EXCLUSIVE
Wayne Rooney being outshone by former Manchester United teammate who is transforming ex-Premier League club
All eyes are on Wayne Rooney this season, but it's one of his former Manchester United teammates who is attracting the plaudits in the Championship.
Tom Cleverley was plunged into the deep end last term when he took the Watford job on an interim basis in March.
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Parachuted in after Valerien Ismael was sacked, Cleverley was given the job on a permanent basis after losing just once in his first seven games.
After a disappointing campaign and a summer that saw them lose star men Yaser Asprilla, Ismael Kone and Wesley Hoedt, Watford were expected to struggle this term, but early signs suggest that Cleverley is defying expectations with the Hornets third in the table with three wins from four matches.
Rooney and Cleverley spent two seasons as teammates at Man United between 2012 and 2014 with Rooney very much the star attraction.
But this term his Plymouth side are so far struggling, having failed to win in their opening four Championship fixtures.
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As a result, it's Cleverley who has emerged as one of the Championship's most exciting young managers, something that Watford legend Troy Deeney says is not a surprise when discussing the teammate who he spent four years playing with at Vicarage Road.
Asked if he knew Cleverley would go into management, Deeney told The Sports Breakfast: “He had the characteristics in the way that he broke down the game.
“We were fortunate at the time with Clevs because I was captain and he was unofficially vice-captain and he’d obviously played for Man United and Team GB and just the way he broke down how goals went in, how they were scored and what we were looking at - he just looked at the game completely differently to any of the other players.
"He always studied and watched games. When you hear players talk about how you broke down games, we would be playing poker, let's say, like eight of us, and me and him would be watching. Even though the game's going on here, we're like, oh, did you see that? Or did you see this?
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"Obviously, he had great learning under Sir Alex Ferguson, so he knows how to speak. I don't really see many people come out of Man United and not know how to speak."
Watford are hoping for improvement this term, having finished 11th and 15th since suffering relegation from the Premier League in 2022.
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Tom Cleverley's Watford record this season (all competitions)
League position - 3rd (9 points from 12)
Matches played - 6
Matches won - 5
Matches drawn - 0
Matches lost - 1
Goals scored - 15
Goals conceded - 4
Asked why Cleverley has been able to thrive so far in the top job at Vicarage Road, Deeney said: "What’s helped him is previously being in the building at Watford with the Under-23s so he was able to see the mistakes, the issues and the disconnect with the fans.
“Five years ago we were in the Premier League, so he’s at a point where he’s gone ‘I know what good looks like’ so he can translate that while fixing all of the problems so I think he’s onto a winner.
“I’d have preferred them to back him a little bit more but he’s not going to complain – he sees what he’s got and he’ll make the best of it.
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“He’s organised, brought a good style of play and is really clear and deliberate in what they do.
“I think he’d like to be a bit more expansive and attacking, but he doesn’t quite have the squad to do that at the moment – they’ve sold a lot of players over the last five or six years to deplete it of what it was, but he’s not making excuses.
“That’s what you’ve got to do. You deal with the squad you’ve got and they’ve got a lot of confidence.
“He’s doing well and so there’s no negativity from me.”
Next up for Watford are fixtures against Coventry City and Norwich, before the Hornets face a trip to face Man City in the EFL Cup on Tuesday, September 24.
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