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Troy Deeney sacked after going winless in his 29 days as Forest Green manager

Troy Deeney has been sacked after going winless in his 29 days as Forest Green Rovers manager, the club confirmed late Thursday night.

Deeney was in his first managerial role, but ended up having to say sorry earlier in the week for publicly criticising his own players in a rant following defeat to Harrogate.

Forest Green currently sit seven points from safety at the bottom of League Two standings, but under Deeney, who replaced David Horseman on the 20th of December, failed to win any of his games.

The same day as he was sacked, the Football Association gave him a touchline ban.

They said: “Forest Green Rovers manager Troy Deeney has been banned from the touchline for four matches and fined £1,500 following the EFL League Two fixture against Swindon Town on Friday 29 December 2023.

“It was alleged that during the 85th minute of the fixture, his behaviour and language leading to his dismissal was improper and/or abusive and/or insulting and/or threatening.

“It was further alleged that following his dismissal, his language towards a match official was improper and/or abusive and/or insulting.

“The charges were found proven and the sanctions were imposed by an independent Regulatory Commission.”

The League Two outfit said upon sacking him: “Forest Green Rovers and head coach Troy Deeney have today decided to part company.

“The search for a new head coach will begin straightaway. Dan Connor will take charge of the team for Saturday’s match at Gillingham.”

Dale Vince, Chairman of Forest Green Rovers said: “These are decisions nobody likes to make, but we have acted this way to give FGR the best possible chance of improving results and climbing the league table.

“We wish Troy all the best for the future and thank him for his efforts.”

Speaking exclusively to talKSPORT, Vince revealed Deeney’s actions and subsequent suspension played a key part in the club’s decision to part ways with him.

“I read some of what Troy said after that game, I didn’t hear it,” Vince told talkSPORT the day after.

“I thought it was wrong, very wrong. He did later apologise on Sky so I think he knows it was wrong.

“It was definitely a factor, that and our results. Not our performances so much because our performances apart from that game had been good.

“I hadn’t had the chance to speak to him because I’d been busy this week and he also had a disciplinary this week with the FA. They banned him for four games for abusive and violent language towards officials.

“That was a new factor that that kind of thing [abusing officials] had happened. So really it was a bundle of things.

“We haven’t got a lot of time left to save our season and yesterday I felt it was better to make the decision sooner rather than later because I didn’t think it was going to work given those things.

“It was a less than ideal start from him in the world of being a head coach and for us as a club. I think it’s something we can all put down to experience and there’s plenty to learn from it.

“I hope that Troy learns from what’s happened in the last week or so because I think he could go on and be a great coach, I hope so.”

 
 

Earlier in the week, Forest Green Rovers condemned the racial abuse directed at their head coach Troy Deeney on Instagram.

Forest Green said at the time: “We will be seeking support from the police, as well as Instagram’s parent company, Meta, to identify and hold the individual to account for their discriminatory language directed towards Troy.

“As a club, we stand for equality and diversity and stand against all forms of discrimination. Troy has the club’s full support and we will work with the police and Meta to ensure the law is applied.”

SEE MORE: Pundits send warning to Troy Deeney as he says sorry for rant and brings in ex-Prem duo for help

Troy’s last interview with the club’s media came prior to their postponed fixture against Mansfield Town in midweek.

Interviewer: Troy, how much of it is a case of moving on from that defeat on, on Saturday against Harrogate Town?

TD: 100% percent. We have to look at that in the sample size of what it is. Over six games, that was by far the worst. Really disappointing from, and forget the technical and tactical from an effort, a desire and a commitment to go and actually leave an imprint on the game, that was the biggest takeaway. But yeah, just hope over the six game period, that was a bad one. And if we are going to do anything like we did over the last five games as a standard, then I think we’ll be more than all right. But if we’re going to continue to play how we did on Saturday, then it’s not looking too good for anyone.

Interviewer: Have you got to remind the boys of the bigger picture? Because while they didn’t pick up points in those first five, you’ll probably take one under par performance in six going forward, won’t you?

TD: Absolutely. And that’s what we did today. We had a bit of a clear the air talk, by no means any crisis, just being a little bit vulnerable and open with each other. And for me, I had to apologise to Dabo and to the group and I used this opportunity to apologise to the fan base, not for what was said, but it shouldn’t have been said outside the changing room. So that’s my learning and understanding. I’ve been in this role just short of three weeks and, yeah, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind and sometimes I forget I have a bigger responsibility to look after the group. So lesson learned. Won’t happen again. But I still stand by. I think I said, I think we need to be better, I think we need to do more. And we’ve got really good players with really good ability here. It really hurts my soul, like, genuinely hurts me that people don’t believe in themselves as much as I believe in them. And I’d hate for us to be in a situation if it went wrong and some of these players started dropping out of the Football League because they can’t get any clubs anywhere else, that you sit there with regret. Now I’m 35, soon to be 36, had a half decent career, but I could look back in the mirror and go, oh, gave everything every day, tried to be better. And there’s games where people could say I was rubbish. I’ll be shocked, all of that stuff. There’s not a game anyone could look and go, he didn’t try. That’s the bit I’m trying to get when it looks to the onlooker that you’re not trying, you have to question yourself there and then obviously the stats back it up for my own case. So, yeah, not ideal, but we’ve moved on. And I’ve spoke to Dabo personally and let him know my actions weren’t right and apologised and we’ve had a man to man conversation and then, yeah, we move on now. No hard feelings for my part, anyway, so we move on.

