Former Watford star Troy Deeney has officially been named head coach of Forest Green Rovers. The decision was made after club brass fired their previous manager, David Horseman. The striker previously joined the League Two side back in August as a player/coach.

Although he has featured on the pitch for most of the team’s matches since arriving, Deeney also regularly leads training on Mondays. The now 35-year-old forward has scored four goals in 18 total appearances for Rovers during the current campaign. Three of these strikes came in a fixture against Notts County in September.

Deeney ready to take over at Forest Green Rovers

Deeney will now lead a club for the first time in his career. The striker proclaimed that he is ready for the challenge upon receiving the job. “I am very pleased and honored to be appointed as the new head coach,” stated Deeney. “I know the fans will have many questions, which will be answered as soon as possible. We will not hide from the task at hand and will be open and honest along the way.”

“One thing I can assure everyone is that we will work our very hardest to bring this wonderful club back to success. This is an exciting new role with many challenges that I’ll embrace. and there’s a lot of work for us to do, which has already started. I look forward to welcoming fans to our home game this Friday against Gillingham.”

Rovers previously earned promotion to League One ahead of the 2022/23 campaign. It was their first-ever season in the third-tiered division. Nevertheless, things did not go as planned. The club quickly suffered relegation back to League Two.

Rovers have been widely praised for accomplishments off the pitch

While many assumed that Rovers would be fighting for promotion once again this season, the club has continued to struggle. Rovers currently sits 23rd in the 24-team league at the moment. Deeney’s group has managed to win just four of their 20 league matches in the 2023/24 campaign.

The Southwestern English club was originally founded in 1889. Although the team has never reached as high as the EFL Championship, Rovers have made waves in recent years for accomplishments off of the pitch. They became the first team in the world to be certified carbon neutral in 2018. As a result, FIFA named Rovers the “greenest soccer club in the world.”

Three years later, the club announced a unique partnership with a YouTube channel called Fully Charged. The channel currently has over 1 million subscribers and typically highlights electric vehicles. The collaboration resulted in the Rovers naming their stadium after the channel.

While the club’s work off of the pitch is certainly commendable, they will surely want to do everything they can on the pitch to avoid relegation at season’s end. Deeney will have the tough task of lifting Rovers out of the drop zone in the coming months. The club is currently five points from safety, but they do have two games in hand compared to the team above them. Rovers will next host Gillingham on Friday, Dec. 22.

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