Dean Windass

Hull City

Windass started his footballing career as a YTS trainee at Hull City in the mid 1980s before being released by manager Brian Horton. He had unsuccessful trials at professional clubs Sunderland, Cambridge United, and York City and instead 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 Hull 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 and bottom of Division Two, he was sold to Aberdeen in the Scottish Premier Division 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, he was involved in a notorious incident when he committed three separate red-card offences in the same match: first being dismissed for two yellow cards, then cited for verbally abusing the referee, and finally for kicking over a corner flag as he left the field. This game was the club's last match under the management of Roy…

On 21 October 2009, the Grimsby Telegraph reported that Windass had gone on record to state his interest in the vacant manager's post at Grimsby Town, following the dismissal of Mike Newell. He is understood to have applied for the post, stating that his recent retirement as a player was purely coincidental. The local press reported that approximately 25 other applications have been received for the post, including from the club's all-time longest serving player, John McDermott. In May 2010, he declared his interest in the vacant manager's job at Shrewsbury Town. He was unsuccessful and followed this up by applying for the vacant position at Hartlepool United in August. In May 2012, he applied for the vacant position at hometown club Hull City, stating he would be open to consider also a job as a coaching staff member. In September 2019, he was appointed manager of East Hull.

On 30 January 2015, it was announced by Hull City that Windass would become the Club Ambassador on 2 February, the club's first official appointment to this role. On 31 December 2020, Windass was inducted into the Hull City Hall of Fame.

Windass was born in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, and grew up in the Gipsyville area of the city. 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 police officer, also from Hull, with devising his fitness and diet regimes. They met in 1992, married on 31 July 1993, and had two sons, Josh, who also became a professional footballer, and Jordan. After 18 years, his marriage to Helen ended. Windass completed his UEFA A and B football coaching licences. He revealed that he had attempted suicide twice in January 2012, having suffered from alcoholism and depression following his retirement from playing. He spent time in rehabilitation for alcohol dependency. In 2016, Windass was "effectively broke" and bankrupt. His finances were adversely affected by a divorce as well as tax debts that had resulted from an unwise film investment scheme that had ensnared many other former players as well. Windass was diagnosed with Stage 2 (early) dementia, attributed to heading footballs, in 2024. While having no symptoms, he had been persuaded to take a diagnostic scan as a precaution. Afterwards he was active persuading ten to fifteen other former players to be scanned.