'You're going to get it': Troy Deeney reveals who was the scariest Premier League manager who singled him out immediately upon arrival

Forget Fergie's hairdryer treatment and Jose Mourinho's mind games, a former Championship-winning manager was the scariest of them all.

That is the opinion of Troy Deeney who, to be fair, has played under a fair amount of coaches during his 11 years at Watford.

The answer to the pub's questionnaire is 17 managers to be exact, and three of them stand out in his memory as being particularly intimidating.

Of the three names who took to the podium, Nigel Pearson was ultimately crowned the most fearsome Deeney has ever faced, but he reserved special mention for the current ones. Everton boss Sean Dyche.

When Deeney was asked who had given him the worst dressing room dressing down, he joked: “Dyche has had a go at me a few times – I think he enjoyed it, to be honest!

“The worst one that happened to me was with Nigel Pearson. He's a big, scary guy, as most people know.

“The first day he came in, in December, we were in the middle of the relegation battle,” Deeney told talkSPORT.com. “I was injured so just when I came back he called me into his office and said, ‘Well, you’re going to get it today. I’m going to do everything I can to go for you.’”

Deeney, not one to shy away from a little tough love, took it all in stride until she was burdened by a training exercise gone wrong that she didn't even participate in.

“There was one time when we were doing a shooting drill,” he recalled. “(Abdoulaye) Doucoure passed it to Will Hughes, who stopped it and Doucoure headed it over the bar.

“They blamed me for it, I wasn’t even involved in it and he blamed me.”

Deeney admits to sacrificing something for the team on that particular occasion, when Pearson questioned him to more clearly clarify his standards and expectations.

Pearson, who directed Leicester City to the Championship title in 2014, he spent just eight months in charge at Vicarage Road before being sacked in the summer of 2020, with two games remaining in the Covid-affected season.

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Most recently, he took charge of Bristol City, where he spent two and a half years as manager before leaving the club last October.

Deeney admits the most memorable interviews he has seen have been in Italian, having worked under three Italian coaches during his time at the club.

The former striker credits Walter Mazzarri with being the fiercest of the three Italians, who included Giuseppe Sannino and Gianfranco Zola, who were usually more gentle-tempered.

“The best ones you see are usually in Italian and I only know bad words in Italian,” he added.

“Walter Mazzarri (was the worst). He would attack the boards and water bottles and the insults he would throw at certain players were rude.”