ACTIONS NOW SPEAK LOUDER

DEAN Windass recently recounted an incident during a match for Bradford City when he grew so enraged by the sledging of Robbie Savage that Paul Jewell hooked him at half- time.

- Chris DUNLAVY

Afterwards, still fuming, he stormed into the Filbert Street players’ lounge intent on violent retribution.

Savage, though, saw him coming. “Dean,” he said cheerily. “Do you want a pint mate? Oh, and say hello to my mum and dad’.

Suddenly flustered, Windass found himself exchanging pleasantries with an elderly couple before wishing everyone well and beating a meek retreat.

As he climbed into his car, Leicester’s Gerry Taggart – a former team-mate of Windass at Barnsley – sidled up. “He’s done you again there, Deano,” said Taggart. “That wasn’t his mum and dad.”

Savage built his career on this kind of s***housery. The Welshman’s Premier League years were defined as much by his knack for driving opponents to distraction as they were by the belligerent ratting that anchored the midfields of Leicester, Blackburn and Birmingham.

Decorum

As a radio pundit in retirement, little has changed. Even at 49, his golden mane now grey at the temples, Savage remains the irksome provocateur, perpetually seeking a reaction.