Football today stands accused of behaving like the notorious tobacco industry of the 1960s and has been warned that its “scandalous” failure to carry out research into the link between dementia and the world’s most popular sport risks legal action running into hundreds of millions of pounds.

On Tuesday, The Telegraph launches a campaign to demand action on brain injuries potentially caused by football with the backing of those deeply affected plus medical experts.

The issue has been brought into sharp focus in this 50th anniversary year of the 1966 World Cup triumph, with four of the eight surviving outfield players of England’s greatest team now confirmed to be suffering with significant memory problems.