Troy Deeney: Tonight is my first game as a manager in the Football League… and I’m playing myself up front

FRIDAY night will be my first match as a manager in the Football League.

Ask me what kind of boss I’ll be and the only answer I can honestly give at this early stage is “a bald one with bags under his eyes”.

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Troy Deeney has ‘mixed emotions’ after stepping up from player-coach to replace sacked friend Dave Horseman, left, as Forest Green managerCredit: Rex

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Deeney reckons he’ll be fine if he takes the best bits of the managers he played under – because there were so many of themCredit: Getty

From my first few hours in charge of Forest Green Rovers, I know this is going to be a new level of busy.

I’ve just had the physio, the analyst and the set-piece coach on the phone to me in the last hour.

And I am still a player, too. Because we have two strikers out injured, I will be naming myself on the bench for Friday’s home game against Gillingham.

Oh and, by the way, the fact that we’ve got a specialist set-piece coach in League Two shows our owner Dale Vince has a very decent level of investment and ambition.

We may be 91st out of 92 league clubs in English football at present but we have two games in hand to get us out of the relegation places and I am determined to make an immediate impact.

When a player goes into management, he will often say he wants to take the best bits from all the bosses he played under.

Well, the plus point for me is that I spent more than a decade at Watford so I have a lot of managers to choose from!

I would like to have the organisational ability of Sean Dyche, the attacking mentality of Gianfranco Zola, the tactical nous of Marco Silva, the likeability of Quique Sanchez Flores and Javi Gracia’s ability to ‘manage up’ and deal with owners and directors.

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Those are all men I worked under at Vicarage Road and if I can take all of their best attributes, I’ll be a success in this role.

I’ve been doing my coaching badges and have a Uefa A licence.

While those courses were beneficial in some ways, they are also idealistic.

What you learn would be great if you had Manchester City’s players and Paris Saint-Germain’s budget.

In League Two, you’re more likely to find a player turning up for training having slept on his mate’s sofa because he’s been up playing Fifa computer games until 2am.

After a run of bad results, I want to remind my players that being a professional footballer is the best job in the world. I want them to rediscover that joy.

They don’t throw that sort of thing at you when you’ve got your  L plates on.

I’ve had mixed emotions since getting the job because, for the past few months, I’ve been a player-coach under the management of my friend Dave Horseman.

Dave is an excellent coach, a wonderful bloke and a good mate.

He’d had a long career coaching at youth level — at Watford among other clubs — before getting his first job in senior management at Forest Green this summer.

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Zola’s attacking instincts as Watford boss impressed DeeneyCredit: Alan Walter

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Marco Silva is rated by Deeney as a great tactical brainCredit: Reuters

But football is ruthless and this situation is business. Dave was sacked on Wednesday and, one day, either at Forest Green or elsewhere, I’ll be the one getting sacked.

Forest Green is a lovely, friendly family club in rural Gloucestershire.

The one thing everyone knows about us is that it’s a vegan club — and while it might have been funny the first time an opposition fan asked me if I wanted a steak bake or thrust a sausage roll at me, it soon wears off.

I’m not vegan but for Dale it is all about educating people about vegan lifestyles and wider environmental issues. I have huge respect for that.

But when Gillingham visit, our ground won’t be a bear pit.

It won’t be like turning up at Millwall or West Ham’s old Upton Park.

We need to find a bit more nastiness. Without wanting to turn us into 80s Wimbledon, I want us to become horrible to play against.

I’m going to keep playing until January, when Dale hopes to invest more in the squad and then I hope to gradually fade into the background as a player, rather than retiring altogether.

In League Two, you’re more likely to find a player turning up for training having slept on his mate’s sofa because he’s been up playing Fifa computer games until 2am.

Troy Deeney

Everyone has told me it will  be extremely tough to be a player-manager but, for the time being, it’s ‘needs must’.

Some people have asked why I wanted to take over a club next to bottom in League Two for my first job in management — but I have never been one to turn down a challenge.

I remember Paul Ince and Sol Campbell taking over at Macclesfield in similar circumstances and leading them to safety.

It’s also true that there aren’t enough black and ethnic minority managers in English football.

We’re still under-represented and we are less likely to get opportunities — even though I’m not sure how many black guys are applying for jobs at League Two level.

But I’ll be giving my first team talk as a manager before kick-off on Friday evening and I hope I won’t be giving too many of them too often.

I want our dressing room to become more self-sustaining, where players will give their own speeches before matches.

But after a run of bad results, I just want to remind my players that being a professional footballer is the best job in the world. I want them to rediscover that joy.

And I want to be in that dugout with a big toothy grin just like ­Jurgen Klopp’s.

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After managing Deeney at Vicarage Road, Sean Dyche has gone on to boss Burnley for 10 years and Everton since January 2023Credit: Rex