Heading a soccer “likely” contributed to the mind harm which was an element within the demise of former Scotland defender Gordon McQueen, a coroner has discovered.
McQueen – who was capped for Scotland 30 occasions between 1974 and 1981, and performed for each Manchester United and Leeds throughout a 16-year profession – died at his residence in North Yorkshire in June 2023, aged 70.
The reason for demise was pneumonia as he had change into frail and bed-bound for months, the inquest in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, heard earlier this month.
That frailty was attributable to a mixture of vascular dementia and persistent traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), coroner Jon Heath stated.
The coroner gave a story conclusion on Monday, discovering that McQueen died from pneumonia as a consequence of combined vascular dementia and CTE.
He stated: “It is likely that repetitive head impacts sustained by heading the ball while playing football contributed to the CTE.”
McQueen’s TV presenter daughter Hayley McQueen was in court docket to listen to the findings.
When giving proof at his inquest earlier this month, she was requested by her barrister Michael Rawlinson KC if her father had mentioned whether or not something in his previous historical past was behind his dementia.
She stated: “He said ‘heading a football for all those years probably hasn’t helped’.”
McQueen stated her dad was comparatively injury-free throughout his profession however did undergo some concussions, including: “They would just head back out and play.”
She additionally recalled how, when she was younger, he would come residence from coaching with Manchester United and lie down in a darkened room with a headache.
She described how her father was very wholesome and energetic – each in sport and together with his household – throughout his taking part in days and after he retired.
However she stated the household started to note adjustments in his persona after his sixtieth birthday.
McQueen stated her father had at all times been very sociable and outgoing, however turned extra withdrawn.
She stated that though her father was a central defender, he was well-known for scoring targets from set-pieces, normally together with his head.
He got here to prominence in England following his transfer to Leeds from St Mirren in 1972, serving to the Yorkshire membership to league title success in 1973-74 and taking part in a key function of their run to the European Cup ultimate in 1975.
McQueen then joined Leeds’s arch-rivals Manchester United in 1978 and went on to win the FA Cup in 1983.
Harm robbed him of a World Cup look in 1978 after he had been included in Scotland’s squad having made his senior debut in 1974 in opposition to Belgium.
After retiring as a participant, McQueen had a short spell as Airdrie supervisor and coach at former membership St Mirren, and spent 5 years as coach at Middlesbrough beneath Bryan Robson till 2001.
He went on to change into a pundit on Scottish TV and on Sky Sports activities.
The inquest heard how McQueen’s household donated his mind, after his demise, to Professor Willie Stewart – a advisor neuropathologist on the Queen Elizabeth College Hospital, Glasgow, who has carried out intensive analysis into mind harm in footballers and rugby gamers.
Prof Stewart advised the inquest he discovered proof of CTE – a mind dysfunction linked to repeated head impacts – and vascular dementia.
Prof Stewart agreed with Mr Rawlinson, for the McQueen household, when he requested whether or not the CTE “more than minimally, negligibly or trivially” contributed to the demise and that “heading the ball” contributed to the CTE.
The professor stated the one proof out there was McQueen’s “high exposure” to heading a soccer.
