Dale Vince: Forest Green Rovers owner says Troy Deeney showed 'poor judgement'
- Published
Troy Deeney's tenure as Forest Green manager lasted only six games and resulted in no wins
Forest Green Rovers owner Dale Vince believes Troy Deeney "showed poor judgement" during his six-week tenure as head coach.
Deeney was sacked by the League Two club on Thursday night after only six games in charge.
Vince pointed to the former Watford and Birmingham captain's public criticism of his players following the loss to Harrogate as a factor in his departure.
He also said the four-game ban Deeney was given played a part.
"Results haven't been what we wanted - I know it's only been six games but we didn't manage a win," Vince told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.
"There was an outburst after the last game against the players, public criticism of the players, harsh words were said, I think that was a mistake. I think Troy understands that was a mistake. He has apologised for that.
"Then [Thursday] a four-game ban for abusive and violent language towards officials in the game against Swindon where he got sent off, which was another factor.
"We're in a precarious position, not much time left to save our season, and yesterday it felt to me like the right thing to do was to move sooner rather than later.
"It hadn't been working and it probably was not going to work and it was better not to wait another half a dozen games before making that decision."
Deeney joined Forest Green last summer in a player-coach capacity and had scored four goals in 18 appearances before being handed the head coach role, following the departure of David Horseman just before Christmas.
Vince said he believed the job had come "too soon" for Deeney.
"Poor judgement has been shown and arguably Troy let himself down - the incident that led to the ban and the public criticism of the player. I feel he let the club down as well. He probably wouldn't disagree, I don't know," Vince said.
"I think he's a good guy, I think he's a good coach, it hasn't worked for him. I think it came too soon.
"The plan was for him to be our head coach but not now maybe in a couple of years' time. Dave Horseman left before anyone expected."
Experience needed
Forest Green remain rooted to the bottom of the table and face dropping out of the English Football League (EFL) unless they turn their season around quickly.
They are seven points from safety, with one league win in their past 12 games and four wins all season.
Deeney's exit also means the club are looking for their fifth boss since May 2022 when they won promotion to League One for the first time in their history.
Vince said they were seeking "stability" and "experience" in their next manager and candidates were already being interviewed.
Deeney, like Ian Burchnall, Duncan Ferguson and David Horseman before him, had never managed a League club before.
"We're looking for somebody who's experienced in the league. That will mean they've got experience of man-management, which I think is a vital part of the game and game-management as well," Vince said.
"Instead of somebody who we think could be a prospect, is about to start a coaching career. If you go all the way back to Rob Edwards, he didn't have experience actually in the league, he came from England Under-21s and that worked out - worked out for him as well, he's now in the Premier League.
"We tried that with a few coaches since then and it hasn't worked out but we'll go back to looking for experience right now."