Forest Green Rovers have sacked their second manager this season.
Former Watford player Troy Deeney has been sacked as manager of Forest Green after just six games as manager but why?
It might be because of his extraordinary interview with BBC Radio Gloucestershire in which he essentially called out the players that have failed under various managers and could suffer back-to-back relegations.
So, what’s happening at Forest Green Rovers? Well, here is the tale of the tape.
Following relegation from League One last season the club appointed former Watford academy coach David Horseman, he replaced Duncan Ferguson who lasted only 6 Months in the job winning only once in charge.
Ferguson himself was a replacement for Ian Burchnall who appointed in may of 2022 before being sacked in January of 2023.
Since Mark Cooper left the club in 2021, they’ve had five managers including Rob Edwards who got them promoted to League One, Edwards left the club for Watford, he’s now managing in the Premier League at Luton Town following their dramatic promotion which Edwards was in charge of.
Forest Green’s second manager this season was Deeney and after losing every game in charge, Deeney has joined as a player coach toward the start of the season scoring 4 gaols in 16 games for the club.
Deeney apologised after scathing criticism of his own players in a post-match chat after the defeat to Harrogate. If you want to hear the full eleven minutes post-match interview BBC Radio Gloucestershire’s Billy Hunt had with Troy Deeney, I’ll link it below, it is a fascinating listen and props to Billy for an incredible interview.
So Forest Green are bottom of the football league facing relegation back to the National League, however there are more important questions to be asked. Does owner Dale Vince stay with the club? Most likely Dale doesn’t seem that sort of owner to leave a club in a situation like this, however the new stadium might be put on ice if the club are relegated.
Whoever takes over it’s clear that the squad need strengthening with players that are clearly not good enough to play at the level the club finds itself at, but interestingly enough this poor for really start in 2022 with Rob Edwards because Edwards may have got the club promoted but the players did try to throw away the league title, the club had only lost two matches from the start of that season all the way to February 12th 2022 with a 1-1 draw with Sutton United, they were 19 games unbeaten at that time and eleven points clear at the top of league two.
The poor form starts here only winning 4 matches of their next sixteen games and winning the league on goal difference following a final day draw with Mansfield Town. Since then the club won six matches in League One and at the time of recording have only won four matches in League Two.
Forest Green Rovers have sacked their second manager of the season, Troy Deeny won none of his six games in charge after he replaced for Watford Academy boss David Horseman as manager of Forest Green Rovers.
The Club have won fourteen matches in the last two and a half years under managers, Rob Edwards, Ian Burchnall, Duncan Ferguson, David Horseman and now Troy Deeny
It remains to be seen if the club can achieve survival but with a new stadium on the way this is certainly a dent in the plans of owner Dale Vince.