Deeney says an actor from Peaky Blinders could narrate an audiobook about his life

Troy Deeney is explaining what moved him to tears in a therapy session last week when he pauses to stop himself. “Sorry I’m getting a bit deep,” he says. “You aren’t expecting me to talk about that. You are expecting ‘Arsenal are shit’.”

I am not sure what I was expecting but the footballer who walks through the door at Watford’s training ground on a drizzly Thursday morning proves even more engaging than I had hoped; self-aware, authentic and with both a hunger, and courage, to delve deeper than most into what makes him tick as a man, father and top flight sportsman.

Deeney hates the term “role model” yet may be one of the most notable in English football — proof of what you