"Broken" - Troy Deeney reveals "wild" conditions at Birmingham City before Knighthead | OneFootball

The former Watford forward never played for the Blues under the current regime.

Troy Deeney has described the "wild" conditions at Birmingham City during his time there, before the takeover of the club by Knighthead.

It feels like there's not much more than could be going right for the Blues right now. Their fans will love having that winning feeling back most weeks. They get to watch great players play for their team. Those players will be well compensated and looked after.

There are also plans for a new stadium, training facility and academy space at the £2-3 billion Sports Quarter that the club's American owners have proposed that they will build in east Birmingham, although there are set to be some logistical problems with that; local transport seemingly being the biggest barrier.

Knighthead took over the club last summer. They haven't got everything right since becoming the majority shareholders, but things are definitely heading in the right direction now, and things are certainly better now than they were before they arrived.

Troy Deeney reveals horror pre-Knighthead Birmingham City story

According to Deeney, who played for City in the two seasons prior to the club's American takeover, the conditions at Birmingham were way below par compared to the standards of a typical football club at that sort of level.

Speaking on the Under The Cosh podcast, he said: "The changing room was f***ing, everything was broken.

"I got given someone's locker and, like you know on lockers it has number one or number ten. This one someone had carved into it like it had been at the back of a bus. Like an 'S'. The f***ing lock, the padlock thing, that you had to put a code in, I just pulled it and it opened.

"They were saying that the cleaners were stealing. Like if you left things out, things would get stolen.

"I was coming in from a Prem(ier League) team. I come in with like six boxes of boots, I put two on top on the lads were like 'Don't do that.' I was like 'What do you mean?' They said 'They won't be there tomorrow if you come back.'

"I was like 'Are you on a wind-up? Who the f*** is going to steal them?' The place is just open, so I was like right I'll put them back in the car.

"It's going to sound very snobby but any ex lads (professionals) will get this. I went to have a shower, there's no flip-flops. I'm like 'Alright, I didn't know that. I'll bring my own in tomorrow. No problem.' The towel, mate, was this big [mimes something small]. You know when you do that [mimes again] and you go 'Where the f*** is the rest of it?'

"It turns out they had the same towels for 17 years. Mate, they were crispy. You were wetter after, you were just pushing the water down. I was like 'Alright, this is a bit f***ed here. What's going on here then?' So I sent a text to the missus, 'Can you fly down to John Lewis and get me a towel that covers my body?'

"And then I go into the showers, there's all that snus everywhere. Like everywhere. There's a hot tub and an ice bath. I was like 'Alright, at least we can do that properly.' I walked up, the hot tub hadn't worked for five years, the f***ing ice bath was green. I was like 'Well I'm not going in that.'

"I jumped in the shower, I pressed this shower head and that showed [points to across the room] started working. It was just wild."

Birmingham fans are and should be very thankful for Knighthead

The aforementioned mistakes that the Blues' owners made in their first season in charge, which ultimately led to them being relegated to League One, can pretty much be forgiven now by what they have done since.

Surprisingly, Birmingham aren't leading the third tier at this stage of the campaign, but they are fully expected to win the division's crown come May.

They have a squad that will be ready to put up a good fight in the Championship as soon as they return, and that's without any of the expected further investments that will be made in the team. Seemingly, the only way is up for City.

That certainly wasn't their previous trajectory, which is why Blues fans are so grateful for what has happened to their club, even if it did mean getting relegated in the process.