Former Watford captain Troy Deeney has claimed he told club officials “I will injure every player until you sell me” when he wanted to leave and join Leicester in 2016.
The striker also suggests the club agreed to meet his demands to remove speed bumps at the training ground, provide him with a double-sized executive box at Vicarage Road and allow him use of two car park spaces outside the directors’ entrance in order to convince him to stay.
In an amazing 150-minute interview with the YouTube channel FilthyFellas, Deeney also said:
- “The manager doesn’t set who will play, or how we play”
- "You want to bring in Deulofeu? You better pay me this"
- "I know you’re Eastern European and think you’re tough, but I’ll break you in half"
- "I could put a hole in the front of my knee and let it bleed out"
He did also, however, praise club chairman Scott Duxbury for his support around the Black Lives Matter campaign and named Sean Dyche and Gianfranco Zola as the two best managers of his career so far.
When asked about the potential move to Leicester in 2016, when it was rumoured a £30m deal had been agreed only for it to fall through, Deeney said this:
“I’m in Miami, and it’s Leicester. I’m talking to Ranieri and their Director of Football. I’m chatting to Wes Morgan. They’re like ‘yeah Troy we want you’.
“I was in a club, and I had to take a call from Claudio Ranieri in the club. His English was a bit sketchy but he’s saying ‘Troy, we want to take you’. And I’m like ‘Claudio, I’m going to have to call you back’. I’m in Miami, in a club, I’ll call back tomorrow and we’ll discuss it.
“They want to get me in. Wes is like ‘You and Jamie up the front with Riyadh [Mahrez] on the side. You’ll mash them up, Jamie will run in behind. You’re ready to be second fiddle to him.’ I went ‘second fiddle to who? I’m Troy’.
“I said Jamie can do the running in behind, but I’m an elbow man, I’m a push man. When he gets there, if he can’t shoot you tell him to pull it back and I’ll score.
“So we had that whole chat and it was all ready to go. When I left Walsall for Watford, it was £300,000 with a 25% sell-on clause.
“So Watford were like ‘if it’s £30m we’re going to get that . . . it needs to be £40m. We’ve got to make a decision, how do you want to do this?’
“I was like ‘I want to go to Leicester’. They’d just won the league, they were in the Champions League. If I play three games I’ll probably get an England call-up.
“So we go back into Watford and they’re like ‘give us one last chance to convince you to stay’.
“So I’m at £30m. I ain’t running. I’m a big boy anyway. I’ll come back fat as f**k and I will injure every player until you sell me. I promise you, I’ll injure every player.
“They’re ‘give us one last chance’. They’d got in Walter Mazzari, the Italian coach.
“My agent was like ‘when we pull up, go in there and say your goodbyes to all the staff and go get your boots. Let them know you’re ready to leave’.
“So I come in, say goodbye to everybody, thanks for everything. Thank you chairman, appreciate the time. I get my boots, go to my car. About three minutes after and the phone’s ringing. I’m like ‘yo’ and it’s ‘What do you want? What do you want to stay?’
“So they [Watford] are talking name your price and you can get it. And I’m like ‘let’s play then – what shall we get?’
“At this point I had a grey Lambourghini Aventador – every we time drive in the training ground, speed bumps. So I’m like ‘can you take the speed bumps out’.
“I was getting the money. I was saying take the speed bumps out. I’ve got one box [at Vicarage Road], it’s only a ten-seater. Can I get two boxes, knock the wall out. I want a bottle of champagne every time. At this point they’re going ‘yeah, yeah, you can have that’.
“Then I’m like ‘my boys don’t like walking from the bottom, can I get two in the directors’ car park?’ And they’re like ‘have it’.
“All of that comes from, when I was going to go to Villa, I signed an agreement. I’d been locked up, scored the ‘Leicester goal’, done all that. I was out of contract and Villa offered me 15 times what I was on. Newcastle offered me 15 times more than what I was on.
“In my head was loyalty and respect. You stood by me when I was locked up, I’ll sign a lesser deal. We shook hands and I said ‘Thank you, but I don’t owe you nothing now’.
“At that point to me everything was done. You’ve been loyal to me when I was locked up, and we’re even now because I could have jumped ship.
“I was on £5k a week then, Villa offered me £30k. My brother was at Villa at the time, but my Dad, my good friends, my best friends, they’re all Zulus. They’re Blues hooligans.
