Troy Deeney opens up on how alcohol could have ended his playing career

25 April 2021, 16:39 | Updated: 25 April 2021, 21:33

The Watford captain told Ruth Davidson how his negative relationship with alcohol landed him in jail, and subsequently convinced him to turn his life around.

Ruth Davidson was speaking to Watford captain Troy Deeney after he led his side to promotion back into the Premier League.

In an intense conversation, Ruth asked Mr Deeney about his relationship with alcohol, after the footballer admitted that drinking took a heavy toll on his life.

She wondered "when the scout came to see you and said 'look, come and have a trial with us' there was a really high chance that you wouldn't have gone because at that time you were drinking too much?"

The Watford captain told Ruth that he before he was scouted, his drinking was nowhere near as bad as it would get.

"I was a builder by trade so it was so part of the culture," he said.

He opened up to Ruth about his decent into alcoholism: "The drinking actually came when my dad died," he revealed, noting that losing his father, along other relatives in such a short space of time drove him to the bottle.

"I just [wasn't] able to emotionally handle my responsibilities or grieve."

He spoke of a particular low point, where he would drink mixed drinks from a can on his way to Watford training sessions, which left Ruth speechless.

"Fortunately someone put a life block in the way and that came in the way of jail," he revealed.

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