There are very few footballers who are as comfortable speaking to the media as Watford’s captain Troy Deeney.

The 27-year-old is self-assured, authoritative and strong-minded yet is also charming, refreshingly honest and often very amusing.

Deeney wasn’t media trained from a young age. Given he spent his formative footballing years at Chelmsley Town and then Walsall that isn’t a surprise.

But it is something the striker undoubtedly benefits from. He doesn’t speak in bland platitudes. Much of what Deeney says is sprinkled with humour. Some of it self-deprecating, most of it observational.

It is what makes him such a good interview. And it was little surprise that Watford’s media room was busier than normal on Thursday morning when Deeney’s spoke to the press.

He is more than just a captain. He is the face of a club that been transformed over the past three and a half years.

Deeney’s personal journey during that time has been well documented. From his prison spell in 2012 to leading the Hornets into the Premier League. It has all changed for the Golden Boys skipper.

“I am in a good place,” Deeney explains. “At the end of the day in football there will only be three outcomes; win, lose or draw.

“That’s it. I will still be happy. My kids will be happy and my wife will be happy. I don’t really get stressed by football. People in the last few weeks have actually said I am smiling more. So life is good.”

Deeney’s outlook when it comes to football is at odds with the hyperbole that comes with the Premier League.

He cares deeply and is desperate to win. But when the final whistle blows at the end of a game his job is done. Win, lose or draw.

“I’ve got two kids who won’t let me think about football for too long,” he says. “I’ve got a ten month old who is learning to walk upstairs. That is eventful.

“Obviously I am emotionally involved in the game but as soon as I leave then my work is over. You guys (journalists) don’t sit at home typing for no reason, do you? You want to be with your families.

“So I leave work and I am with my family. And I am trying to be a better family man.”

It appears a very healthy attitude and it clearly works for Deeney. But he insists it isn’t one he would tell others players to adopt.

“I would never tell another person how to feel and think,” he says. “I am in a comfortable place so I can be quite honest. Sometimes that gets me in trouble and sometimes it works for me.

“But that is just me. I like to keep work and family life separate. I can’t intertwine the two. It doesn’t work for me doing that.”

Deeney’s desire to spend as much time as possible with his family played a major part in his decision to leave his hometown of Birmingham and move closer to Watford.

“That decision has cost me a few quid as well,” he joked. “The house prices are not like they are back home. I’ve had to donate blood to get some money but everyone is here now, my wife and my family.”

He added: “People always see me in ASDA actually. I am not one of those big time guys who go to Waitrose. I try and get on the two for one offers.

“When I commuted (from Birmingham) I would stay down here half of the week. It just worked out better at that time for my family.

“In the end it was just a little bit too far. I was leaving my place at 6am and getting home at 7pm. So I was missing my son’s day. I would be getting him up and putting him to bed.

“We decided as a family it would be better to move. So we are all here now, you’ve got us all.”

On the field things have been very different for Deeney this season. He is no longer the swashbuckling number nine who has scored 20-plus goals in the past three seasons.

Quique Sanchez Flores has dropped him deeper. He is more involved in the build-up play and has three assists to his name.

But that has come at a small price, despite performing well Deeney has yet to find the net during the current campaign. “I’m too big to be a number ten,” Deeney says with a chuckle. “There is an expectation now that I will score because of the work I’ve done over the last three years.

“There is the belief that Troy should score because people are used to seeing my name on the scoresheet.

“But personally if I score eight times and the team stays up it has been a good season for me.”

Watford’s start to Premier League life has been promising. The Hornets have taken nine points from seven matches despite, as Deeney admits, the side still being a work in progress.

“It is an adjustment,” he says. “People have to remember the team has only been together two months.

“At the start of the season we were being written off because we had 16 players come in. Now people are saying we’re doing well but little things haven’t clicked. If that is the case after two months then we should be ok going forward.”

With so many new players arriving during the summer you might expect the halls of Watford’s London Colney training ground to be echoing with the sounds of players singing their initiation songs.

It was a common practice for any new arrival but Deeney admits the tradition wasn’t continued this summer. “We stopped that,” he explains. “They used to have to do the old sing-song but I think I’ve turned soft. I am just a nice guy now.

“So if it is your birthday bring some cakes in for the other lads, that’s it.

“It used to be different. There was singing and trying to make people nervous. But we literally had a new player every week until the window closed so we had to be careful not to scare people off.”

The turnover of players at Vicarage Road this summer meant several fans’ favourites were moved on.

Matej Vydra, Gabriele Angella, Daniel Tozer, Fernando Forestieri and Daniel Pudil all played varying roles in the Hornets’ promotion success but departed either permanently or on loan.

“If you didn’t understand the concept of the manager (Flores), in terms of the movement in different positions, then he couldn’t take the risk of having you in the team.

“We can’t carry people. What we would get away with in the Championship we won’t get away with in the Premier League.”

He continued: “You’ve got to work harder because there are new people coming in. If I don’t score or play well I will be out of the team soon enough.

“The fact I haven’t scored doesn’t affect me because I am playing well. If I wasn’t and I was playing badly I think I would be sitting next to the gaffer for a few weeks.”

Deeney may not have found the net this term but his impressive all-round displays have led to a few pundits in the national media putting his name forward for a call-up to the England squad.

That phone call didn’t come and Deeney wasn’t surprised.

“I haven’t done enough to warrant an England call-up just yet,” Deeney said. “Unless it (a phone call) is off my mum, then no [I haven’t had one].”