Deeney journeys from cell to salvation
Watford striker Troy Deeney’s “light bulb” moment came when the cell door slammed and he contemplated a 10-month jail term for aggravated assault five years ago.
The 28-year-old, locked up for beating a student outside a pub, entered prison with words from his mother ringing in his ears: That it was at such times she wished he had never been born.
But Deeney rebuilt his life and his career. Two years after he was released having served three months, he was appointed Watford captain, a role he retains to this day.
His form for the Hornets has led some pundits to suggest Deeney should be rewarded with an England call-up.
“The light bulb moment for me came when the door closed and my world stopped,” said Deeney, whose surrogate father passed away just before the attack that sent him to prison.
“It was survival mode after that,” he added. “People will go ‘right, yeah, survival mode’ and say that’s a bit drastic, but it was. All my feelings and emotions cut off as I said to myself, ‘You’ve got to get through this next few months’.
“I didn’t have enough time to sulk or cry and do all the things you would think are natural reactions.
“If my mum died now I’d be a mess. I’d be crying all over the place and drinking loads of beer like everyone else would. I didn’t have that luxury.”
Deeney, who has followed up his 13 Premier League goals last season with seven so far this term, said incarceration transformed him.
“I always knew I would come out better but it was about how I went about doing it,” said Deeney.
“Part of the course was alcohol dependency which was compulsory to be eligible for a tag (to wear on early release).
“I got into speaking — I used to be closed, have a lot of anger in me — at the group sessions. I still speak to a psychologist.
“People feel sorry for themselves and think the world owes them something and then you realize it’s not that bad.”
Deeney, now sworn off booze, was particularly close to the man he called his dad, Paul Anthony Burke, after his biological father left home early on. He has a tattoo of Burke’s dates of birth and death.
It was to Burke that Deeney’s thoughts turned when Watford was promoted to the Premier League in 2015.
“I just cried,” recalled Deeney. “I remember I found out on the bus that we got promoted as other results went our way — everyone went crazy.
“I always wanted to be a footballer and always liked the idea of playing in the Premier League. I had played in League One (the third tier) with Walsall, then the Championship (second tier).
“My dad and granddad would be so proud. I rang my wife (Stacey and mother of their two kids, Myles and Amelia) and said I’m going there to his graveside.
“However, at six in the evening it was shut so I went out with the team.
“Then the next morning I went with a thermos of tea to the cemetery and had a cup of tea and sat there talking to his gravestone.”
Deeney, who set up his own foundation to help seriously ill children and distributes soccer kits to youngsters on the tough estate where he once lived in Birmingham, said he has used his prison experience to advise young offenders.
“I would probably stay away from talking in prisons because I had a career going in and I had one going out,” said Deeney, who invited two prison guards to the 2014 Championshipplayoff final at We mb ley to thank them for encouraging him to keep up his gym work.
“I can’t resonate with a lot of people there as there are a lot who have lived on that same road (crime) and once they are out they go back to doing the same thing.
“Driving out there in a Range Rover probably doesn’t sit well with them,” added Deeney, who nevertheless stays in touch with two of the inmates he considers friends.