“I’m paying the price”: Ian Alexander, a legend of Bristol Rovers, discusses his career-ending concussions
Ian Alexander, who is 34 years old, is looking through a Bristol Rovers shirt for autographs that could lead him to his former teammates who were there on his career-defining day.
Although the 61-year-old suffered severe brain damage during his 13-year career, he hardly remembers the 1990 Leyland Daf Trophy final at Wembley beyond being carted off on a stretcher before half-time following a cynical challenge from Tranmere’s Neil McNab.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a brain disorder thought to be caused by repetitive hits to the head. Doctors gave Alexander a two- to six-year life expectancy when they diagnosed him with it in May. His health has taken a nosedive since then; he has panic attacks and anxiety, so going to see his beloved Rovers is out of the question. He can only eat soft foods because he is afraid he may choke. After spending an inspiring, humorous, and uplifting morning with him, the mild-mannered Scot starts to repeat himself inside the first twenty minutes.
Despite everything, Alexander takes it as a sign of good fortune that he has finally received a diagnosis, which has put an end to his years of uncertainty and terror. Scanners were sent to Alexander in January by the Bristol Rovers Former Players Association, seemingly by accident. His wife, Janet, is hoping a dementia diagnosis will follow on the NHS, providing access to treatment for the severe headaches and tremors which often leave him unable to sleep. His medication is confined to paracetamol.
Since being diagnosed with CTE, Alexander has joined a group of about 60 former footballers taking legal action against the Football Association over brain injuries sustained during their careers, with the families of the late Nobby Stiles and Joe Kinnear also part of the claim being heard in the high court. The majority have preserved their right to secrecy but Alexander, in speaking to the Guardian, has become the second former player go public after Aston Villa’s 1982 European Cup winner Colin Gibson.
“I just want more people to know about brain injuries suffered by footballers,” Alexander adds. “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 troubles and they said: ‘That’s strange, it’s happening to me as well.’ There must be so many of them. I just want to assist educate them so more of them go to get help.”
Alexander’s issues began a few years ago with his deteriorating memory making his profession as a painter and decorator impossible. Frequent trips to the GP added to his frustration. He was constantly advised that his symptoms were only those of old age, despite the fact he was in his 50s.
“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 explains. “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 receive from them was: ‘You’re growing old, you’re getting old.’”
Alexander’s symptoms have increased dramatically subsequently and he leans largely on his wife Janet for aid. The love, support and good humor in their Bristol house is apparent, with the pair also caring for Janet’s daughter Carla, who is certified disabled owing to chronic arthritis.
“I look after her and she looks after Carla,” Alexander says with a smile. “I tell them not to worry about me!”
Janet has a neurological issue of her own – fibromuscular dysplasia, which means she is blind on her right side – and is definitely a fantastic woman. Care and courage have been the mainstays of Janet’s life – she lost two kids to cystic fibrosis when they were young adults – yet there is not a hint of animosity when she explains the family’s plight.
“I look after Jocky [Ian] and he looks after me,” she explains. “He likes to go to the football still, but sometimes it’s too much for him. He merely gives me a nod, and we depart. The Rovers supporters love him and all want to chat to him, so it can be rather draining. I can’t even go round the store when he visits — 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 grocery 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 meals has to be diced up like a baby’s. Apparently my brain isn’t giving the right instructions to my tongue thus I’m not swallowing anything properly. I get choking episodes.”
Alexander began his career as a centre-forward under the former England captain Emlyn Hughes at Rotherham and had brief spells at Motherwell and with Pezoporikos Larnaca before becoming a club icon at Rovers.
He was transformed there into a right-back by the manager Gerry Francis but was occasionally played up front, when head confrontations with rival centre-backs were prevalent. His medical files suggest he incurred at least four major concussions throughout his career, including one horrifying event in an FA Cup first-round game against Fisher Athletic in 1988, when he swallowed his tongue.
“I nearly died on the pitch once,” he recalls. “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 crash of heads and the next thing I remember is being in hospital. I’d swallowed my tongue and half my denture plate. They informed me I was just 20 or 30 seconds away from death.
“That happened on a Saturday and I was training again by Wednesday. I was meant to play the next Saturday, but Gerry said he’d give me another week off so it was a week before I came back. I didn’t think about the risks. It was my duty, wasn’t it? You accepted the knocks, got on with it, and went again. Now it’s all coming to light.”
Alexander indicates that Rovers did not have a doctor at the Fisher game. “The referee shouldn’t have started the game because the doctor wasn’t there,” he argues. “The club doctor was stuck in traffic and I didn’t see him until I was in the hospital. We never saw the doctor actually; 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 slid down my throat. He used to carry a bit of metal in his kitbag. He flipped it down and took my teeth out.”
Alexander looks with love on his life in football, but tinged with melancholy at what it might have cost him. “I had a good life, but looking back, I think I could have a better life now,” he says. “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 against Tranmere. I played at Anfield, St James’ Park, Ibrox, Parkhead. I had excellent days, good moments. 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 finish. I’ve got a good team around me with my wife and kids. And as the word gets out to Rovers fans I’ll have them behind me too.”
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