Former Celtic star, 57, reveals battle with dementia as he says ‘it's from football, there's no other thing it can be'
The striker has told how scans showed damage to half of his brain
HEALTH BATTLE Former Celtic star, 57, reveals battle with dementia as he says 'it's from football, there's no other thing it can be'
FORMER Celtic star Andy Payton, 57, has told of his battle with dementia.
The striker has been diagnosed with early-onset form of the killer condition that has struck several Hoops legends including club legend Billy McNeill.
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Andy Payton spent a season with Celtic during the 1990s
Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
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He scored 15 goals in all competitions
Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
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 not 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."
Peyton said when he played he spent hours on end practicing heading footballs.
Now he has problems remembering what he's eaten just an hour before.
He added: "It was just header, header, bang, bang, bang.
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"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.
Auld died at 83 after being diagnosed with dementia five months before his passing, while McNeill died in 2019 after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2010.
Lisbon winning goalscorer 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 goalscorer 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.
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