Troy Deeney is driving around Chelmsley Wood, the sprawling estate in Birmingham’s eastern suburbs where he grew up. Now and again, he spots someone he knows walking on the street and pulls up to talk. His mum, Emma, is in the passenger seat, pointing out some of the landmarks of her son’s childhood. But this is a sightseeing tour with a difference.
Deeney pulls into Arbor Way, a quiet crescent off a main road, and brings the car to a slow halt outside a low-slung apartment building. He looks out of the window at the ground floor flat and the memories come flooding back.