adminLONDON. – Watford striker Troy Deeney’s “light bulb” moment came when the cell door slammed and he contemplated a 10-month jail term for affray five years ago.The 28-year-old, locked up for assaulting a student outside a pub, entered prison with words from his mother ringing in his ears – that it was at times like that she wished he had not been born. But Deeney rebuilt his life and his soccer career and two years after he was released having served three months, he was appointed Watford captain, a role he retains to this day.
“The light bulb moment for me came when the door closed and my real world had stopped,” Deeney, who lost his father just before the attack which sent him to prison, said.
“It was survival mode after that. People will go ‘right yeah survival mode’ and say that’s a bit drastic but it was that. All my feelings and emotions cut off as I said to myself ‘you’ve got to get through this in the next few months’.
“I didn’t have enough time to sulk or cry and do all the things you would think are natural reactions.
Deeney said incarceration transformed him for the better.
“I always knew I would come out better but it was about how I went about doing it,” said Deeney. – AFP.
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu