“I don’t like people to know”

The hard-tackling midfielder became the Superbike champion. The title winner who ended up living in a caravan in Filey. Leeds United great who became a master butcher. David Batty has clearly packed a lot of pensions, if rumors are to be believed.

The reality is a bit different – we’ll discuss that later – but these myths have taken on a life of their own as the former England international has refreshingly kept out of the public eye. Even Rio Ferdinand, who shared a dressing room with Batty for both club and country, previously asked his millions of followers on social media if they knew what happened to the 55-year-old. Nobody did. Batty has kept such a low profile that even Jon Newsome hasn’t seen his former team-mate since the pair attended the Gary Speed ​​memorial match in Cardiff 12 years ago.

“I work quite a lot at Elland Road on match days and half the guys who work there have played with David Batty at one point,” Newsome told Leeds Live. “It’s been years since anyone last saw him, but the number of times he’s spoken is ridiculous, really.

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“A lot of it is, ‘Has anyone seen it?’ – No, no one saw him. No one contacted him. He is quite the talk of the town for someone who is never seen or spoken to.

“We had a conversation about him in the last few weeks. We’ll try to get all the guys together at some point. Someone has his phone number and we’ll try to get in touch with him. it.

“Whether he’s actually answering the phone or thinking of coming over to spend an afternoon or evening with the boys? I really don’t know. It would be great to see him.”

There’s a reason this cult figure is still talked about all these years later. Batty, in Newsome’s eyes, was the “tough as nails” midfielder who “led people forward”. The winner who could “flick the switch from being the comedian in the dressing room to walking down the tunnel and being absolutely on it.” He was also a “character of his own”.

Did you ever hear the one about Batty helping his dad on his off-season dusting rounds after Leeds won promotion in 1990? Or the time he repeatedly scored into an empty net and celebrated in front of an imaginary stand after being given his own ball by Howard Wilkinson to keep him amused during training in the square? Or how Batty didn’t mind what company car he got with the Rover and simply asked for the diesel estate? Or how about when the former England international told Pizza Hut where to go after the fast food company got in touch with an ad campaign following his penalty miss at the 1998 World Cup?

Other stories are less well known. When Batty was at Newcastle United after his spell at Blackburn Rovers, those working at Leeds at the time recalled that he thought nothing of giving a fan a signed shirt or even one of his shirts worn in England after they made contact. . Indeed, this “ordinary Yorkshireman” was never far from home after choosing to commute to and from Newcastle’s training ground rather than uproot his family, as his former team-mate recalled Magpies, Warren Barton.

“I think he went out once and dressed up as a nun at a Christmas party, which was the complete opposite of David because he wasn’t a saint on the pitch!” he told Leeds Live. “I respected him for that. It wasn’t “Oh, he’s not out, so he’s not one of us.”

“I knew what it was about. He was a family man. His family lived in Yorkshire so he wanted to get home, but when he was here he was definitely one of the boys.”

Batty is still based in Yorkshire to this day, enjoying a low-key retirement with his wife and children, just as the 55-year-old intended when he hung up his boots in 2004. Although many of Batty’s contemporaries entered into coaching, punting or corporate hospitality after retirement, that was never the former England international’s plan as he just wanted to spend time with his family.

Batty has rarely been seen in public in the years since, as Alan Sutton knows all too well. The former Leeds physio last caught him in 2011, on an afternoon Batty, Gary McAllister and Gordon Strachan returned to Elland Road to pay tribute to the late Gary Speed.

“Louise (Speed’s widow) and Gary’s mum and dad were upstairs so I went up before the game,” Sutton told Leeds Live. “I was talking to Gordon and Gary Mac and as I was walking out this voice said, ‘Sutts, are you talking or what?’ “I looked around. ‘Fuck! Bats! How are you?’ I hadn’t seen him in years.

“I said, ‘I was talking to your agent last week. You’re moving, aren’t you? He said: “You know me Sutts, I like to stay under the radar. I don’t like people knowing where I am.” That sums it up.”