Watford captain Troy Deeney has denied rumours that he will be involved in selecting the Hornets' team for Tuesday's encounter with Manchester City following Nigel Pearson's sacking, with the 32-year-old rubbishing reports of a fight in the changing rooms during half-time in their defeat to West Ham on Friday.
The Premier League outfit relieved coach Pearson of his duties on Sunday, with Hayden Mullins handed the reins for the club's final two games of the season as they bid to avoid relegation, starting with the match against City.
Rumours emerged that Pearson was involved in a fracas with players as his side slumped to a 3-1 loss against the Hammers last week, but speaking ahead of his side's clash with City, Deeney has poured cold water over any such notions, as well as shutting down discussions that he may help pick the starting XI to face Pep Guardiola.
"I just want to put it out there, there was no fight at half-time," he told beIN Sports. "It's 2020, you don't do that any more and certainly with all the cameras you would see a lot more if that was the case.
"The gaffer didn't put his hands on anybody. He was just frustrated and had a firm talking to us. No-one was fighting, no-one was punched and no-one was tickled. There were no hands thrown.
"Second of all, Troy will not be picking teams - I have read that online as well. I am player-coach, apparently. Anything else I have missed out? We weren't locked in... so a lot of interesting things."
Speaking on Pearson's exit - with the 56-year-old the third permanent manager to be dismissed by Watford this term after Javi Gracia and Quique Sanchez Flores, Deeney admitted that he was caught off-guard by the choice to sack him.
"You get to a point in football where you are not surprised any more, but I would say this one surprised me and took me back a bit," he added.
"I wasn't anticipating that was going to be the situation we'd walk into on Sunday. We had an up and down week before.
"We won two games (against Norwich and Newcastle) and you'd like to think we would have got a better result against West Ham, but that wasn't to be and the club made a decision.
"You have to respect that decision. Again, they pay us. They are our bosses, essentially, and we have to respect the decision and give all the support you can to good people in Hayden and Stacky (Graham Stack, goalkeeping coach).
"We want to make sure we give them the best chance because ultimately their career depends on it moving forward."