Troy Deeney is hoping to repay his family’s support by firing Watford to the Premier League in the Championship play-off final on Monday.
The striker was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment in June when he was convicted of affray after an incident in Birmingham. He served three months of the sentence.
But Deeney has worked hard on the pitch to rebuild his reputation, and has scored 20 goals this season.
He scored the injury-time winner to secure a 3-2 aggregate victory over Leicester in the semi-final, which led to celebrations with his family.
And Deeney has since been inundated with requests for tickets to the showpiece final at Wembley, for which he has footed most of the bill.
“I’ve had requests for 96,” he said.
“I’ve got everybody – my nan, mum, brother, sister. I had to re-write the list because I forgot one or two, but I got (one for) everybody, so it’s going to be a good day – as long as we win.
“I’m still selling blood to pay them off, although a lot of people paid for their own ticket to be fair.”
Among Deeney’s guests will be two prison guards from Thorn Cross Prison in Cheshire, where Deeney spent part of his jail term.
“I have got them a couple of tickets,” he added.
“I had football conversations with them, they were big on sport.
“Being up north there were Manchester United fans, Manchester City fans and Liverpool fans so me being a Birmingham fan wasn’t the best – I had to talk about the Premier League all the time.”
Victory would see a return to the top flight of English football for the first time since 2007 for Watford, and Deeney paid tribute to club’s hierarchy.
“The owners want Watford to become an established team in the Premier League and with time our ambition is to be a European team,” Deeney stated.
“There is a long way to go. Don’t forget that we are in the Championship, but that is the type of people they are.”
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