Struck down in his 50s, Fulham legend Jimmy Conway is facing the same fight as Nobby Stiles

The family of a Fulham legend who introduced football to thousands of young American players has faced the same premature struggle with dementia as Nobby Stiles, the Manchester United and England wing half whose plight has been revealed by The Independent this week.

Jimmy Conway, the former Republic of Ireland international who played over 300 times for Fulham and was in the side which contested the 1975 FA Cup final with West Ham, began displaying signs of brain disease in his 50s - even earlier than Stiles – and after a period of rapidly deteriorating health is now unable to communicate. Conway has been hospitalised since 2013.

His wife, Noeleen, has received support at their home in Portland, Oregon, where the Portland Timbers club which her husband captained staged a series of testimonial events stretching over one month, after it became clear seven years ago that he was struggling.

Mrs Conway has told the The Oregonian newspaper that she is “100 percent certain” that the 70-year-old’s condition is trauma-induced, after his years of heading the ball as a battering ram forward for Fulham, between 1966 and 1976, and then Manchester City, until 1978. Doctors have also said that they believe several concussions sustained during his playing career may be the cause of the problem, it has been reported in the US.

“Sometimes I look at his eyes and it’s like someone has pulled the shades down,” Mrs Conway said. “And I think that’s the hardest part. We’ve been married for 45 years. We worked together. We were in each other’s pockets 24/7. And he just went away. I suspect it began in his 50s. The declines were there. They are so subtle. I’d notice some things but you kind of brush them off. And then something else pops up.”

Conway entered the advanced stages of dementia in 2014, since when he has been unable to recognize people. His two years with the Portland Timbers, now in the MLS, cemented his status as one of Oregon’s soccer legends, one of four players in the Timbers’ 'Ring of Honor'. But he is credited as also being greatest force behind Oregon’s youth soccer surge, 30 years ago.

daughterWhen the Fulham 2000 supporters' group were trying to raise funds to buy Craven Cottage in 1995, Conway flew back to Britain to help his former team-mates re-enact the 1975 FA Cup final. The late Bobby Moore's place was taken by Blackburn's Tony Gale, a Fulham junior in ‘75 but otherwise all 21 players from 20 years ago were found and agreed to play in a 70-minute match at Craven Cottage.

The daughter of Jeff Astle, Dawn Astle, will on Friday meet the chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association, Gordon Taylor, for an interview as part of her work for a BBC documentary charting the possible link between brain disease and heading heavy footballs in the 1960s and 1970s. “We believe there are many people who have suffered like my dad who we do not know about,” said Ms Astle. “People think ‘Oh, these people are in their 70s. They are old.‘ But dad was 54. Others have also suffered, years before the usual onset of this kind of illness.”