Chris Nicholl

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Sad news.

Dementia is a horrible and cruel condition. I hope he has plenty of support systems in place and gets all the help he needs.

It’s a cruel cruel illness. I remember him from my earliest days at BP as a tough man in a team of tough men and now the poor fella can’t look out for himself.

How sad hope he is safe and being cared for

its a cruel thing to get. He was huge for us and a few others. Hope he gets looked after well

We had Chris playing along side Kev Moore in a great defence.

Sad to hear about this our thoughts are with him.

He was brilliant for us. His head seemed to be a magnet for the ball. Might not be uconnected with his present condition.

Hopefully we'll get to understand these things better and can do something to improve the situation in the future. My sympathy is with Chris' family and freinds.

Chris Nicholl was class here, one of the best players I ever saw play for Town.

Sad news.

Kevin Moore and Chris Nicholl made a formidable defensive partnership. Not much got past their heads. Rather than state the obvious, I'll leave it at that. Very sad news.

The best central pairing in my time of watching town, Kevin Moore & Chris Nicholl.

I have the pleasure of meeting Chris a few years ago, when he was a guest of GTFC.  It was a chance meeting, I was parking my car in Brereton Ave, when this person smartly dress in a suit ask me, if I could tie his lace up on his shoe.  I knew who he was and walked and chatted to him as we made our way to the game.  He said then that his memory was deteriorating, and might not rememeber where he had parked his car.
I said after the game, I would walk him back to his car, which I did. It was a pleasure to be able to have a few minutes chatting away to a Town Legend.
I hope he has all the support he needs.

UTM

Great player and along with Kev Moore the best CB pairing I have seen for Town . It`s a crying shame with the money in the game these days that players from yesteryear are not looked after better when they fall on hard times health wise. Cruel disease I hope he gets sorted

That is very sad to hear.

I recall the Alan Shearer documentary a couple of years ago about the link between heading the ball and brain damage. He interviewed Chris. He was already starting to show symptoms then. Of course Matt Tees also featured.

The program mentioned the case of Jeff Astle who died in 2002 at the age of 59. The coroner found that his death was due to repeated minor traumas to his brain and a verdict of ‘Death by Industrial Injury’ was recorded.  Thus the Coroner found that football related injury lead to his death.

We are all aware of the tragic death of Kevin Moore who passed away at the age of 55 suffering from frontotemporal dementia (FTD). At the time some fans speculated if this was linked to his football career. Currently there is no firm evidence of a causal link between FTD and heading a football. The causes of this very rare form of dementia are unknown, but there is some data to suggest it is at least partly hereditary.  However the condition is caused by the death of nerve cells in the frontal and temporal lobes, and one wonders if repeated contact between ball and forehead may be a contributory factor in cases where the individual is already susceptible to the condition.  More research is required.

It's a very disturbing issue, and one that could have serious ramifications for the sport. But the safety and long term health of players must be paramount..    

Yes a very cruel disease.  Which some people do not realise that it is terminal.  A person also reverts back to having the faculties of a baby.  Family and friends suffer even more than the person with the disease.  They see the deterioration of a person and personality that they love or know.

Very sad. Chris was a very bright chap, he was one of the first to be using computers to monitor training and so on when he was assistant manager here. Such a shame he should suffer like this. If there can ever be a good side to this condition it is that he will probably know very little about it now.

If I remember rightly the Shearer programme pointed to the training ground as the place where most damage was done.

I'll never forget that night at Goodison Park in 1984 Chris and Batchy were unbeatable that night.

Sad news, hope he gets the care and support he needs.

Quoted from 1mickylyons

Great player and along with Kev Moore the best CB pairing I have seen for Town . It`s a crying shame with the money in the game these days that players from yesteryear are not looked after better when they fall on hard times health wise. Cruel disease I hope he gets sorted

Is that a bit presumptive ? Or do you have personal knowledge that they are not ‘looked after’ in any way

Quoted from supertown

Is that a bit presumptive ? Or do you have personal knowledge that they are not ‘looked after’ in any way

Yes I agree. For all its faults, the PFA has a fair record of looking after injured and ill players if it is possible. They do have a sort of Dementia Department that contributes to research and helps players and families. It is unlikely the PFA or the FA or whatever could do a lot more because dementia is not classified as an industrial disease.

Until and unless research proves otherwise the chances of sufferers being treated like asbestosis sufferers for instance must be slim. It seems obvious to us as fans that heading a wet leather sphere countless times cannot do anyone much good, but the fact is that there are many more dementia cases who have never suffered brain trauma in their lives.

Great mention of Chris here in what must have been his finest 90 minutes in a Grimsby Town shirt.

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