“So my boys were like ‘Are you sure? The whole city will turn against you. What you going to do?’
“So I was like ‘it can’t be done’ but I used that to my advantage to get paid.”
Deeney was asked about what it was like to play for and captain a club that changed head coach so often.
“Watford is so mad. From our [players] point of view, nothing ever changed. Because the manager doesn’t really set the training, the manager doesn’t set who will play, or how we play, it’s all done from above.
“The ownership are at the training ground every day. They sit in the top left-hand corner of the canteen, they watch, they observe and they make the decisions.
“When you go out to train, they go upstairs. Their offices overlook the training ground. They sit, they watch, they listen.”
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When asked who his relationship was with at Watford that kept him there so long, he said: “Money.
“I was there for 12 years. The first two years were a bit meh, then I got locked up. When I came home, for the next eight years every year I signed a five-year contract.
“They [Watford] understood to replace me they’d need to get a captain, a goalscorer, I had like four or five different roles.
“I used it. I understood. You think you can bring in Capoue on X? You better pay me Y. You want to bring in Deulofeu? You better pay me this. Because when these players go missing – and I don’t mean those two – but when the foreign guys are good in the nice weather, we’ve got this period between November and February. Who you coming back to? Troy Deeney, the Cleverleys, the Cathcarts, the Ben Fosters. We’re the ones that play and get you through it.
“So you better pay me accordingly because I know what it’s worth to you. I love maths, I like money. I understand.
“The club gets £250m for staying in the Premier League. I know that is broken down and why it is broken down. I know Mark Noble, Director of Football at West Ham, and I’d be like ‘Nobes, what are you paying them, what’s a fair price?’
“Let’s just say the bonus structure [at Watford] was £2m. I’m like ‘I just spoke to West Ham and their bonus structure is £4m’.
“You get your contract, and the agent configures that. Then you get the bonus on where you finish. The club might say ‘we want you to finish top 12, anything less than top 12 we’re not paying you [a bonus].
“So you think we can finish top 12, I think we can finish top 14. Remember, this has to be done before the first game of the season. I look around and I figure it out, and I think our team is here: not just me but from the conversations we’ve had in the dressing room.
“If we can get to 40 points quick, we’re safe. If we can get to 40 points by March, who knows that could be from 17th to 12th.
“They say ‘we think you can finish top 10, based on your earnings’. It’s not based on your potential. They’re looking at how much everyone is on. It’s not based on their actual abilities, especially at a club like Watford.
“The way most of us manipulated it, we got paid way too much. There was like five of us in my [salary] bracket, and then there was a hell of a drop.”
Did players draw on his knowledge of finances?
“Yeah of course. But then the club did as well. ‘We’re going to offer him this, will he take it?’"
Deeney discussed how he came close to joining Tottenham, Arsenal and Aston Villa during his time at Vicarage Road – and even played on week after week with a serious injury.
“It was the year we got relegated. We lose at Arsenal 3-2 on the last day of the season. I gave my all to that place. That year I played with a hole in my knee, and if you watch and go back and check the footage, they used to bring me off after 60 or 70 minutes and I’m using double ice bags.
“I couldn’t really train and I was meant to have another operation. I’d bent my knee back and snapped the side of my knee, and the pieces were floating around my kneecap. Every day it was bleeding to the point where I could put a hole in the front of my knee and let it bleed out.
“I used to be out with the lads and they’d ask me what was wrong with my trousers, and it was my knee leaking.
“So we lose on the last day at Arsenal and Sky call me out straight after. My emotions were all over the place. What people don’t know is when you go back in the dressing room you’ve got people crying.
“Not the players – the staff. Because that’s who it effects more. We’re still going to get paid so it’s irrelevant. But to cut back we’re going to try and sell a few players – but a tea lady who’s been there 30 years? You’ve got to go?
“So you walk back into the dressing room and you’ve got kit men nervous for their jobs, in tears because they thought we were going to do it. Thinking can I really afford to go on holiday this year.
“Go one step further and you’ve got the Director of Football crying – properly crying. I said to him ‘what you crying for, you’re meant to be the leader.’
“I want to cry but I can’t because of the way I was raised. But we’re meant to be the leaders. We didn’t have a manager, we had Hayden Mullins as a caretaker. He’s thinking does he have a job now.
