Centre-forwards are supposed to be selfish but at the launch of a pop-up museum exhibit to celebrate 120 years of Hull City, the only great moments Dean Windass was enjoying were other people's.
Watching his son Josh score an iconic goal to send Sheffield Wednesday into the Championship at Barnsley's expense two-and-a-half years ago was a thrill in itself but for the man who famously sent his hometown club into the Premier League for the first time with a play-off final goal of his own, it had an extra bonus.
"I do after-dinner speaking and with Josh scoring for Sheffield Wednesday at Wembley I don't have to talk about my goal now, I deflect it," he says.
"Of course you watch it, people send you it all the time, but I swear on my dad's grave it's a memory I don't look back on now. I still get the tingle on the back of my neck but life moves on and it's (about) the next generation."
Goalden moment: Hull City's Dean Windass (L) runs onto the field to celebrate the team's victory over Bristol City during the Football League Championship league playoff final football match at Wembley Stadium in London on May 24, 2008. Windass scored the only goal of the game to secure promotion to the Premier League. (Picture: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)Goalden moment: Hull City's Dean Windass (L) runs onto the field to celebrate the team's victory over Bristol City during the Football League Championship league playoff final football match at Wembley Stadium in London on May 24, 2008. Windass scored the only goal of the game to secure promotion to the Premier League. (Picture: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Goalden moment: Hull City's Dean Windass (L) runs onto the field to celebrate the team's victory over Bristol City during the Football League Championship league playoff final football match at Wembley Stadium in London on May 24, 2008. Windass scored the only goal of the game to secure promotion to the Premier League. (Picture: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)
As Windass speaks to The Yorkshire Post at the launch of the free exhibit in Hull's central library, classic Tigers goals are playing on a loop in the background.
"I'm not bothered about mine, I'm more interested in watching people like Pete Skipper play, Waggy (Ken Wagstaff) and Chilo (Chris Chilton)," he protests. "Pete was a good friend of mine and when he passed away it affected me as well as his family.
"Watching people like them and Ken Houghton is great because I knew these people growing up.
"Other people mean more to me than myself."
Josh Windass of Sheffield Wednesday scores an iconic 120th-minute winner in the 2023 League One play-off final with Barnsley (Picture: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)Josh Windass of Sheffield Wednesday scores an iconic 120th-minute winner in the 2023 League One play-off final with Barnsley (Picture: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Josh Windass of Sheffield Wednesday scores an iconic 120th-minute winner in the 2023 League One play-off final with Barnsley (Picture: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
That the boyhood Hull fan would be grouped with those legends did not look on the cards early in his career.
"I wouldn't have ever thought it when I got released at 18 by Brian (Horton)," says Windass, who combined working on a building site with playing for North Ferriby United after trials at Sunderland, Cambridge United, and York City came to nothing.
"I came back twice.
"You've always got to thank a lot of people along the way and you need a bit of luck. Terry Dolan (Hull's manager in 1991) changed my life. He knew my history and he told me, 'You've got a second chance now, don't throw it away.' Not going back to that building site was my motivation.
"How ironic that Brian was assistant manager when I scored the goal at Wembley (in the 2008 Championship play-off final). I laughed about with Nicky Barmby because I said, 'How did I get man of the match?' I was bloody rubbish on the day. Bristol City were better than us on the day but one moment wins a game of football.
"When I got the man of the match trophy - I think it was a big bottle of Coca-Cola - I went to give it to Brian and said, 'If you hadn't released me, I probably wouldn't be doing this now.'
"If he'd have given me a year or two pro I'd probably have been out of the game in two years.
"Brian got released by Arthur Cox at 18 and proved him wrong. When I sat opposite him as an 18-year-old he said, 'Go prove me wrong.' That's the beauty of football.
"So I just trained as hard as I could because I knew my weakness was running. I'd work on a building site, come home, throw my boots in the house and run around Pickett Park."
Leaving first time around was tough for a man who is these days trying to use his influence to help those who struggle with their mental health so to do so again in 1995 was a blow, but thankfully not the end of the story.
"I had no choice," recalls Windass. "Norwich City came in for me but they couldn't agree a transfer fee Terry Dolan told me, and two or three weeks later Aberdeen came in for me.
"It was 250 grand the Inland Revenue got and without that they were going to close the gates at Boothferry Park."
But life came full circle when after spells with Bradford City, Middlesbrough and loans at the two Sheffield clubs, Windass was able to save two clubs at once in 2007.
The loan fee Hull paid the Bantams kept the wolves from the Valley Parade door, and his eight goals helped the Tigers avoid relegation, securing a permanent return.
"I've never been relegated which I'm quite proud of, although maybe that's because every time a club was going down they sold me - Oxford sold me and went down," he smiles.
"If we'd gone down in 2007 that day at Wembley wouldn't happen. They're the memories you always remember - not so much the good memories, the bad memories that become good memories."
His passion for the club has its limits, though, as he was reminded when Sheffield Wednesday were in town last month.
"I support whoever my son plays for," he says unrepentantly. "I wanted Josh Windass to score and win the game (he did both). Now I want Hull to win every game until the end of the season (apart from April's return).
"I watch Josh as a footballer and his movement is unbelievable but it's hard for a dad. When I played football, I could do something about it.
"I tell him the truth. He should have scored the other week when he chipped the keeper and he should have sidefooted it. He listens."
And he is lucky he has a dad who is always looking to help.