Strange as it may seem, Troy Deeney is rooting for Newcastle United to avoid the Premier League drop - because the Watford striker is desperate to score at St James' Park next season. Deeney has no affiliation to the Magpies, being a self-professed Birmingham City supporter, but the 26-year-old has just secured promotion to the top flight with Watford and he wants Newcastle to be one of their 19 Premier League opponents next season. The Hornets captain contributed 21 goals to Watford's promotion campaign as they finished second behind Bournemouth - and the ground he is aiming to find the back of the net at in the next campaign is St James', but that will only happen if John Carver's men can secure survival from their remaining three matches. Speaking to TalkSport on Wednesday, Deeney explained:
"I'm a Birmingham City fan - but the one I want to play, I hope they stay up, is actually Newcastle away. "I'm a bit old school. I love fans - I love 50,000 fans giving you so much grief. They're going to be giving me loads of stick, so I just love that kind of feeling when you score and they hate it, there's nothing better."
The former Walsall and Halesowen Town forward, who has scored 81 goals in 220 appearances for Watford since signing for the club in 2010, is yet to experience life in the Premier League. But Watford are guaranteed to be playing in the top flight next season - while Newcastle have just three games left to ensure they will be visiting Vicarage Road during the 2014-15 Premier League campaign. Carver's side lost their eighth-successive match at Leicester City last weekend, when they succumbed to a humbling 3-0 defeat, and Deeney sympathises with a club who sit just two points and three places above Sunderland in 18th. He continued:
"It's a sad state of affairs (at Newcastle), to be fair, from the outside looking in. I think the last couple of games that I've watched, it's the way they're losing. "Its not a case of they're losing by great goals, it doesn't look like there's a lot of fight in there - and that's just from the outside looking in. "As a captain I don't think it gets to eight games (lost consecutively). I think it gets to four and then you say: 'Right lads, come on - were better than this'. "Get it all together, even if you've got to lock the door in the changing room and just have it out."
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NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
