Celtic star Payton is diagnosed with dementia aged 57

Daily Mail​

04-05-2025

Former Celtic star Andy Payton, 57, is battling dementia.
The striker has been diagnosed with early-onset form of the killer condition that has struck several footballers including Hoops legend Billy McNeill.
Mr Payton who played for the Parkhead club in the 90s is convinced playing football has caused his serious health problem.
He said: 'I was just experiencing the usual symptoms - forgetfulness, loss of memory and headaches, but I was n't expecting to have early onset dementia,
'It's properly frightening, you just don't know what's coming down the line.
'My partner more or less manages my day-to-day life, so I know exactly what I'm doing. where I need to be so I don't forget anything.
'The neurologist who did my scan said there are 68 tracts in the brain and 27 of mine are damaged.
'That's half the brain that's damaged.
'The neurologist said it's from football, there's no other thing it can be.'
He said that during his playing career he spent hours on end practicing heading footballs.
Now he has problems remembering what he's eaten just an hour before.
Mr Payton added: 'It was just header, header, bang, bang, bang.
'We'd do it every day, sometimes for an hour and a half.
'I must have headed the ball about 10,000 times, hence the fact I've ended with early onset dementia at 57.'
Several players from Celtic's 'Lisbon Lions' team, who won the European Cup in 1967, have been diagnosed with dementia, including Bertie Auld and Billy McNeill.
The former died at 83 after being diagnosed with dementia five months before his passing, while the latter died in 2019 after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2010.
Lisbon winning goal scorer Stevie Chalmers also died from the condition.
In Scotland charities and loved ones have demanded more help for footie legends with dementia amid concerns they are missing out on aid available to ex-stars in England.
Hundreds of families of former players battling the condition down south have benefited from a £1.5million fund set up with English Premier League cash but there is no comparable scheme here.
The pleas for support came after Scotland's joint-top goal scorer Denis Law and ex-Aberdeen boss Jimmy Calderwood became the latest heroes to lose their fights with the memory-robbing disease.
Battle Against Dementia charity chief Douglas McCluskey urged game bosses to find more cash - amid links between heading a football repeatedly and brain damage.
He has campaigned alongside the family of former Celtic captain and manager Billy McNeill.
Their Billy Against Dementia fund have raised tens of thousands of pounds via raffles, T-shirt sales, charity golf tournaments and gala dinners.