'Things are getting difficult'

BBC News

11-07-2025

Former striker Marcus Stewart has said he left his Yeovil Town coaching role this summer as he did not feel he would be able to "physically do the job" as his motor neurone disease (MND) progresses.The 52-year-old stepped down from his role as head of player development at the National League side at the end of last season in May.Stewart, who played for Ipswich, Bristol Rovers, Exeter City, Sunderland and the Glovers during his career, was diagnosed with the degenerative and incurable condition which affects nerves in the brain and spinal cord in 2022."Things are getting difficult, slowly taking my independence away," Stewart told BBC Radio Somerset."Next year I don't think I'd be able to physically do the job even though I was part-time."I didn't really want to rely on people next season and I didn't want to commit to something then and halfway through the season have to quit the club."
Bristol-born Stewart played in all top four tiers in England, scoring 254 goals in 783 games across his 20-year playing career.He joined Yeovil's coaching staff in June 2022 and three months later confirmed his MND diagnosis."It's very difficult to clean my teeth, put my shoes on, it seems to have affected my right arm now as well as my left," Stewart said. "But it's all about finding solutions for me, not having a problem. That's what I've got to do every time it affects me in some sort of way."While football has been Stewart's life for decades he said he so far has not missed the sport - a feeling significantly helped by his time being taken up preparing for an upcoming move with his family to Manchester."Purely because for the last 30-odd years I've always had this time of year off anyway, so it's just normal for me," he said."Give it a month or two when things have settled down and I'm in the house and I'm watching more football I think that's a question for then."At the moment there's so many things going on in my life." Stewart added that having football in his life since his diagnosis had been a big help."I'm sure if I look back in two or three years' time I'd realise that I needed that football environment to help with dealing with the diagnosis," he said."And the support they've given me as a club and the staff members has been top class."
'I can help getting MND cause out there'
Stewart is one of a number of high profile sports people who have been diagnosed with MND in recent years and alongside his coaching he has participated in a number of fundraisers for the Darby Rimmer Foundation. Its purpose is to find treatments and eventually a cure while supporting the families of people who live with MND."The biggest kick I get out of it is when I see so many people with MND that haven't got a voice - not like a profile, like literally [no voice]," Stewart said. "They want to help and they want to get involved and they can't move. I suppose I can help, along with Kev Sinfield, Stephen Darby and Ed Slater, with getting it out there and helping raise funds and find a cure."Two of his former clubs, Yeovil and Bristol Rovers, will play each other in a pre-season friendly at Huish Park in a 'Match for Marcus' to celebrate his career on Saturday, 19 July. "It's very nice that people think about me and think about MND and it was kind of them to think about me for that game," Stewart said."All I've got to do is hope that we keep on fundraising and do a lot more for MND."