Sky Sports presenter Hayley McQueen gives heartbreaking update on Man Utd legend dad’s battle with dementia
SKY SPORTS presenter Hayley McQueen has shared an update on her dad’s condition as he continues to battle dementia.
Former Manchester United and Scotland defender Gordon McQueen, 70, was diagnosed with dementia two years ago.
As a player McQueen spent seven years at Old Trafford and six years at Leeds, having started his career in Scotland with St Mirren in 1970.
Hayley revealed McQueen’s condition means he is now “completely bedridden”.
She told Good Morning Britain: “He is completely bedridden, which is awful. A big strapping man, just in bed.
“He watches a lot of football, not current day, he has a lot of football friends popping by. We’ve had a lot of his ex-team-mates come by.
“He knows who we all are, which is very weird because I associate dementia with not having a clue what on earth is going on or who anybody is and I quite like that fact, from a selfish point of view.
“But of me is like ‘if he didn’t know who we were, where we were, it maybe wouldn’t be so hard to think about potentially the day when he has to go into a home. At least he doesn’t know where he is or what’s going on’.
“He’s very aware, it’s like he’s locked in himself.”
Hayley went on to say her family debated whether or not to tell McQueen about his diagnosis.
The Sky Sports News presenter is the eldest of three children McQueen had with wife Yvonne.
Hayley continued: “When we found out that he had dementia, we were given the diagnosis, we debated whether to tell him or not.
“We were like ‘if we don’t tell him, he’s never going to know’ and if we tell him do we then have to remind him every day that he’s got dementia?
“We weren’t going to tell him and then we’re sat in the hospital and they were like “ok, Gordon, this is how we deal with dementia” and that’s that then.
“He said ‘I don’t want to get worse, I want to get better’.”
McQueen retired from football in 1985 following a short stint in Hong Kong with Seiko SA, and would go on to manage Airdrieonians.
In 2012, he was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame.
A defender by trade, McQueen won the First Division title with Leeds United in 1974, and reached the European Cup final the following year.
He also won the FA Cup in 1983 during his time with Manchester United.