Personal life

Windass was born on April Fools' Day, 1 April 1969 and grew up in Gipsyville, Hull. His parents, John and Doreen, divorced when he was thirteen years old. He regularly attended Hull City matches at Boothferry Park, and played football, cricket and hockey for his school. Windass credits his wife, Helen, a policewoman also from Hull, with devising his fitness and diet regimes. They met in 1992 and married on 31 July 1993. They have two sons.

Career

Hull City

Windass started his footballing career as a YTS trainee at Hull City before being released by Brian Horton, following which he had unsuccessful trials at Sunderland, Cambridge United and York City. Instead he started playing for non-league North Ferriby United while also having to work on building sites and packing frozen peas. He was brought back to City by manager Terry Dolan in October 1991, entering professional league football at the relatively late age of 22. He initially played in midfield for the Tigers and later as a forward, playing 205 games and scoring 64 goals, becoming a firm fans' favourite - in a 2005 poll to name the top 100 Tigers, Windass was named the fourth best player in the club's 100-year history. In December 1995, with the club in financial difficulty, he was sold to Aberdeen for £700,000.

Aberdeen

During his time at Aberdeen, Windass was a popular player, though he gained a reputation as a player who often got into trouble with the authorities. On 9 November 1997, during a league game with Dundee United, Windass contrived to be shown three red cards - once for foul play (having previously been booked); another for verbally abusing the referee, and a third for taking out his frustration on a corner flag as he left the field - for which he received a six match ban. This game was the club's last match under the management of Roy Aitken, and Windass himself was to move on at the end of the season. In the three years he spent at Aberdeen he netted 23 goals in 78 League appearances.

Oxford United

In July 1998 he moved to Oxford United for £400,000. He won a Division One Player of the Month award and scored 15 goals in 33 league games in his nine months with the club, but was unable to prevent them from

Bradford City

He transferred to Bradford City in March 1999 for an initial fee of £950,000 as Paul Jewell looked to build his squad for a promotion push to the Premiership. He helped Bradford City to runners-up position in Division One in 1998–99 and thus gain promotion to the top division for the first time in 77 years. Promotion meant the transfer fee rose to £1million, and he became the club's third seven-figure signing of the season. During the summer, Windass opted not to go on holiday and instead continued to train in preparation for his own first season in the top flight. His dedication was rewarded as he was the club's top scorer in their first season in the Premiership with ten goals, including a hat-trick in a 4–4 draw with Derby County. City avoided relegation on the final day of the 1999–2000 season, when they defeated Liverpool 1–0 thanks to a header from David Wetherall.

Paul Jewell left City in the days following City's successful battle against relegation and his assistant manager Chris Hutchings was appointed new manager. Hutchings was given money by chairman Geoffrey Richmond to spend on new players, which included new strikers Benito Carbone and Ashley Ward. Windass' appearances flipped between midfield and forward but with the club facing relegation he was sold to Middlesbrough in March 2001 for £600,000. He still finished the season as the club's top scorer—his eight goals included three in the Intertoto Cup and one in a 2–0 victory over Chelsea, which proved to be Hutchings' only league victory before he was sacked in November.

Middlesbrough and Sheffield United

Windass said the move to Middlesbrough was the highlight of his career, but his debut was delayed due to a back injury he picked up lifting a bag out of the car, and his league appearances were restricted to just 38 as he failed to become a first-team regular at the Riverside, and instead spent periods on loan at Sheffield Wednesday and rivals Sheffield United, before a permanent move to Sheffield United in January 2003 after an approach from his former teammate Stuart McCall who was assistant at United. Windass helped the Blades to the play-offs but he was dropped by manager Neil Warnock for the final, opting instead to watch his side's 3–0 defeat by Wolves in a pub. He decided not to stay at United and instead returned to Bradford City, now under the management of Nicky Law, in July 2003.

