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JEFF ASTLE is a Black Country legend.

A West Bromwich Albion centre-forward, he scored 174 Baggies goals, including a winner in an FA Cup final against Everton.

But he went to his grave not even knowing he had been a footballer.

Memories of that 1968 Wembley winner and playing for his country in a World Cup finals in Mexico were cruelly taken away from him by the sport he loved.

After Astle died, aged 59, in January 2002, the inquest coroner ruled that he had suffered “death by industrial disease”, his brain damaged by the repeated heading of heavy leather footballs.

Prior to his premature death he had suffered a four year decline into the darkness of dementia.

Which begs the question, how many other former footballers have suffered?

Anfield legend Ian St John believes that several of his former team-mates from Bill Shankly’s first successful side are suffering.

Former captains Ron Yeats and Tommy Smith are both struggling with neurological problems, while Geoff Strong died four years ago at the age of 75, having been robbed of cognitive function by Alzheimer’s Disease.

Astle’s family set up the Jeff Astle Foundation on April 11, 2015 as a lasting legacy to both raise awareness of brain injury in all forms of sport and to offer much needed support to those affected.

While the plight of Liverpool legends Yeats and Smith was highlighted in poignant chapters of Ragnhild Lund Asnes’ recently published book Liverpool Captains.

St John helped out the Norwegian author with the chapter on Yeats, by acting as an intermediary during their interview.

During the chat, Yeats said: “The football itself was incredibly heavy, especially when it was wet. When you headed it... Most of the times you headed it you’d just think Jesus Christ! It’s almost impossible to imagine.’

St John added: “The ball was like a medicine ball, like the big, heavy balls from PE.”

Then Yeats went on: “You just had to make sure you hit it with your forehead. If it hit any other part of your head... Oooh, the headaches you’d have after a game...”

Tragically the repercussions were never discussed, or even understood back then.

St John said: “They never understood that at the time. Today people realise the serious consequences of blows against the head like that. And remember, back then the ball was played a lot more up in the air.

“The wings would send cross-field passes, and as attackers we’d often crash our heads into the defenders’. There could be elbows involved too, and I was often accidentally hit by goalies. Knocks like these have caused problems for a lot of players.”

St John believes that the USA is well ahead of this country in diagnosing and offering support for those sportspeople affected.

In a recent interview with The Independent newspaper, St John said: “In Europe, people are worried about this.

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Video: Tommy and Bessie Rossiter's 73-year relationship is so strong it can't be broken by dementia

“If doctors’ research shows that football gave a lot of us health problems, the clubs would have to pay a lot of money in compensation.

“It’s true that women our age suffer from dementia too, but in the same numbers as men in our industry? I’m not talking about men in our country in general who get Alzheimer’s. I’m talking about the percentage of our little group of professional footballers from the 1960s.

“I believe this is an occupational injury, a health condition caused by our job as footballers. When boxers receive those heavy punches to the head, they need to rest. That was never an issue in our time.

“To be honest, all the big names among players from the 1950s and 1960s are suffering from memory lapse or dementia in varying degrees. They need compensation to pay carers, people to help and assist them in their everyday lives; for hospitals and treatment.

“They ought to be compensated to get the best help they can for their condition, and be able to lead a dignified life in the years they’ve got left, but it’s not happening. There should be a system for employees with occupational injuries, who have their health damaged in the industry they work for.”

The PFA says the Football Association is leading the investigation into whether any link does exist.

The FA says its recently appointed head of performance medicine, Dr Charlotte Cowie is leading efforts to get research commissioned.

But experts have not yet been engaged to look at the subject, as Cowie and the FA’s ‘expert concussion panel’ want to ensure that the terms of reference are correct.

Though American Football and rugby do have published research to work from, the FA feel they are hampered by an absence of published research on the effects of heading a football. It is unclear when a research project might be launched.

And more and more football heroes like Astle, Smith, Yeats and Strong are suffering in silence.