Bristol Rovers legend given two to six years to live as he takes legal action against the FA

Bristol Rovers legend Ian Alexander reveals he has been given two to six years to live as he takes legal action against the FA.

In May, the 61 year old was diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is a neurological condition believed to be caused by repeated blows to the head, leaving him with severe damage to his brain sustained during his 13-year career.

The deterioration of his health means he struggles to get himself at matches, due to anxiety and panic attacks, as well as the threat of swallowing his tongue, confining him to only having soft foods.

Ian’s spoken in an interview with The Guardian on his diagnosis, what led to it, and how he’s joined 60 former footballers pursuing legal action against the Football Association regarding brain injuries incurred during their playing careers.

This group also includes the families of the late Nobby Stiles and Joe Kinnear, who are involved in the ongoing case in the high court.

Former footballer Colin Gibson also opened up on his early-onset dementia diagnosis in 2022, urging people to get tested.

Ian says he’s “lucky” because he has a diagnosis after years of fear and confusion.

He received an email from the Bristol Rovers Former Players Association in January 2024, leading to Alexander getting himself checked out.

His wife, Janet, now hopes a dementia diagnosis from the NHS will follow, opening up greater access to medication, trying to help those who suffer from with chronic headaches and tremors, something which Ian has and can prevent him from sleeping. The only way he tries to deal with that is by taking paracetamol.

“I just want more people to know about brain injuries suffered by footballers,” Alexander says.

“I don’t care about getting money out of it. I just want to get the word out. About six months ago I was with four or five ex-players in the pub. I was telling them about my problems and they said: ‘That’s strange, it’s happening to me as well.’ There must be so many of them. I just want to help educate them so more of them go to get help.”

He recalls problems starting a few years ago, starting to lose his memory, making his job challenging, and trips to the GP were needed, only to be told that his symptoms had been merely those of old age, yet he was in his 50s at the time of trying to get answers for his memory loss.

UTG pic.twitter.com/pwNrOlEJNd

— Ian Alexander (@jockalexander63) May 6, 2023

Me a d the grandkids pic.twitter.com/UfYJEZ078J

— Ian Alexander (@jockalexander63) October 9, 2021

“I’d be at a site painting, go out to get some lunch, and when I came back I’d have no idea where I was supposed to be,” Alexander says. “I’d go back to the wrong room and start painting somewhere else. It reached a point where I couldn’t go on.

“I went to see doctors in Glasgow a couple of years ago and told them I didn’t feel right – I was depressed, had anxiety. They just said it was old age. All I could get from them was: ‘You’re getting old, you’re getting old.’”

His condition has worsened since then with wife Janet helping him. The couple also care for Janet’s daughter Carla, registered disabled owing to chronic arthritis.

“I look after her and she looks after Carla,” Alexander says. “I tell them not to worry about me!”

Janet is also dealing with a neurological condition, known as fibromuscular dysplasia, blind on her right side. She has already been through so much, having also lost two daughters to cystic fibrosis when they were young adults.

She said to the Guardian: “I look after Jocky [Ian] and he looks after me. He likes to go to the football still, but sometimes it’s too much for him. He just gives me a nod, then we leave. The Rovers fans love him and all want to talk to him, so it can be quite draining. I can’t even get round the supermarket when he comes – the shopping takes hours!”

“We have to go shopping together as she can’t trust me,” Alexander says. “The other day she sent me out for milk and bread, and I came back with a tank of fuel! My phone is like a shopping list now. Every time I leave the house I need a list to make sure I get back OK.

“I sometimes go to open the fridge and just stand there, with no idea what I’m looking for. I’m on a soft-food diet now anyway so I don’t know why I’m in the fridge in the first place. All my food has to be chopped up like a baby’s. Apparently my brain isn’t sending the right messages to my tongue so I’m not swallowing stuff properly. I have choking episodes.”

Alexander reflected on his playing career, in which he had at least four serious concussions, with one very serious incident coming in an FA Cup First Round tie against Fisher Athletic in 1988.

“I nearly died on the pitch once,” he says. “Right from the kick-off the ball was played up to me, and a centre-half came out of nowhere and smashed me. There was a clash of heads and the next thing I remember is being in hospital. I’d swallowed my tongue and half my denture plate. They told me I was about 20 or 30 seconds away from death.

“That happened on a Saturday and I was training again by Wednesday. I was supposed to play the next Saturday, but Gerry said he’d give me another week off so it was a fortnight before I came back. I didn’t think about the risks. It was my job, wasn’t it? You took the knocks, got on with it, and went again. Now it’s all coming to light.”

At the time, his club didn’t have a doctor in attendance for the game. “The referee shouldn’t have started the game because the doctor wasn’t there,” he says.

“The club doctor was stuck in traffic and I didn’t see him until I was in the hospital. We never saw the doctor really; it was just physios.

“If it wasn’t for the club physio Roy Dolling, I would definitely have died. I swallowed my tongue, my denture plate snapped and half of it went down my throat. He used to carry a piece of metal in his kitbag. He flipped it down and pulled my teeth out.

“I had a good life, but looking back, I think I could have a better life now,. I’m paying the price now. I played 299 games for Bristol Rovers – I wasn’t good enough to make 300!

“We won the [Third Division] league in 1990. Bristol City were second, so it was quite a year. We also got to Wembley that season, but lost in the final to Tranmere. I played at Anfield, St James’ Park, Ibrox, Parkhead. I had good days, good times. Made some good friends.

“The doctors gave me two to six years, but they say I’m quite fit. I’m not going to give in. I’m going to fight it till the end. I’ve got a good team around me with my wife and kids. And once the word gets out to Rovers fans I’ll have them behind me too.”