'He almost fainted': Troy Deeney reveals the worst thing he did on a football field

Troy Deeney has opened up about a heated encounter he remembers as “the worst thing” he has ever done on a football field.

Deeney He spent 12 years as WatfordEdit player, becoming captain during his time at the club and contributing to two Premier League promotion campaigns.

The 36-year-old has since dedicated himself to punditry since retiring from football and has now joined the talkSPORT team as a regular.

He recently joined talkSPORT duo Sam Matterface and Alex Crook to discuss an incident in which Preston North End striker Milutin Osmajic bites Blackburn Rovers defender Owen Beck.

Osmajic has since accepted a charge of violent conduct by the FA.

As the trio discussed the story, Deeney was asked what was the “worst thing” he had ever done on a football field.

And the former striker recalled one incident in particular with the Welsh international and former Liverpool and the Stoke City midfielder Joe Allen which he clearly remembers to this day.

“I drowned Joe Allen,” he told talkSPORT. “That wasn't my smartest move.

“I think I got a four-game ban for that. In my defense, though, he started it.”

He explained the story: “In my situation, it was a huge game for us (at Watford). If we beat Stoke, I think we had to get one more win and we would be safe. Like the magical 40 points.

“We were 1-0 up at the time. I remember all day he was chirping and then it was a foul. It was nothing really.

“Joe is a lot smaller than me, so he put his head on my chest and pushed him and I pushed him.

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“But then I realize he's really going. So I just squeezed his cheeks in my hands and kept squeezing him. We both got a yellow card that day, but then I got a retrospective (ban).

“But I remember Tom Cleverley telling me afterwards… Joe is there laughing about it, but saying that if (I) hadn't let him go, he would have fainted.

(He said), 'I was seconds away from passing out.'”

Deeney admitted Osmajic will now live with the regret of letting the red fog take over him and the consequences this will have behind the scenes at the club, just as he did at Watford.

“That's all on me,” he continued of his confrontation with Allen.

“The worst part is that it's not even the action, so this Preston player will be angry about it, but he will feel it for the next three or four weeks.

“You have to watch your team play knowing that you've fallen to the bottom of the pile and have to start over.”

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“Now the coach doesn't trust you, the players don't trust you, so you have to rebuild all that again.

“I was the captain too. There are other times when you tell people to calm down and they look at you, like 'yeah, good because that's what you did.'

“But you know you have to be honest and use it. It's not always the best. But as long as you always tell the truth, you'll be fine.”