“The two who should be showing we’re going to be alright are me and the Director of Football. And this guy’s crying. I’m looking at it, and there’s 30-odd people in here and it’s just me?
“So then Sky come in and the media guy doesn’t really want to ask anyone. I’ll do it. Don’t get an idiot because someone will cry on TV or say something stupid. Obviously I’m going to say something stupid because that’s the way I am.
“We do the interview. Bear in mind I’m 31 or 32 at the time, and the guy’s like ‘is that the last we’re going to see of you?’ We’ve just finished the game and you want to talk about if my career is over?
“The next day I drove to France because Covid was still around and you couldn’t really fly. I’m driving down with my missus to the south of France and my agent phones: ‘Watford want to get rid of you.’
“Bear in mind I’m driving in shorts because I can’t put trousers on because my knee’s massive. My missus looked at me and was like ‘don’t’. But I’m like my knee’s swelling and they want to get rid of me now.
“The last four months I ain’t been getting paid, because I was like ‘keep it, make sure the staff are getting paid.’ So now I’m taking it personally.
“But we settle down for a week and then when I get back they’ve spoken to Mourinho at Spurs. The season had finished in July and we were straight back in August or September. They ask me will you speak to Mourinho? Of course I will.
“They want you to come in at Spurs but they’ve got Vinicius, they’re toying with the idea, will you have a chat with them. Mourinho wants to know will I come in and be me, I’m Troy, upset the place.
“I was like, listen, I’m 31, 32, have a good time. It’s the only time I’m going to play in Europe. If Harry [Kane] is doing well I’ll be his biggest cheerleader. If he’s not I’ll step in, and daily I’ll push him.
“I’m nowhere near as good as Harry and I’d never say that, but there’s certain things I can do that he can’t do.
“They were in the Europa League and I was like ‘I’ll play every Thursday, no problem’.
“So we had the chat. Then, back in training now, and I’m on the bike because my knee’s not right, and someone from Arsenal asks if I’d go to Arsenal. But what you have to do is apologise for that [cojones] comment.
“I said I’m not apologising for that.
“It happened to me before in 2013. I scored 25 goals in the Championship and Villa want me – but I’d have to remove or cover my Blues tattoo. Bear in mind I’m on change at that point compared to what I ended up earning.
“When they offer you these numbers you’re like ‘it’s only a tattoo really.’ But my best friend who’s a Blues fan was like ‘if you do that, me and you can’t be friends.’”
One of the head coaches who lost his job during the 12 years Deeney was at Vicarage Riad was Vladimir Ivic.
“He was at Watford, they were trying to sell me, I was trying to leave. It didn’t happen.
“We played Huddersfield away, we lost 2-0 and he didn’t put me on. Went round the whole room shaking hands, saying thank you. Got to me and just walked past.
“I didn’t have to grab him, I just said ‘Oi, come here. You want to ignore me when you’re saying thank you to everybody else? I know you’re Eastern European and think you’re tough, but I’ll break you in half.’
“I was driving back to go and celebrate a friend’s wedding, I get in the car to drive home from Huddersfield and put the radio on, and Ivic has done his interview.
“He’s like ‘Yeah, we’ve got players who don’t want to be here, Troy Deeney is a perfect example of that.’
“I was like ‘woah, I just asked my manager if he had a problem and he panicked. Now he’s on TalkSport saying this.’
“Imagine he then gets sacked an hour later, and what the whole of Watford thinks. They think Troy is the problem.
“And Watford are like ‘Troy, please don’t say nothing.’ So I said ‘Listen, you’re in a situation here, so either you speak or I speak.’
“Two hours later Watford put a thing out saying Troy’s not the problem, he’s the problem.”
Deeney was one of football’s pioneers when it came to supporting Black Lives Matter.
“I forced it with Wes (Morgan). My missus did the badge. We gave £420,000 to the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation.
“I thought it was important and I still think it’s important. Do you know much I had to push the Premier League, I was like ‘we’re going to do this without you’.
“To be fair, whatever anyone says about Watford, they were on the ball. This is what I love about them. Scott Duxbury will always be my friend because of this situation. He said to me ‘I don’t know what it’s like to be abused. I’m a white middle-class man that’s earning a lot of money. Whatever you want we’re going to run with it.’
