14 January 2024 , 13:09
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Forest Green Rovers boss Troy Deeney has apologised to defender Fankaty Dabo after his astonishing post-match rant following Saturday's defeat by Harrogate Town.
The former Watford striker has only had six games at the helm of the club and remains winless, with three draws and three losses to show for his efforts so far. Deeney appears to have already grown tired of some of his players if his latest post-match remarks are anything to go by, but he has since apologised to Fankaty Dabo specifically.
After Saturday's 2-0 home loss, Deeney singled out the 28-year-old right-back and publicly claimed Dabo would not be selected for Forest Green's next fixture. “Dabo was poor and awful again and I have just told him that he will not be playing on Tuesday,” the ex-Birmingham ace told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.
"He has not been good enough for eight or nine weeks, why do you think he was dropped at the start. I have just told him in front of everyone, six months ago that kid had a kick to go to the Premier League, now he would not get a game in the National League, so is that me or him?
"He’s faster than everybody, but he gets run every game, he never makes a tackle and every time the ball comes to him, he looks like he kicks it with his shin pads."
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The comments quickly did the rounds on social media, with just about every fan and pundit alike stunned by Deeney's public attack. The 35-year-old has since revealed he has spoken to Dabo, apologised and conceded that emotions got the better of him while on punditry duty for Watford's clash with Queens Park Rangers on Sunday.
Dabo was not the only one in Deeney's firing line. The manager issued a scathing assessment of the entire club, adding: “The amount of nonsense you have to deal with at this place, from players by the way, is embarrassing, I know exactly what I’m going to need to do.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Did Deeney go too far with his post-match comments? Comment below
Troy Deeney is now player-coach at Forest Green Rovers (FOREST GREEN ROVERS)"I was trying to be nice and cosy my way into it. But what is going to have to happen is the sledgehammers are going to have to come out and there are going to be a lot of people that won’t like it, but I do not really care.
"My job is to try and save this football club in the short term, but also to put it in a better place moving forward and at the moment there are too many babies and that is not just young players, there are too many babies from top to bottom."
Amid all the ranting, perhaps Deeney's most standout soundbite was claiming that an episode of Antiques Roadshow would have been more entertaining than the performance put on by his players in the first half against Harrogate.