Heath Ledger as The Joker in the film The Dark Knight describes how insane the city of Gotham is during a fascinating monologue. He is insinuating that they have got all their priorities wrong. District attorney Harvey Dent (now Two-Face) lies on the hospital bed after having half his face burnt to a crisp due to the actions of The Joker; and wants answers as to why he did this. Here is an extract of the dialogue between The Joker and Two-Face from this point.
The Joker: You know what I’ve noticed? Nobody panics when things go “according to plan.” Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it’s all “part of the plan”. But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds!
[Joker hands Two-Face a gun and points it at himself]
The Joker: Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I’m an agent of chaos. Oh, and you know the thing about chaos? It’s fair!
You may now be wondering what relevance does this have to football let alone Troy Deeney. Well last week I was watching Sky Sports News when the yellow breaking news bar popped up. What followed ‘blew my mind’. Sky Sports understands that Leicester City have had a bid of 20 million pounds for Troy Deeney REJECTED by Watford FC. I repeat. Sky Sports understands that Leicester City have had a bid of 20 million pounds for Troy Deeney REJECTED by Watford FC. That was shocking for me on a number of levels; but this was not the end of the story. Far from it. This week Watford almost made me choke on my dinner last night when I read that they apparently rejected another bid for Deeney from Leicester. The figure? 25 MILLION POUNDS. It was this that made me realise what Leicester winning the premier league really meant. Leicester have upset the established order and everything is now officially chaotic.
Two seasons ago there would never be a 25 million pound bid for a striker with Troy Deeneys’ CV; let alone for the bid to be rejected. This is by no means any attempt to discredit the ability Troy Deeney has as a footballer. He is a good striker with particular qualities that suit the premier league to a tee. He also has a good league goal scoring record for Watford since 2012:
Troy Deeney’s Goal Scoring Record (since 2012)
- 2012/13 Championship: 40 games played / 19 goals scored
- 2013/14 Championship: 44 games played / 24 goals scored
- 2014/15 Championship: 42 games played / 21 goals scored
- 2015/16 Premier League: 38 games played / 13 goals scored
Obviously the step up in quality in the premier league had an impact on the amount of goals scored but if fully fit for the 2016/17 season it will be a surprise if he didn’t improve on his total of 13 league goals. However; the fact that a team has had a 25m pound bid rejected for a striker who has played only one full season in the premier league and amassed just 2 more league goals than midfielders Sadio Mané, Marko Arnautovic and Georginio Wijnaldum tells you something about the current state of affairs in the top division. Absolute chaos.
To be fair this shouldn’t be a surprise. English players have been consistently sold for more than their market price since the turn of the millennium. Two transfers that really stick out as a catalyst for this type of madness to occur are Andy Carroll going to Liverpool from Newcastle for 35 million in 2011; and Raheem Sterling’s infamous move to Manchester City for an eye watering 49 million pounds in 2015. Everton rejected a 20m, 25m and then 30m pound bids for John Stones last summer; again demonstrating that this stand off between Leicester and Watford should be viewed as a natural occurrence. There are also rumours about Watford driving up the price due to the fact that Walsall (Deeney’s previous club) are entitled to 25% of whatever Troy is sold for.
Regardless of however you try and justify this move; one fact will still remain. Leicester’s impact on the premier league over the past 12 months is similar to that of The Jokers’ on the City of Gotham in The Dark Knight. By bidding 25m for Deeney they have reinforced their status as an ‘agent of chaos’ in the premier league; and are clearly unapologetic for it.
Fourfiveone 
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