Interviewer: But you talk about Saturday maybe being about sort of desire and belief. So how much of it is a case of when you’re looking at clips, you go, it’s here for you. It is here for you. It’s just these little basic things.

TD: Well, of course it is. So it’s following the instruction and this is the bit that gets really annoying. So, as we spoke afterwards, 4-4-2 diamond. All the spaces on the outside stop playing into the middle. And all our mistakes come from playing into the middle. But I don’t want to talk about the technical and the tactical because that’s too easy. It’s the basics I’m talking about when someone. If I kick the ball past you and run past you and you jog, that’s nothing to do with tactics, that’s nothing to do with management. I don’t feel. I feel that’s a you thing, that’s a personal pride thing. And I assume you play five side football, right. If someone on your team wasn’t running or pulling their part and you were losing, you’d ask questions, and that’s fundamentally what we’re doing here. And it’s a worry that one of the questions you’re asking is about desire and will to run, but they’ve responded really well. It’s by no means negative. It was just something we had to address. Water under the bridge. We crack on over a six game period, that one will be the anomaly and we’ll move forward. And obviously we’re still added to the squad. So you’d like to think if we could recreate those first five games with the quality that we’re added to the squad, we’ll keep winning games, we’ll start winning games.

Interviewer: we lose Alex Gorrin tomorrow night, Ryan Innis will be available. How do you view the task at hand against Mansfield? You’ve already touched on the fact it’ll be a physical one.

TD: Yeah, it’ll be physical. It’ll be perfect for me, really. It’s perfect. A team that’s flying high, loads of confidence, a really experienced manager, some experienced players, but one that’s drilled and knows what they’re doing and if you’re not up for the physical challenge against these you get rolled over by the way they can play, can play for good football. They’re not just a launcher team by any stretch of the imagination but if we are not up for the task physically and emotionally especially with that crowd, we’ll get found out and weirdly it’s a good time to get found out because the transfer windows open we can still try and assess it but also we know moving forward now who can handle it. If you can’t handle the pressure now on 20 games left as opposed to when it gets to like five, six, seven, even eight games when you’re right really to get nine points out of twelve then you know they can’t handle the pressure then and yeah it’s a great game for me it’d be a game that I’m hoping the boys are ready for the challenge to bounce back on close.

This is how Twitter users reacted with Troy Deeney sacked after going winless in his 29 days as Forest Green manager…

@OfficialBigDave: You’ve become the league 2 version of Watford

@exiledseagull: Not surprising. The club needs to appoint someone with experience to keep them in the EFL. If not, and they fancy a really REALLY REALLY left field appointment, I’ll toss my hat into the ring. I’m vegan too. No brainer really 😉

@Frank_Wightman: Calling out his players in the media was the beginning of the end

@toffee_tower: Turned into an embarrassing club

@PFurls:
2 things in the light of Troy Deeney’s sacking at FGR:
1) No head coach at FGR’s had a full transfer window since Rob Edwards in Jan 2022 (made 1 loan signing!)
2) Dan Connor will become the 6th person this season to take charge of a Gloucestershire team in the EFL this season.

@Gloucester_City: Irrespective of anything else his post match interview meant his position was untenable. Getting a touchline ban probably didn’t help his requirements to do his job properly. Where now?

@StephenPaul91: Fucking terrible appointment in the first place. The bloke is quite clearly a gobshite and doesn’t know his arse from his elbow – yet you gave him the manager’s job 😂🤧

@POF_Reviews: But John Terry and Jermain Defoe are still incoming right?

@veganjam: Troy Deeney sacked after just 29 days at FGR. The perfect audition for a trip back to the top job at Watford. Would probably be a record tenure for them…

@CBMullins83: Was always a cocky git at Blues, dont think it was any coincidence that our form nose dived as soon as he came through the door! He wont make it as a coach/manager not a chance!

@XtraLeicester: Can’t put players down publicly and say whatever he wants like he owns the club. Time and a place for things like that. Inexperience really showed

@FootballGilly: All the good work Dale Vince did bringing this side to the EFL has been undone by the calamity that has unfolded since Edwards left. Ian Burchnall didn’t have the CV to keep them in League One Duncan Ferguson was a unqualified big name. Troy Deeney was the same.

@neilcurtis1969: Looked like it was coming, cant manage like that

@realdalegreenin: I guess that’s what happens when you embarrass/call out your players in public 🤷🏼‍♂️

@smileycov: Brian Clough sacked by Leeds after 44 days, that’s not being beat. Troy Deeney…hold my beer #standwithdabo #FGR #29days

@Mr_Aaron_23: Forget about at lettuce, Troy Deeney lasted less time than a bottle of milk

@RobertSims84: Wow you really deserve to get relegated, you can’t give a manager a month b4 sacking him! You have become a joke of a club & your chairman dale vince is the biggest joke of them all! He hasn’t got a clue & sadly you are getting what you deserve, i feel sorry for the loyal fans

@louiseLunaPosh: Time and time again an ex footballer who turns manager doesn’t work out – shocker

@DarrenA11210609: Proper league 2 manager this time. Stop messing about before it’s too late 👊👊

@jcw_72: Incredible he got the job in the first place , be amazed if he gets another in the football league 😬

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