As in health, Billy always courage and leadership
footballer he once was. Liz, his wife of over 50 years, said in February 2017: “It is sad. We don’t know what he can remember because he can’t communicate. Sometimes you will see something, a smile or a look but then it goes.”
Recalling the journey towards Billy’s diagnosis, Liz said: “It was a bit of a shock. I had noticed that Billy had been getting his words mixed up. He called the car the hoover one day, and I said to Mike Jackson, the best man at our wedding, had he noticed anything?
“He said he had. So we talked to the family and went to see a doctor.”
Liz and Billy were together when doctors delivered the news.
Liz said: “We didn’t talk about it, I didn’t want him to get upset or worried. In the beginning, he would say, ‘What’s wrong with me?’ when he couldn’t do something or remember something.
“I didn’t want to worry him. I’d say, ‘We all forget things, Billy’.”
Liz added: “Not being able to communicate with him is hard. He understands when you speak to him directly but only for a short time.
“He can’t concentrate. He can’t follow a conversation.”
Billy, a centre-half, scored 37 goals in his Celtic career, mostly headers.
Stirling University research revealed a player heading a modern ball 20 times had reduced memory performance by between 41 and 67 per cent in the 24 hours after the experiment.
It was followed by a University College London study of 13 deceased professionals and one amateur player with dementia. The scientists found the footballers had a far higher rate of chronic traumatic encephalopathy – damage caused by repeated blows – in their brains than average.
Dr Helen Ling, who led the research, said: “These players had the same pathology as boxers.
“If we can demonstrate the risk is higher than the normal population, we’d need to look at putting preventative strategies in place.”