An emotional Troy Deeney had a lot to say after Watford’s comeback offer fell short at Arsenal and the Hornets were relegated from the Premier League after five seasons.
The Hornets would have finally needed a win to stay up, as Aston Villa tied West Ham, and going down 3-0 was in high demand against the Gunners in a 3-2 loss at Emirates Stadium on Sunday’s Championship.
[ RECAP: Arsenal 3-2 Watford ]
Deeney had a number of problems with the club’s performance on the season, from defense to the boardroom to the firing of three coaches, including Nigel Pearson, with two games to play.
He also questioned whether he would ever play in the Premier League again, although perhaps his cynical comments about the club’s hierarchy could take him somewhere else (that’s quite ironic; the club’s legend would have to want to leave).
Deeney scored 10 times this Premier League season after missing nine games (no wins) earlier this season. He has 133 goals and 59 assists in 398 appearances for the Hornets.
Some ‘highlights’ from his post-match, transcribed by the BBC:
On poor defense and concerns about club employees
“It is not about today’s game, it is a year of not being good enough. Today we may be frustrated, but if we cannot defend ourselves as a team, he will lose more games than he wins. But it’s worse for the fans and those who work at the club, they are the ones who could lose their jobs and it’s not fair to them. “
By firing three managers in one season
“The club from top to bottom will need to do an audit. Because laying off three managers in one season means that we have not done well. Something went wrong, are they the managers, is it that the players are owners? We need to audit that and review everything to see what went wrong. “
About his future and an upcoming knee injury
“I am 32 years old, I have a knee operation next week because I have been playing injured for the last month. I honestly don’t know if this will be my last game at Watford or the Premier League. I don’t know, it’s too early to talk about it and it’s not about me, but about the people who work at the club and will be affected. I will take a few days away, evaluate and take pain online, no doubt.
In his career so far and the Coronavirus pandemic
“But you know, if I finally stop playing for Watford from now on, I’ve had a great streak, next week or the next week they’ll be 10 years at this club.” That doesn’t happen often, I think the whole country has had enough COVID and I’m right. Basically I’m going to go fix my knee and spend time with my family and at the end of the day they are the only people whose opinions matter to me. If someone wants to pity me online, please do so. I’m a big boy with big shoulders and I’ve had some real-world issues, so getting a stick online doesn’t bother me. “
🗣 “Finally no, since it failed”
Troy Deeney on whether Watford was right to fire 3 managers pic.twitter.com/x1ShPesl2j
– Football Daily (@footballdaily) July 26, 2020
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