“In all of the lockdown, Watford was the only team that had it [BLM] around the edge of the pitch, not only in the stadium we had it on the dug-outs. So whenever someone was coming on, no matter where the camera was pointing, you saw it.”
Deeney played under 16 head coaches at Watford – including caretaker Hayden Mullins – and when asked for the best, picked out two.
“Dychey made me a pro. I went from £180 a week to £5k a week. I bought my Mum’s house for £50,000.
“Under Malky [Mackay], no joke I was out Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday. I never used to come into Watford on a Monday. I think I had 42 cats died, 16 Aunties. Any reason not to be in, that was me.
“Dychey, who was assistant, hated that. He saw I could be good but I wasn’t disciplined. Malky leaves to go to Cardiff, and on July 1 Dychey is announced as the new manager.
“Oh my God, that was my nemesis. You could have given it to Paddington Bear and I’d have got on better.
“Still to this day, Dychey has two days in pre-season that he calls ‘gaffer’s day’. No heart rate, no GPS, he’s just going to set what we do.
“He’d already told me he wanted to sell me and I was a problem. We go to South of France and he says ’right lads, it gaffer’s day’. We go on the beach, do some jogging – he sees a pier and says ’20 sprints’. He sees the water and says ’10 lengths – go out to that rope in the water, there and back 10 times’.
“Now we’re wet and we’re back jogging, and this goes on for an hour and 45 minutes. He’s said at the start that if you quit, you put a transfer request in.
“We get back to the car park, there’s a full circuit set up. I’ve got hold of the 10kg dumbbells and thought ‘If I just hit him with these, I can go home.’
“Because he didn’t trust me, he’s on me saying ‘you’re gonna quit, you’re gonna quit’. I’m thinking I can’t let him win but the more I lift the more I’m thinking ‘who cares what this guy thinks, I’ll just go back to Halesowen’.
“We get back on the beach and he says ‘You gonna quit Troy’ and I swear I went straight back with ‘f**k you’. Mapps [Adrian Mariappa] and Eusts [John Eustace] are pinching me, telling me to just take it.
“It’s raining by now, and he tells us to face the water. The sand is heavy, I’ve got sand in places I shouldn’t have and I’ve got this ginger bloke shouting at me. I’m 21 and I’m thinking ‘how can you talk to me like that?’
“At my school we would have battered you and you’re talking to me like I’m a f**king idiot.
“But it was about mentality, and I always say he put me in a position to be a professional. He was like ‘I don’t care how tough you are. You want to be in this, swallow your pride, get on board, follow instructions.’
“Anyway, he’s told us to turn, face the water and run in. So we all run in. And he says ‘right, we’re finished’. It was two hours and 54 minutes.
“He said ‘None of you quit, you’ll be alright.’ He made me a pro.
“Zola made me a player. I came out of jail in October and I’d missed all of pre-season. Zola takes over and we’ve got 48 players. Gianfranco saved my career.
“I played West Ham away at the old Upton Park. We lost 2-1 but I scored. He said ‘I was at that game, you can play, I can work with you. But you’ve got to be fit in 10 days’.
“I came on at Bristol City for 15 minutes, next game was Huddersfield away and we had no other fit strikers. He said to me ‘You’re not fit but I’ve got no other strikers, I’ve got no choice but to play you. Give me an hour.’
“We won 3-2 at Huddersfield, I scored two, I scored the winner in the 98th minute. I’d only scored 12 goals before that season. After that I scored 21, I scored 25, I scored 20. We get promoted. All that came from Zola sitting and working with me.
“He had this shooting drill. Back then I used to blast the ball. Smack it every time. One in 10 would hit the target, four in 10 would go close, the rest would go everywhere.
“He said to me ‘Troy, we need to work on this because you’re like Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.’
“So he had this drill and every day from September to March, we did the drill. From the six-yard line, either side, score, score, side-foot then laces. But I had to put it right in the side netting.
“Then we moved back to the penalty spot, same thing, then back to the 18-yard line, same thing. I was lacing it and he said ‘What you doing? Pass it in. You telling me you can’t pass it in from there?’
“Every day we did that, and my goals went from 12 to 21 to 25 to 20. And that was down to Gianfranco Zola.
“So the two greatest managers for me were Dychey and Zola.”
The full interview is still available to view on the FilthyFellas YouTube channel, which can be found by clicking here.
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