbling out of nightclubs, drunk, smoking, then I guess I'd be fair game. But I don't do any of those things," Defoe told the Sunderland Echo.

"If I wasn't representing my club or my family in the right way, then I'd have no problem about anyone writing anything they wanted about me.

But when people are writing about things that are irrelevant, and turning things against me, I don’t think that’s fair."

To Defoe's credit, his charitable efforts are well-documented, both domestically and in the Caribbean, where the Jermain Defoe Foundation works with under-privileged and abused children in St. Lucia.

(Courtesy: Sunderland Echo)

"People have been writing all kinds of things about this PA stuff, so I want to clear it up," Defoe continued.

"The intention from the start, certainly from me, was that the job would be to provide support for my family who have been trying to run my foundation.

"I've launched that to build and run a children's home in St Lucia, but I guess the headlines about that aren't as interesting as the other stuff that was written."

Try as he might to let it slide off his back, the ex-Toronto FC striker is clearly bothered by all the negative attention.

"I try not to let things get to me, because if I did, I wouldn’t be able to perform, but sometimes that's harder than others.

"I've dealt with much harder things than that before so ordinarily it wouldn’t bother me, but when your family are involved as well, it’s crossed a line."

Despite the way his request for an assistant has been characterized, Defoe insists his intentions are purely selfless.

"I’ll hold my hand up - I can’t do admin or accounts or stuff like that. I need help to do that, and hopefully that help will in turn help to change lives in St Lucia.

"That’s my passion away from football, but I need help to do that."