DEAN Holdsworth revealed today how a chance remark to Sam Allardyce during the summer led to him being reunited with his twin brother for the first time in 13 years.

"I told him David didn't have a club and he said he was more than welcome to come up and do some training with us," the Reebok favourite explained.

"Nothing came of it because David had a few offers to consider at the time. It was only last Friday, the day before the deadline, that the gaffer came back and said 'Let's give it a go!'"

Thus were the Holdsworth twins - inseparable as boys growing up in Walthamstow and as apprentices and young professionals at Watford - teammates again.

"We went to school together, we took jobs together after school because my mum was bringing us up on her own and we trained together," Dean recalls of their formative years. "We shared a bedroom at home and lived in the same digs when we were apprentices.

"But since we went our separate ways we've hardly been together for more than a day at a time because of our commitments to different clubs! Now we're together again it's fantastic."

David admits it took time to adjust when they first went their separate ways. "I've never missed his untidyness," he jokes. "But it was strange at first when we split up. We've often been like ships passing in the night but we speak almost every day and, being twins, we know each other very, very well."

Twins they might be but the 'Holdsworthys', as their old youth coach at Watford used to call them (he had a keen eye for talent but wasn't so good on names), are anything but identical.

David - a rock solid, dependable centre-half, established himself during eight seasons in the first team at Vicarage Road. His reputation for reliability earned him the captaincy at Sheffeld United and Birmingham City in later years as he chalked up 533 first class games.

Dean, a crafty striker, was handed his first professional contract by Graham Taylor while he lay in hospital recovering from a career-threatening knee injury. He broke into the Watford first team in the 86-87 season under Dave Bassett but did not last long when Steve Harrison took over a year later.

"I felt I should have been playing and I told him so. We had a bust-up," he confirms. "But there was only one of us going to leave!

"Steve said some horrible things to me and I always had a burning ambition to prove him wrong. That was the sting in my tail. I always wanted to prove I was good enough to play for Watford - and I felt I did just that when I scored 29 goals for Brentford in my first season and 39 a couple of seasons later.

"That's me, that's my character. I've always been a chance taker; I've always relied on my instincts and still do, although I have calmed down a lot. David's always been very, very dependable."

The biggest surprise was that the more "reliable" Holdsworth twin found himself unemployed after leaving Birmingham, where he still had two years on his contract. He had offers but the cash crisis in the Nationwide League limited his options then, when he was on the verge of signing for Hibernian in the Scottish Premier League, a late snag scuppered the deal.

"Hibernian would have been a big challenge but this one is even bigger," he explained. "Working with good people at a Premiership club; I'm chuffed to be in the dressing room with Dean again but I'm not here for the fun. If I get the opportunity, I'm going to take it."

Dean reckons Wanderers' gain is ... well, everyone else's loss. "It's not often you see an experienced centre-half who has been captain at all his clubs struggling to get a game," he says.

"Now he's got a chance and he knows it's up to him. He hasn't played competitive football for four months and it might take him a couple of weeks to get right but what more can you want as cover?"

It mattered not to Allardyce that he was reuniting the twins. Sentiment plays no part in his management style. He needed defensive cover and David was available.

"I know Dean had a word but Sam wouldn't have got me here, if he didn't want me," says the newest arrival on the Reebok block.

Typically, Dean turns to humour to underline the point. "The gaffer wasn't influenced by the fact that I'm David's brother, although it will look odd if my mum gets the secretary's job."