Dean Windass reveals suicide attempts

Hull legend Dean Windass has attempted suicide twice in recent days, he has revealed.

The Tigers’ Wembley hero confessed he had tried to end his life as booze and depression took their grip after a series of problems in his personal life.

The Soccer Saturday reporter said: “People have this image of me as this big, strong man who can take anything life throws at him. But I’m not ashamed to say I wanted to end it after a string of setbacks.”

Windass tried to overdose on painkillers, but was found by his ex-girlfriend who forced him to make himself sick. Unable to “shake off the depression”, Windass again attempted to kill himself.

In what sounds like a plot-line from the darkest of black comedies, he said:

“I tried to use a bedsheet to hang myself and tied it to a handrail at the top of the stairs, but it was too long. There weren’t enough stairs. I couldn’t get it to work so I got a belt instead.”

Windass said he was then visited by a friend who stopped him from going through with his plan. The 42-year-old has called for more help from the PFA for himself and other ex-players who are battling depression.

He added: “I felt I had no purpose any more. I had nothing to get up for. People outside football think we have it all, but we don’t. That’s all a mask. I was in pieces. I could not stop drinking and I’ve cried every day for the last two years.”