article: There's a mask. The conversation can lack substance or value. Dean Windass, the former Aberdeen, Bradford and Hull striker, is different. There are topical reasons to seek out the 47-year-old. His son, Josh, recently signed for Rangers. Dean was, and remains, something of a cult hero at Pittodrie, where he played 20 years ago. He's also a character; sure to have tales aplenty of japery, dressing room banter and on-pitch battles to delight. He does, but there's a lot more to his story. Media playback is not supported on this device Windass has battled severe depression for much of his life, mostly under the radar. It started when he was 12, with his parents divorcing. He couldn't cope. With Aberdeen, only manager, Roy Aitken, and fitness trainer Stuart Hogg, in whom Windass confided, had any idea. "Nobody knew," Windass told BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound programme. "I didn't tell anybody. Going into the changing-rooms, I should've been an actor really. That's how it escalated. "When I'd go out and have a drink, I'd cry all the time. I remember seeing a councillor when I played for Aberdeen. Stuart Hogg took me because I'd never expressed my feelings to anybody. "When I was on the pitch, everything was all right. "I never spoke about it. I was always the Jack the Lad in changing-rooms, but then when I was coming home, I was crying. I didn't know how to express my feelings." There's a large photograph on his kitchen wall looking over his shoulder as he stands on a city balcony, admittedly drunk, lapping up the adoration of Hull supporters. His goal in 2008, at the age of 39 in front of 86,000 fans, sent the Tigers into England's top flight via the play-off final at Wembley. A local hero, he was living the dream, or at least you'd expect that to be the case. The years that followed were tinged with depression, alcohol and attempts to take his own life after divorcing from his wife and losing his father suddenly. "I was trying to block everything out and was drinking quite heavily then," he said. "I tried to commit suicide with tablets and tried to hang myself. I'm not proud of that today as I've got two great kids. "I asked for help and ended up in Tony Adams' Sporting Chance clinic for 26 days. "It was scary, I was scared stiff. Every time I spoke to a counsellor, I cried, every day. "It got better and better the more I spoke about it. I got through it. It's the best 26 days of my life, because it saved my life." The move to Aberdeen over a decade earlier came about with Hull, during his first spell at the club, facing closure over an Inland Revenue bill. Windass was the main asset and had to go or the gates to the stadium would shut. Martin O'Neill resigned as manager of Norwich City after he was denied the funds to sign Windass. Roy Aitken secured him shortly after. "The deal was done by Friday
summary: Sometimes as a journalist, you encounter a current or former footballer and depart with a feeling of disappointment; a sense that they're not really telling you what they think or feel.