大象传媒

Troy says three people made him who he is today: his hardworking mum, Emma Deeney, his dad, Paul Anthony Burke, and his biological father, Colin Hemmings. When his mum was expecting Troy, she found out that Hemmings had cheated on her and ended the relationship. A few months later she met Paul, who Troy describes as a “rogue” and “a chancer”. Often in brushes with the police, Troy admits: “He did some bad things, but he took me on when my biological father didn't want me.”

2. He had a humble background

Until he was 23, Troy lived in Chelmsley Wood, an area eight miles east of Birmingham city centre. “Some people would call it rough or deprived, but for me it was a good upbringing. Everybody had very little, and we all shared what we had.” To keep things ticking over Troy’s mum worked three jobs at a time. “We weren't poor in the sense we couldn't get shoes,” says Troy, “but we didn't have much – we had a TV with a £1 slot on the side.”

3. His dad was a “contradiction at the heart of his life”

Troy speaks movingly about the relationship with his dad as being a ”contradiction at the heart of his life”. For example, he credits his dad for looking after him, teaching him how to defend himself and telling him right from wrong, as well as being “the reason that me, my brother and my sister were good at sports”.

“He saw sports as a way out for us, so he pushed us ridiculously hard.”

But Troy’s dad had a temper. After witnessing his dad hitting someone at a Sunday League football game, Troy wondered, “How do you go from absolute anger and rage to chilled, as if nothing has happened – bang – in an instant?”

That switch was flipped when Troy’s mum ended the relationship with his dad. It was the first time his dad had directed anger at the family. He reacted violently towards Troy and his mum, and the police had to be called. “By this point, it felt as if we were hostages,” recalls Troy.

When he was kicked out of school for one too many detentions, Troy took a job as a bricklayer. He continued playing football, joining Chelmsley Town under-16s and then playing in the main team.

“I didn't think it was going to lead to anything. I was a bricklayer by then, and I thought that would be my future. I never had ambition because I'd never seen ambition.”

However, football did lead somewhere, and Troy was picked up by Walsall, with a spell on loan for Halesowen.

“I couldn't afford to go there and play for nothing. I’d just bought some boots for £85 out of my nan's catalogue, and it was £1.36 a week to pay it back. So, that was my first target. If I scored, I got the brown envelope. That was all that mattered.”

Troy’s hunger was rewarded with a contract, and he made the transition into a career footballer. After four years at Walsall, Troy was signed by Watford where he was to stay for the next 10 years.

5. He lost a gladiator and then his freedom

Troy’s lifestyle didn’t change overnight, except that he had more money to spend on drink on rowdy nights out. Just as Watford were getting Troy to shape up and start to fulfil the potential they had seen in him, Troy’s world was turned upside down with the news that his dad had advanced throat cancer. It proved to be fatal.

“In my mind, he was still this gladiator and he went from that to a frail old man in weeks. He was 47 years old… I'm not quite over it. I don't think I ever will be.”

In between his dad’s diagnosis and his death, Troy, his brother Ellis and their friends got embroiled in a fight on Broad Street in Birmingham’s city centre. “I just lost my head,” says Troy, already distressed by the condition of his father. Of the assault he committed, and was subsequently convicted for, Troy says: “When the police showed me the video the next day, I couldn't watch.”

Troy went to prison two days after his dad’s funeral.

6. He “grew up” in prison

“I didn't say goodbye to my son when I left home that morning. I didn't bring anything with me that I could take to jail. No clothes, no photos, no mementos. It was as if it wasn't happening.”

That was how Troy remembers going to jail. His first stop was in HMP Birmingham in Winson Green. Troy says he was always on edge. “Jail isn't fun. You have to be watchful.”

Things were rather different at Thorn Cross open prison. “One of the wardens said, if I was going to run away, could I just make sure I left my key because they were expensive to replace!”

Troy praises the wardens at Thorn Cross for encouraging him to make the best use of his time, particularly at the gym. “I grew up in the Warrington jail. Once you're in prison, everything else is stripped away: your position in society, how people see you, what you earn, the car you drive. It didn’t matter that I was a footballer. I was just Troy.”

Ups and downs in Troy’s life were mirrored by Watford’s yoyo-ing fortunes. Returning to the club after 16 weeks inside (albeit tagged and with restricted movements), new manager Gianfranco Zola said Troy was now “seventh choice” but that quickly changed after Watford’s faltering start to the 2012/13 season. Zola cultivated Troy and passed on tips that added chips and curlers to his repertoire of “brute force headers and volleys”.

“If Zola hadn't put the time in to improving me, I wouldn't have survived,” Troy says.

8. He made FA Cup history

In 2019, after enjoying four consecutive seasons in the Premier League, Watford made it to the final of the FA Cup for only the second time in the club’s history. “I was a kid who grew up with very little and now was going to be the captain of a team playing in a match that would be shown around the world. It was the best a player like me could do,” says Troy.

Though Watford were relegated, they were back up the next season. However, a serious Achilles injury forced Troy to take a coaching role. He enjoyed seeing younger players blossoming, and the prospect of Premier League football again excited him but he described winning promotion as “bittersweet”.

“It felt like I was the 18th man in the squad, and I had just been watching the whole season.”

10. He got the Premier League to unite against racism

Watching the Euro 2020 final between England and Italy, Troy noticed that the “post-lockdown sense of release had curdled into something much more aggressive”, and felt the racist abuse aimed at Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka after their missed penalties was “dispiriting but also inevitable”.

Troy played a key role in getting players to keep taking the knee and getting the Black Lives Matter message on players’ shirts after the murder of George Floyd. However, he recognises that gestures can be an excuse for organisations to avoid doing anything meaningful.

“Can we start saying what we're going to do about it instead of falling over each other to condemn it? Because there is a danger that the noise people make when they say how terrible it is actually detracts from the issue.”