There is a theme that emerges when you speak at length with Troy Deeney. “I’ve always given myself a target,” he says. Those targets have run throughout his life but never more so than now.

“I’m getting there but, you know what, if it all went tomorrow – what am I leaving? That’s what I am trying to work out. My friend died two weeks ago, killed himself. Scotty was 30. It has stuck with me – if I was to go tomorrow, what is everyone’s lasting impression? That Troy was good for a night out or Troy actually stood for something?

"That’s where my mind is. When I’ve got your attention I will show you another side to me - and that’s when people say: ‘Oh, he’s not just this ruffian from Chelmsley Wood’."

As ever, he has my attention. This is not the first time I have interviewed Deeney, or spoken to him, or found out about his competitiveness – which stretches to an obsession for football trivia and quiz questions - and compulsive need to prove people wrong. But he appears more assured now, something he agrees with, and with a far greater sense of belonging.

Like his late friend, Deeney is also 30 and life has changed a lot in recent months. He has split from his wife, he has stopped gambling and all but given up alcohol. He has lost 14kg in weight and set himself fresh targets at Watford - the short-term one of helping the club reach the FA Cup final by beating Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday, and a longer one of earning a new contract to end his career there.