‘You can’t take heading out of the game’

“I suppose that is something which could be reduced.

“But it is a technique. Heading is a skill. If you don’t practice you can run the risk of more injuries and problems.

“You can’t take heading out of the game. The balls now are different. The ones we used were like heading a house brick.

“The training methods, where you don’t allow young kids to head a ball until they have developed is good. But if you are a centre-back or centre forward, you have to head the ball.

“Some sort of test would help. In the pro game they could be screening you regularly so that dementia just doesn’t hit you.

“There has to be a staged approach for me. Young kids only play for 20 minutes and it needs common sense. Something like a step system where you progress to another level once you’re capable of doing certain things.”

Norris says he wouldn’t swap his football career for anything.

He insists getting in to the system for treatment has been a key breakthrough for himself and wife Kerry.

“I am still in the early stages. I have Zoom or telephone consultations and my specialist is happy with where I am at,” added Norris, who is a director at Leek Town.

“I did have a period where I had really bad headaches, but my medication was just tweaked.

“I got in the system, which is crucial. It takes a while, but we pushed and pushed the NHS.

“I had a spell of five scans and that’s when they picked it up. I was more comfortable when I had the diagnosis.

“Before that I was grasping trying to find out what was going on. Now I know.

“Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) is a progressive, complex and challenging condition which is thought to account for 10 to 15 per cent of all those with dementia.

“In the early stages it can be diagnosed wrongly, it also has a strain of Parkinson’s, so it’s a bit of a double whammy.

“My specialist says that with the medication I am on I can stay roughly at the same level for the next six or seven years, but we don’t know what’s going to happen beyond that.”