Watford need more Troy Deeneys, writes Danny Murphy

Leading by example | Troy Deeney has been Watford captain for three seasons
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Danny Murphy5 May 2017

Players come and players go but if a club want to make progress you need a solid core of eight to 10 players who stay there for a decent stint.

They need to be on board with the manager and the club’s ideas.

We had that at Fulham during my time there: players such as Andy Johnson, Bobby Zamora, Clint Dempsey, Dickson Etuhu, Zoltan Gera and myself.

We were decent players but we also kept others at it. When the chips were down, we urged people on, kept standards up. Things started to go wrong when that solid core left.

Troy Deeney epitomises that attitude. He appreciates what Watford have given him and he hates to see people who do not share his approach. But who else is there to do that?

I don’t see Watford pushing for the top 10 anytime soon because the turnover of players is far too great. When you change as regularly as they do, it might be enough to survive but you won’t go much further.

They should look at what Swansea did when they were moving up the leagues. The managers might have changed but key players remained. That is what Watford need to think about as they go into the summer.

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