Gordon McQueen, a former Leeds and Manchester United footballer, died at the age of 70 following a battle with dementia.
McQueen played for St Mirren, Leeds, and Manchester United throughout his 16-year playing career, earning 30 caps for Scotland.
Gordon McQueen, a former Manchester United, Leeds United, and Scotland centre-back, died at the age of 70 after a long struggle with dementia.
McQueen began feeling neurological symptoms in his mid-sixties, and his daughter, Sky Sports News presenter Hayley, believes his sickness was caused by his career, which required him to routinely head footballs.
Since 2019, a number of studies have repeatedly indicated that professional footballers are at a significantly elevated risk of developing dementia.
“It is with the heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of our beloved husband, father, and grandfather,” the McQueen family stated in a statement.
“We hope that, in addition to making many great football memories for his club and country, he will be remembered for the love, laughter, and bravery that characterized his career and family life, not least during his recent battles with illness.”
“The disease may have taken him too soon and while we struggle to comprehend life without him, we celebrate a man who lived life to the full: the ultimate entertainer, the life and soul of every occasion, the heart and soul of every dressing room, the most fun dad, husband and grandfather we could ever have wished for.”
McQueen was a 6ft 3in central defender who won 30 matches for Scotland between 1974 and 1981, including the historic 1977 international against England in which he scored with a header that sparked frenzied celebrations that ended with a broken Wembley crossbar.
McQueen rose to prominence in English football after joining Leeds United from St Mirren in 1972, helping Don Revie’s club win the league title in 1973-74 and then reaching the European Cup final in 1975.
He was suspended for Leeds’ final defeat to Bayern Munich before joining Manchester United in 1978, where he went on to win the FA Cup in 1983.
McQueen had a brief stint as Airdrie manager and coach at former club St Mirren after retiring as a player, and then spent five years as coach at Middlesbrough under Bryan Robson until 2001.
McQueen went on to become a prominent Sky Sports pundit before being formally diagnosed with vascular dementia in February 2021, following the start of symptoms over the previous few years.
It came after reports of hundreds of other former footballers suffering from early-onset dementia and, following a campaign begun by The Telegraph in 2016, research that discovered ex-professionals were 3.5 times more likely to die from neurodegenerative illness.
This included a five-fold greater risk of Alzheimer’s, a tripled risk of motor neuron disease, and an especially high danger for former defenders like McQueen, who routinely headed the ball.
McQueen’s 16-year playing career spanned the eras of the ‘old leather ball’ and today’s synthetic footballs, adding to the growing scholarly and anecdotal evidence that dementia in football is not an issue limited to one era.
Hayley McQueen, McQueen’s daughter, has spoken openly about her father’s sickness in recent years, and how he would remain behind in training to perfect his heading.
‘I’m beyond heartbroken… I’m simply numb.’
Professional footballers in England are now recommended to do only 10 ‘high-impact’ headers across a wider distance in training per week, while amateur players are urged not to head the ball more than 10 times per week. Last season, the Football Association introduced trial matches with no heading at all in under-12 games.
When McQueen fell ill and his diagnosis was published little over two years ago, he questioned whether frequently heading the ball was a component in his dementia. Tragically, the disease progressed quickly, leaving him mostly bedridden since last December and necessitating thrice-daily visits from hospice caregivers. Due to swallowing difficulties, he could only eat pureed meals.
“I’m beyond heartbroken… “I thought I’d be ready and relieved that he’s no longer fighting this horrible disease when the day came, but I’m just numb,” Hayley McQueen said.
“I’m hoping we can now remember him for the man he was rather than the man he became in recent years.” We believed we were going to lose him when home palliative care arrived to look for him in December; we were devastated, but he battled on for months.
“While it’s been unimaginably sad and, at times, unbearable for my mother, who has cared for him at home, we’ve had precious time with him as this cruel disease and everything that comes with it completely took over, he certainly put up a fight.” One consolation was that he knew all of his friends and family till the end, but I wouldn’t wish it on anyone to see someone slowly die. Life will never be the same without him, but he is finally at peace.”
Manchester United, whose iconic former players Sir Bobby Charlton and Denis Law are also suffering from dementia, said they were “heartbroken” and offered their “love and condolences” to the McQueen family.
A statement from Leeds United read: “The thoughts of everyone at Leeds United are with Gordon’s wife Yvonne, daughters Hayley and Anna, son Eddie and grandchildren Rudi, Etta and Ayla, along with his friends at this time.”
