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Troy Deeney is a footballer and football coach who has played for teams including Chelmsley Town, Watford, and Birmingham City.
Having previously captained both Watford and Birmingham City in the Premier League, Troy has made over 500 appearances and scored more than 160 goals throughout his career. He still remains Watford’s all-time leading Premier League goal scorer.
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FOOTBALL
Troy Deeney’s first taste of professional football came when he was 15 years old and he was invited by the Aston Villa academy to take part in their summer trail. This trail was unsuccessful and he begun training as a bricklayer, before joining Chelmsley Town, making his debut in 2004. After holding down a regular place in the team, he was named their Player of the Year for the 2005-06 season.
He then signed to Walsall and instantly sent out on loan to Halesowen Town for the remainder of the season. His start at the team wasn’t fruitful when it comes to goalscoring, but the introduction of a new manager seemed to spark something in him, and he went on to score nine goals in Chris Hutching’s first 12 games in charge. He signed a new two-year deal with the club and finished the 2009-10 season as their top scorer and with their Player of the Year award.
But it was in 2010 when his playing career would really break out, when he signed for Watford – a team he would make 389 appearances for and score 131 goals. Whilst playing for Watford, he was awarded Goal of the Season in 2012, Player of the Season 2013-14, Players’ Player of the Year 2014, and became the first person in the club’s history to score 20 or more goals in three consecutive seasons. He left Watford in 2021 to join Birmingham City where he stayed for two years before signing to Forest Green Rovers as a player-coach. He was made permanent coach in December 2023, but only stayed until the middle of January 2024.
MEDIA
Troy is fast becoming a regular pundit across Sky Sports, and as worked on The Football League Show (2013-15), Gillette Soccer Saturday (2009-24), Match of the Day FA Cup (2022), Match of the Day (2015-20), Football Focus (2012-19), Monday Night Football (2018), and Soccer AM (2016-17).
He has been a regular guest on TalkSport’s Monday morning breakfast show alongside Ally McCoist and Laura Woods, and in 2021 he launched the Deeney Talks podcast. Troy has made appearances on podcasts including WD18, Grounded With Louis Theroux, The Super 6 Podcast, The Ben Foster Podcast, and The Football Fill-In.
In 2022, Troy presented the documentary Troy Deeney: Where’s My History? for Channel 4, wanting to campaign to make Black, Asian, and other Ethnic histories and experiences part of the UK school curriculum. He has also made guest appearances on A League of Their Own (2021), A Question of Sport (2019-23), and Celebrity Mastermind (2023).
He began writing a column for The Sun’s sports section in October 2020. In 2021 he published his book Troy Deeney: Redemption: My Story, which offers readers an insight into his background and remarkable story of resilience, covering what it was like growing up on Europe’s largest council estate, his father being a drug dealer, and his own stint in prison.