Return to Bradford City

Windass' second spell at Bradford City was equally as successful on a personal scale and he climbed to the club's third highest scorer in its history. City's fortunes on and off the pitch were poor, and with the club unable to pay money for players, relegation to Division Two followed. In 2004–05 Windass scored 28 goals to be the top scorer in the Football League although the club could only finish in mid-table. The following season Windass added another 20 goals as Bradford City matched the previous season's 13th place finish.

Windass remained a controversial character and in September 2006, on FIFA Fair Play Day, he was accused of grabbing fellow professional John Finnigan by the testicles during Bradford City's 2–1 win over Cheltenham Town. Finnigan was then sent off for violent conduct after hitting Windass. Earlier that year he had received a five game ban for abusing referee Darren Drysdale in the Valley Parade car park after a drawn game against Brentford.

Despite persistent speculation about a return to Hull City, and repeated bids of up to £500,000 from Premiership Wigan Athletic by former manager Paul Jewell, on 19 October 2006 he signed an extension to his Bradford City contract until 2009, stating an ambition to score the 40 goals he needs to become the club's all time top scorer by the time his new contract ends.

However, on 17 January 2007, it was confirmed that Dean Windass would return to Hull City on loan until the end of the season. The money Hull paid for the loan deal and the savings Bradford made on Windass' wages ensured Bradford City chairman Julian Rhodes could pay urgent bills. He was not to return to Bradford City and he finished with 76 league goals and 87 goals in total. The tally puts him behind just Bobby Campbell and Frank O'Rourke in the club's goal scoring charts.

Return to Hull City

Since returning to Hull City he has regained the cult status he previously earned at the club, as his eight goals helped to keep the Tigers in the Championship. His most vital strike of this loan spell was on 28 April 2007, the penultimate Saturday of the season, the only goal in the away win at Cardiff City. This left Hull City three points ahead of Leeds United with a vastly superior goal difference, meaning virtually certain Championship survival. However, in his absence Bradford City were relegated from League One to League Two. Windass finished the season as both clubs' top scorer, with 12 goals for Bradford City and eight for Hull City

At the end of the season the two clubs entered protracted negotiations over the size of the transfer fee required to make the loan move a permanent one. On 19 June 2007 the transfer was completed and Windass signed for Hull City on a two year deal for an initial fee of £150,000 plus further add-ons based on appearances.

In October 2007, Windass' autobiography was published by Great Northern Books, entitled Deano - From Gipsyville to the Premiership, with a foreword from Bryan Robson.

On 22 March 2008, in a match against Leicester City, Windass made his 700th career appearance. On 11 May, he scored his 200th goal in English football, in the Championship play-off semi-final first leg against Watford. His 201st was a volley from the edge of the area in the play-off final at Wembley Stadium on 24 May 2008, giving Hull City a 1–0 win against Bristol City, which meant that Hull City were promoted to the Premier League for the first time in their 104-year history. His goal was estimated to be worth £60 million to the club because of Premier League television rights gained. He had predicted scoring the goal several weeks earlier: "When Phil Brown left me out against Sheffield United this year I weren't happy about it. He said to me, 'You will play a major part.' And I said, 'I will score the winning goal to get you in the Premier League.'

After the game, Windass offered his man-of-the-match award to Hull assistant manager Brian Horton, the manager who had released him from Hull City as a trainee, but Horton declined to take it. "Brian said he'd told me to prove him wrong and he said 'That goal's enough for me.'"

Hull City Council are considering creating a permanent tribute to Windass, who responded modestly when described as a legend: "Nah, I'm not a legend. I don't like that word. People fight for their country, there are soldiers in Iraq. I'm just a footballer who gets paid a lot of money to do what I enjoy."

Windass has no plans to retire, stating that he intends to play on as long as possible. When he does eventually stop playing, he intends to go into football management, and has already started taking his UEFA coaching badges to that end.

Windass was not selected for Hull's first two games in the Premier League, but after he started and scored in Hull's 2–1 League Cup defeat to Swansea City, he was a second-half substitute in Hull's next league game, as they lost 5–0 to Wigan, for Windass' first Premier League game since leaving Middlesbrough.