Watford legend Troy Deeney follows strict rule when 'friends' ask to borrow money

Troy Deeney has been able to fund many causes thanks to his successful career in the Premier League and EFL - but he had to put a system in place to avoid people bleeding him dry

Posted Thursday, May 11, 2023 by Thesun.co.uk

Troy Deeney had to put a stop to some of the shocking requests he received (Image: Happy Hour Podcast/YouTube)

Watford legend Troy Deeney follows strict rule when 'friends' ask to borrow money
Troy Deeney has explained the strict rule he has for when people ask to borrow money from him.

The Watford legend, who scored seven Championship goals in 33 appearances for Birmingham City last season, learned the "system" from former team-mate and close friend Adrian Mariappa, who lent him £10,000 when he was imprisoned for affray in 2012.

He adopted it after reviewing his finances during the pandemic. Appearing on the Happy Hour Podcast recently, Deeney, 34, said: "When we got to lockdown, and we did the thing with Watford and we stopped getting paid for three or four months.

"I just used it as an opportunity because I went through my finances and I’m like ‘hold on, my outgoings are X. Half of that’s not even me. Why am I covering this, why am I covering that?’

"Family and friends, because I had the expenses, I was like ‘I’ll just do it’. People would kind of lean in on it. You’d be at a family function and my Nan, bless her, she’d be like ‘cousin over there’s going through a bit of a tough time, will you go speak to him?’

"My Nan’s asked so I’ll go speak to him and he’s like ‘you know, just lost my job and I’ve lost this and I’ve lost that, [can I] borrow five grand?’

Watford legend Troy Deeney follows strict rule when 'friends' ask to borrow money
Deeney is happy to help out his friends - but they only get one shot at paying him back (Image: @t_deeney/Instagram)

"And at that point, I either say no and then it’s awkward. And they’re like ‘we know you’ve got it’. I hate when people say ‘can I borrow?’

"I’ve got this system, everyone can ask once. If you don’t pay me back, it’s my fault. I’m never gonna chase you for it, I kinda learned this off Maps, he give it me out the goodness of his heart, obviously I paid him back.

"[I'm] never gonna go here’s 10k and in two months’ time go ‘how much do you owe me still? Have you been paying back?’ That person might still be going through it and now you look like a f***ing bailiff."

Watford legend Troy Deeney follows strict rule when 'friends' ask to borrow money
The Watford legend's Birmingham City contract is up this summer (Image: Getty Images)

Deeney stuck to his guns when one of his former friends came asking for a second time. He continuted: "Everyone has one chance.

"There was a friend, an old friend, that kind of used that favour for an amount of money. I wanna say four months later, ‘hi mate, hope you’re alright. Just going through a bit of a bad time with the gambling, could you help me out to cover this?’

"And literally the message before it was ‘thank you so much for lending me that money’. What he’d done, he’d been gambling, gone all round the cycle and come back to me.

"I was like ‘dude, nah, you still owe me X for this one’. ‘Oh yeah I’ll get you that back’. ‘I don’t want it back, just delete my number don’t worry. We’re not friends now’. Not for the monetary, but clearly you think you can just use it."