Deeney told Giarretta ‘I’ll put you in the ground’

Troy Deeney has claimed he grabbed Watford’s former sporting director Cristiano Giaretta round the neck at the club’s training ground and told the Italian “I’ll put you in the ground”.

The revelation came while Deeney was talking to the Undr The Cosh podcast, which was broadcast yesterday.

It seems the alleged incident occurred in late August 2021, as the story Deeney tells is when he was left out of a game on a Tuesday night shortly before he left the club.

Before going into detail, Deeney tells the podcast hosts: “This is where it all came to a head and I’ve never spoken about this publicly, so you’re going to get me in f*****g trouble but it’s the truth anyway, so f**k ‘em.”

Deeney was a key figure in Watford’s success during his time at the club between 2010 and 2021, scoring 140 goals in 419 appearances, captaining the side, and leading them through several seasons in the Premier League as well as to an FA Cup Final.

However, since leaving he has more than once shared stories from his time at Vicarage Road, most notably telling an Arsenal podcast that he threatened to injure his Watford teammates in training.

This new alleged confrontation appears to have happened between Watford’s 2-0 defeat at Brighton the Premier League on Saturday August 21, 2021 (when Deeney came on as substitute for the final 12 minutes) and a 1-0 Carabao Cup win over Crystal Palace at Vicarage Road three days later, which Deeney played no part in.

“We’re playing on the Tuesday, so the lads who’d played on the Sunday they had second-day recovery so we went out first, do the walk-through, all the set pieces and that,” Deeney told Under The Cosh.

“I’m playing, I’m starting, so did the shape, did this, did that, and then when we were at Watford we used to go out on the pitch, the director of football – never the chairman, never the owner – but the director of football and a few agents they were using, they would always come out and watch training.

“Probably just saying that to report back to the bosses.

“Anyway, I’ve got a bib on. Teams who are playing have got bibs.

“Set pieces are happening, Xisco got called over, so we carried on. He comes over to me and like do you know when you see someone and it’s like ‘I don’t like what’s about to happen here’.

“He’s like ‘Can I get your bib’.

“And I went ‘What do you mean?’ . . . ‘Just give me your bib’

“So he puts another kid in and I’m on the bench for this game.

“He’s like ‘You’re not involved’. Alright, so then I’m like processing that.

“He told me to keep my mouth shut whatever.

“So I’m like ‘What shall I do then?’ and he says ‘I’m not going to make you train with the other lads’. They were coming about half an hour after.

“So I’ve gone ‘Alright, I’ll do 10 box-to-boxes and then I’ll go in the gym, and then I’m not going to go’ because the game was on the night. It was like Tuesday morning and then the game.

“So I’m going to f**k off home and he said ‘Yeah no problem’.

“Do the box-to-boxes, as I’m walking in the director of football – Cristiano I think his name was.

“I don’t know if he was laughing at me or laughing in general. I genuinely can’t tell you that.

“But I was walking past him and he was giggling.

“I went from being mad at like 30% to 300. And I’ve walked all the way into the changing room, put my trainers on and I was like ‘Get in the gym Troy, just go in the gym, you’ll be fine’.

“And then like the old me from f*****g years ago was like ‘You really going to let him f*****g laugh in your face?’

“And I was like ‘f**k this’. Went straight back out, bear in mind all the other lads are out, Fozzy, Clevs and that are like ‘ain’t you starting like, aren’t you meant to be out there?’

“Those questions they’re asking, I’m getting more and more wound up.

“Bombed straight back out, walked straight back up to him: ‘Is there a f*****g problem?’

“And he’s like, I think he knows now, ‘Oh, there’s a problem’.

“And he’s like ‘Hey, what’s the situation?’ and I’ve gone ‘Who the f**k are you laughing at? Stop the f*****g story. You know what’s gonna happen here?’

“I said ‘You’re gonna f*****g get me paid me up or I’ll tell you what, tomorrow morning, I‘m gonna be in your office, you’re gonna be hanging out of that office by your f*****g tie.

“And he’s then like nervously laughed.

“But I thought again now you’ve laughed at me.

“So I just grabbed him round the neck and I said ‘F*****g laugh again, I dare you. I’ll f*****g put you in the ground.’

“Now I’ve realised now as I’ve grabbed him I’ve picked him up off the floor and I’ve got the whole f*****g  team who are training there and the whole team who are coming out going ‘oh s**t what’s happened?’

“Xisco grabbed me ‘Get in, get in, get in’. We’re walking back and he’s like ‘I told you, keep shut, keep shut.’

“I was like ‘f**k him, f**k you, f**k all of them’. Literally went in that day at 10 o’clock starting the game, went home at four o’clock I was getting paid up. Job done, off we go.

“It was all done, like, just little jabs, little pokes, little pokes, little pokes. Let’s see where he’ll quit, let’s see where he’ll quit.

“When Dychey did it I f*****g deserved it. It was all my fault, do you know what I mean.

“Now I’m f*****g 11 years removed, given you your more successful period in the Prem, we’re doing alright, everything’s good and I’m behaving.

“But you must think, ‘cos you’ve come in late, you must think I’m a footballer. No mate, that ain’t happening. Not on my watch.”

Deeney joined Birmingham at the end of August 2021 before moving to Forest Green two years later, where he ended his playing career.

He then had a brief six-game spell as manager of Forest Green, drawing three and losing three between December 22, 2023, and January 13, this year.

Watford FC were approached for comment on this story.