Bigmouth Strikes Again!!!

Troy Deeney: ‘Too many babies’ at Forest Green, first-half more boring than Antiques Roadshow
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By Ali Rampling
Jan 13, 2024

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Troy Deeney said there are “too many babies from top to bottom” at Forest Green Rovers after taking aim at his team following Saturday’s loss to Harrogate Town.

The 35-year-old former Watford striker described the goalless first-half as so “boring” he would have “rather watched frigging Antiques Roadshow” in a frank, 12-minute post-match assessment.

Forest Green were beaten 2-0 by Harrogate, Deeney’s third loss in six matches since he was appointed head coach in December.

“The amount of nonsense you have to deal with at this place, from players by the way, is embarrassing,” Deeney told BBC Radio Gloucestershire. “I know exactly what I’m going to need to do.

“I was trying to be nice and cosy my way into it. But what is going to have to happen is the sledgehammers are going to have to come out and there are going to be a lot of people that won’t like it, but I do not really care.

“My job is to try and save this football club in the short term, but also to put it in a better place moving forward and at the moment there are too many babies and that is not just young players, there are too many babies from top to bottom.”

Asked to expand on the “nonsense”, Deeney said 27-year-old midfielder Reece Brown had not been included in the match day squad due to alleged punctuality issues.

“He is my senior midfielder, but he can’t turn up for work on time,” Deeney continued. “If you were an employer and you had someone turn up late twice in two days, would you put them in your squad? Would you trust him to get you through a game?”

The Forest Green head coach singled out 28-year-old right-back Fankaty Dabo, explaining he has already informed the player in front of the team that on form he would “not get a game in the National League” and will be dropped for Tuesday’s fixture against Mansfield Town.

“Dabo was poor and awful again and I have just told him that he will not be playing on Tuesday,” he said. “He has not been good enough for eight or nine weeks, why do you think he was dropped at the start.

“I have just told him in front of everyone, six months ago that kid had a kick to go to the Premier League, now he would not get a game in the National League, so is that me or him?

“He’s faster than everybody, but he gets run every game, he never makes a tackle and every time the ball comes to him, he looks like he kicks it with his shin pads.”

Rovers remain bottom of League Two and seven points from safety.

“First half was boring, I’d rather watch frigging Antiques Roadshow than that,” Deeney said. “No offence to anyone that likes Antiques Roadshow.”

Deeney holds a UEFA A coaching license and joined the club this summer in a player-coach capacity following his departure from Birmingham City. His appointment marked his first full-time managerial position. He is without a win from his first six matches in charge, taking three points.

 

Is this the beginning of the endgame?

Tsk. Slagging off Antiques Roadshow.

 

What next ? Bargain Hunt ?

 

Have they sacked him yet? Be very surprised if he lasts beyond the next week or so.

 

Weren’t most of our fans saying this about all of our players that left in the summer and up til recently Louza and Bachmann?

Oh yeah, it’s Deeney. He should probably start any and all comments with ‘trigger warning for Watford fans’.

 

He is a coach, not a manager.

Modern day players are too fragile and weak to respond to rollockings and public slatings like that, the days of players reacting positively to stuff like that disappeared 20 years ago.

 

Belittling people publicly always gets results. Top man management.

 

I'm waiting for him to say Forest Green players have no cajones.

 

There is zero evidence Deeney is or will be a good head coach in terms of football tactics. So you're relying upon him to be a good head coach in terms of man management and motivation. This sure is an interesting way to do it.

I know he's a god to many at Watford, and his goal-scoring was truly incredibly for much of his time with us. But we got relegated and he was on TV moments later practically asking for a transfer. He then undermined his head coach and the club in the media. We heard lots about bad character and bad behaviour amongst the squad in the couple years before he left while he was captain. We got promoted when he wasn't playing.

Will be interesting to watch where this goes.

 

He’s a club legend, up there as one of the best players we’ve ever had and given his one of the best memories we’ll ever have as Watford Fans.

He’s also a bit thick, not a particularly nice person and has a massively over inflated ego and associated chip on his shoulder, which has now translated into him being an absolute car crash of a manager.

The best managers take the heat off their players, but his ego doesn’t allow him to do that, it’s everyone else’s fault but him, in his rant he even says exactly that about one of his players, is it him or me? Unless he has some sort of epiphany, he’ll never make it as a coach or a manager and should just stick to a media career where he can dredge up the odd shocking sound bite to keep him relevant.

 

This has got to be Netflix's next 'behind the scenes'

 

Sap.

 

The funny thing is, as a player who dragged himself up from that level and for a time at least, absolutely maximized the natural ability he had through hard work and desire, he really could be somebody to inspire a group of players.

Unfortunately, I think he lost sight of this quite some time ago.

 

Yes his bark is worse than his bite. He used to be acer at his peak.

 

Good management or not it made me chuckle. Speaking about the players like he’s a fan rather than their boss.

 

Got to say the line about kicking it with his shins made me chuckle

 

It's actually such a wrong management decision, it might actually work. Depends if he's calling them names in training to their faces or telling them he's so angry because he loves them.

I bet they win their next game.

 

Having just read that I’m rooting for Troy now. He’s trying everything. Presume he’s crossing everything to get Mattie Pollock on loan.

 

I’m sure players will be queuing up to join FGR this window just to experience Troy’s special kind of “cruel to be kind” motivational techniques.

 

Perhaps the players are unwell? Maybe they're sycamore at Forest Green.

 

Wouldn't be poplar. Maple they can't cedar what Troy is trying.

 

"Sorry I couldn't play, I was a bit sorbus".

 

Shall I join in with the other pundits? No. I can't be ashed.

 

Throwing a genus of trees into the common name puns? That might start a row and it would be your own fault.

 

Where does it hurt?
Chest,nuts

 

Tut started it.

 

He sowed the seed, yes.

 

Fir f***'s sake, can't we just stick with a proper cheese-based analysis. Far more poplar on this forum. Yew can't beat it.

 

He comes across quite well in the longer article I thought.