Family of Gordon McQueen in plea to make football safer after his death
By Tom Wilkinson and Dave Higgens, Press Association
Football must do more to protect players, the family of ex-Scotland defender Gordon McQueen said after an inquest found that heading the ball was “likely” to have contributed to a brain injury which was a factor in his death.
McQueen – who was capped for Scotland 30 times between 1974 and 1981, and played for both Manchester United and Leeds United during a 16-year career – died at his home in North Yorkshire in June 2023, aged 70.
The cause of death was pneumonia – he had become frail and was confined to bed for several months, the inquest in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, heard earlier this month.
The pneumonia was a consequence of mixed vascular dementia and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), coroner Jon Heath said.
In a narrative conclusion, the coroner said: “It is likely that repetitive head impacts sustained by heading the ball while playing football contributed to the CTE.”
After the hearing, McQueen’s TV presenter daughter Hayley McQueen and her sister Anna Forbes, spoke about the dangers of heading.
Ms McQueen said: “It should have been a turning point many, many years ago when we learned the same thing with Jeff Astle and not much has happened between that time and now.
“Hopefully, my dad’s legacy will not just be what he gave football on the pitch but what we can learn from this and make sure that this really horrible problem isn’t a problem for future generations.
“They need the help from the footballing authorities, but there also needs to be changes too – potential legislation and just education.”
Ms McQueen said: “He absolutely loved everything about football.
“But, ultimately, it took him in the end.
“He went through an horrendous time towards the end of his life.”
She said: “He was certain himself it was possibly from heading footballs. Now it’s not just ‘could it be this, could it be that?’. We know it is.
“I think my dad’s main message would be to warn others against the dangers of heading and protect future generations.”
Ms Forbes said the family had been let down by the Professional Footballers’ Association when her father was still alive, calling the players’ union a “disgrace” after, she said, it did not respond to pleas for help.
She said: “It depleted my parents’ lifetime savings looking for private care for my dad and we relied on charities such as Head for Change to support his respite care because the PFA gave us nothing, no support whatsoever.”
The sisters said that the McQueen family love football and they do not want to ruin it, but they would advocate making it safer, and for clubs and coaches to follow guidelines on heading.
I know a lot of footballers whose families have reached out who have symptoms very similar to that of my dad, and I think we're going to start to see more and more
Ms McQueen said she had spoken to ex-players from her father’s era who were “terrified” about what might happen to them.
She said: “I know a lot of footballers whose families have reached out who have symptoms very similar to that of my dad, and I think we’re going to start to see more and more.
“I know the ’66 World Cup England team have been pretty much wiped out with neurodegenerative disease.
“I know my dad’s generation was a little after that … but I think there’s a very real problem with those that played, and certainly the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, and even in the early ’90s as well.
“I speak to a couple of the ex-Manchester United players who’ve been offered the chance to have some kind of brain scanning, and they refuse it because they’re terrified of what they’re going to find out.”
Judith Gates, founder of the Head Safe Football charity following the death of her ex-professional footballer husband, Bill, said the outcome of the inquest was significant.
She said: “Gordon died from CTE.
“CTE is only caused by repeated impact.
“Therefore, how do you solve repetitive head impacts? You reduce the frequency.”
When giving evidence at his inquest earlier this month, Ms McQueen said her father stated “heading a football for all those years probably hasn’t helped”.
She also recalled how, when she was young, he would come home from training with Manchester United and lie down in a darkened room with a headache.
She described how her father was very healthy and active – both in sport and with his family – during his playing days and after he retired.
But she said the family began to notice changes in his personality after his 60th birthday.
Ms McQueen said her father had always been very sociable and outgoing, but became more withdrawn.
Ms McQueen said that although her father was a central defender, he was well known for scoring goals from set pieces, usually with his head.
He came to prominence in England following his move to Leeds from St Mirren in 1972, helping the Yorkshire club to league title success in 1973-74 and playing a key role in their run to the European Cup final in 1975.
McQueen then joined rivals Manchester United in 1978 and went on to win the FA Cup in 1983.
Injury robbed him of a World Cup appearance in 1978 after he had been included in Scotland’s squad having made his senior debut in 1974 against Belgium.
After retiring as a player, McQueen had a brief spell as Airdrie manager and coach at former club St Mirren, and spent five years as coach at Middlesbrough under Bryan Robson until 2001.
He went on to become a pundit on Scottish TV and on Sky Sports.
The inquest heard how McQueen’s family donated his brain, after his death, to Professor Willie Stewart – a consultant neuropathologist at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, who has conducted extensive research into brain injury in footballers and rugby players.
Prof Stewart told the inquest he found evidence of CTE – a brain disorder linked to repeated head impacts – and vascular dementia.
Prof Stewart agreed that the CTE “more than minimally, negligibly or trivially” contributed to the death and that “heading the ball” contributed to the CTE.
The professor said the only evidence available was McQueen’s “high exposure” to heading a football.
