“I’m not sorry for myself because I was fortunate to achieve what I did and have so many great experiences.”

The words of Dean Richards to me in 2005 after he was forced to prematurely quit the game he graced.

Richards remained one of Bradford’s own. He went away to seek fame and fortune with Wolves, Southampton, and Tottenham but he was always a Bantam at heart.

That was evident when the city was rattling buckets on the club’s behalf during the second spell in administration seven years ago.

I was keen to get Richards, then at Spurs, to play in the T&A’s Save Our City game at Valley Parade.

But we only established contact three days before kick-off and Tottenham would not allow him to be involved because of insurance issues.

Worse still, the Richards family were due to go on holiday on the Saturday – 24 hours before the match.

Not a problem, said Deano, we’ll just change the flight times, which he did – pushing them back to the following Monday morning.

And even though he could not kick a ball himself, Richards drove up to Bradford to pledge his backing for the cause.

He arrived at Valley Parade with two shirts signed by his Premier League team-mates and stayed for the duration to join in the fun before heading back home to pack.

The former Allerton lad thought nothing of it. He was simply showing his support for the club he had grown up with.

Dean Richards, one of the finest footballers this city has produced. Dean Richards, one of the nicest too.