Troy Deeney in tetchy spat with Nigel Reo-Coker and ex-US star Mike Grella stay on TV whereas working ‘unpaid’ for American channel CBS – after followers slammed him for calling Newcastle ‘undesirable’

Troy Deeney was involved in a tetchy spat with two guests while live on TV and claimed he was working ‘unpaid’ for coverage of Newcastle’s 2-0 win over Arsenal.

The outspoken pundit is never short of a controversial opinion and was at it again after describing Newcastle as an ‘undesirable’ place to live, a comment that stirred a backlash online and outside the Emirates for last night’s Carabao Cup semi-final. 

Deeney was part of CBS Sports’ punditry panel for the game and waded into the debate from the stadium alongside experienced broadcaster Geoff Shreeves.

Nigel Reo-Coker, the former Aston Villa and West Ham midfielder, and former USA youth international Mike Grella were both in the studio and couldn’t resist trading unscripted barbs with Deeney during his introduction.

The awkward segment began after Reo-Coker took his first dig at the loudmouth.

‘Nice of you to turn up for work today,’ Reo-Coker said to Deeney.

Troy Deeney was involved in a tetchy spat with CBS Sports’ punditry panel

Deeney traded barbs with Nigel Reo-Coker (on panel, right) and Mike Grella (middle)

Deeney then fired back: ‘Says the man who’s been on holiday for two weeks. Well done. No problem. I appreciate it.’

He went on to claim he was not being paid for his input, adding: ‘More importantly, I am doing this for free, yet again. So if we can change that. We’re having a great time.’

Grella then waded in, saying: ‘Troy, Geoff [Shreeves] was here last week and he took all the money. We got nothing left. We had to throw big Geoff Shreeves in.’

Deeney replied: ‘That’s why you haven’t got a tie, bro. It’s mental.’ 

Speaking after Newcastle’s Carabao Cup quarter-final win against Brentford last month, Deeney claimed Tyneside was not an attractive place for players to live.

‘It’s right at the top of the country,’ he told CBS Sports in a withering verdict. ‘I don’t want to be disrespectful, but it’s not a desirable place to go and live because you’re so far away from London. It’s like four or five hours.

‘It’s difficult to get people there, to get investment there, but they’re going to have to. They must have known before they bought it because these guys are not stupid.’

Deeney was confronted over his comments by one Newcastle supporter outside the Emirates. However, when asked about the moment, he doubled down on his stance.

Deeney also doubled down on his criticism of Newcastle as an ‘undesirable’ place to live

His most recent involvement in football came at Forest Green Rovers as a head coach

But Deeney was dismissed just 29 days in after publicly blasting his players

‘I wasn’t lying,’ he insisted, to the amusement of his colleagues.

Deeney has not officially retired from football. He last turned out for Forest Green Rovers, having joined as a player-coach before taking charge permanently in December 2023 after David Horseman departed by mutual consent. 

But he was sacked just 29 days later, and after only six games at the helm.

He had publicly blasted his players in the wake of their home defeat by Harrogate, saying he would ‘rather watch Antiques Roadshow’ than his own side. Deeney lost three and drew three of his six league matches in charge of the club.

A furious Deeney also accused his players of being ‘inmates running the jail’ and claimed there were ‘too many babies top to bottom’. 

He has made 628 career appearances to date, scoring 182 goals.