Manchester United legend Nobby Stiles sold football career medals 'to pay for dementia care'
John Stiles, the son of Manchester United and England midfield player Nobby Stiles, joined Gamal Fahnbulleh and Katie Walderman in the studio to talk about the calls from former footballers and their families to help them deal with serious brain conditions in later life.
The son of England World Cup winner Nobby Stiles says his father was forced to sell his medals to pay for his care as he calls on the sport's authorities to do more to help ex players and their families cope with a dementia diagnosis.
Former Manchester United midfielder Stiles, who was part of the England team which won the World Cup on home soil in 1966, died in 2020 having lived with the disease for several years.
Stiles had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2013, but a postmortem examination of his brain found he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive neurodegenerative disease associated with repeated head traumas.
His son John heads up the Football Families for Justice (FFJ) group which is calling on the football authorities to do more to help former players diagnosed with dementia - which he says "killed" his father.
The Football Brain Health Fund was set up in 2023 by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) and the Premier League with an initial £1million available to support ex-players and families with care costs.
But John says the fund is not nearly enough, with his father forced to sell medals earned during his playing career to fund his care.
John, a group of former players, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, and Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram met in Manchester to discuss ways to impose political pressure on the football authorities to do more.
Peter Reid was among several high profile former players who have thrown their weight behind the campaign.
Among them was football manager, pundit and former player Peter Reid, who says he has lost friends, who were footballers, over the years to dementia and that their families "struggled".
He added: "I think the only real help is the PFA £1 million fund and it's not enough. We have got help these families, without a doubt, and we've got to help these ex players."
Mayor Burnham said: "The Football Governance Bill is going through the House of Lords at the moment and it’ll be in the Commons in the spring.
"What we will do is bring together an amendment to that bill that requires football to have a fully funded compensation scheme to support former players in their families who are struggling with dementia and other neuro degenerative conditions.
"We will launch a campaign in parliament in the spring for amendments be made so the football game takes care of an issue that isn’t resolved as of yet."
Speaking after the meeting on Friday in Manchester, Mayor Andy Burnham said he hopes the discussion will help bring about an amendment to the Football Governance Bill.
The Premier League and PFA have a confirmed an increase to funding to the Football Brain Health Fund beyond its initial commitment of £1million.
The PFA also offers a dedicated support team, which offers personalised guidance to players and families, and provides free and confidential access to dementia clinics and specialised Admiral Nurses.
Player education sessions on brain health risks are also offered to current players by Astle and others, while the union continues to lobby at the global level for the introduction of temporary concussion substitutes.
The FA co-funded the FIELD Study with the PFA, which found that footballers were three and a half times more likely to die of neurodegenerative disease than age-matched members of the general population.
The latest FIELD update in December 2024 found the heightened risk among footballers’ was not driven by general health and lifestyle factors.
While it will likely take long-term studies to definitively link repeated heading to an increased risk of developing neurodegenerative disease, the FA has taken steps to reduce the risk in any case and is phasing out all heading in youth football up to under-11s by 2026.
A limit of 10 ‘high force’ headers in training per week has been imposed in adult football from the professional game down to grassroots.
An FA spokesperson said: “We continue to take a leading role in reviewing and improving the safety of our game.
“This includes investing in and supporting multiple projects in order to gain a greater understanding of this area through objective, robust and thorough research.
“We have already taken many proactive steps to review and address potential risk factors which may be associated with football whilst ongoing research continues in this area, including liaising with the international governing bodies.”
The Stiles family is also part of a group which is taking legal action against the FA, the EFL and the International Football Association Board (IFAB), claiming they did not do enough to protect players from the risk of brain injuries.
The PFA has been approached for comment.
Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning.