Troy Deeney hits back at Forest Green sacking after six games with the 35-year-old claiming ‘hard words needed to be spoken’… as he vows to ‘learn lessons’ for management return

Troy Deeney has insisted ‘tough words had to be spoken’ at Forest Green Rovers as he defended his six-match spell in charge of the League Two strugglers.

Deeney was sacked by Forest Green owner Dale Vince on Thursday, ending the former Watford striker’s first foray into management.

His gloom came hours after Vince criticized Deeney’s tough approach with his squad, telling Mail Sport in an exclusive interview that he had made ‘a mistake’.

Deeney’s latest rant came after a 2-0 defeat to Harrogate Town last week, where he claimed there were ‘too many babies’ in his squad and he had to ‘take out the sledgehammers’ to improve performances.

In addition, Deeney was banned for four matches after being sent off in a 2–1 defeat to Swindon during which he used ‘offensive language’ towards referee Scott Simpson.

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Deeney, writing The sundefended his managerial rule, claiming his tough love approach was necessary and blamed Forest Green’s struggles for their high staff turnover.

“When you take over a club in the middle of a season and it’s at the bottom of the league, you can’t take your time and take it easy,” Deeney wrote.

“Tough words had to be spoken and I felt like we were about to turn a corner with results.

‘Am I the problem? Or is it the club about to appoint its ninth manager in less than three years?

‘I was expected to turn around the fortunes of a failing club in less than a month. ‘I hadn’t even received my first paycheck as a manager when they told me they were letting me go.’

Deeney insisted his harsh words ‘raised’ standards within the squad, but acknowledged that publicly airing his criticism of players was a ‘mistake’.

The 35-year-old said he had learned a lesson and wants to return to management in the future.

Deeney failed to lead the club to a win in his six games in charge, leaving the club bottom of League Two and seven points from safety.

Forest Green owner Vince had admitted performances had improved under Deeney, despite the club staring at the prospect of back-to-back relegations.

Vince told Mail Sport that Deeney’s harsh words had made him realize ‘this wasn’t going to work’.

They said, among other things, that his players were not good enough and needed to be replaced – before attacking ex-Coventry man Fankaty Dabo, who he said was ‘a step away from the Premier League, now he’s not good enough or the National League’.

‘He is open-hearted and stubborn, there is not much wrong with that. I think when he looks back on it, he’ll agree with me. I think he let himself and the club down with his sending-off and what he said about our players,” Vince said.

‘I was a bit shocked that such things could be said publicly about our players and about our club. It was just careless – it was poor judgment. He is new to the coaching game. When we appointed him, we recognized that this was earlier than expected. I think it was too early for Troy and it didn’t work out on both sides.

‘The results were a different story. Our actual performance this season under Troy was better than anything else this season in terms of numbers and statistics. It was a culmination of things.

‘I don’t have an ax to grind. I just decided that this wasn’t going to work and that it was better to make the decision sooner. I wish him the best for the future and really have nothing against him. We tried, but it didn’t work and it wouldn’t work.’

Forest Green started the season by appointing Hannah Dingley as the first female manager to manage a men’s club in England before David Horseman replaced her two weeks later.

Horseman himself left the club five months later after a string of poor results, leading to Deeney’s appointment on 20 December.

Forest Green start life without Deeney by traveling to the play-offs to chase Gillingham on Saturday.