Flamboyant former England striker Frank Worthington dies aged 72
‘A beautiful footballer, a maverick and a wonderful character’: Gary Lineker leads tributes to his ‘boyhood hero’ Frank Worthington after flamboyant ex-England striker died aged 72 following dementia-related illness
- Former England striker Frank Worthington died aged 72 on March 22 in hospital after dementia diagnosis
- Frank became famous as much for off-field exploits as rarefied talents on it including many wonder goals
- The player won eight England caps and represented over 20 clubs in career spanning 800-plus games
- Worthington’s wife Carol paid tribute to much-loved football showman, who died in Huddersfield yesterday
- Worthington was diagnosed with dementia in 2016, and is one of hundreds of former players to suffer it
Tributes have poured in for footballing icon Frank Worthington, who has died aged 72 after a long battle with dementia.
Gary Lineker hailed the ex-England striker his ‘boyhood hero’ and described him as ‘a beautiful footballer, a maverick and a wonderful character.’
Huddersfield, Leicester and Bolton clubs also honoured their former star, who led an extraordinary 828-game career racking up 260 goals.
Famed for his audacious skills on the pitch and his veracious partying off it, Worthington passed away peacefully in hospital in West Yorkshire yesterday, his family said.
Worthington was diagnosed with dementia in 2016, and is one of hundreds of former top players to suffer with the illness as evidence grows that there is a link between heading the ball and brain injuries.
Today his wife Carol paid tribute to the much-loved football showman, saying he ‘brought joy to so many people throughout his career and in his private life’.
The England star, who refused to wear shinpads during matches, was compared to George Best in terms of his footballing talent and love of women and nightclubs.
In his book One Hump or Two he describes some of his greatest goals, including one against Chelsea which he celebrated at a London nightclub where he danced with American actress Raquel Welch who then tried to kiss him. On another occasion he was fined by Huddersfield Town for hiding exotic dancers in his hotel wardrobe before a big match.
His most famous goal, considered one of the best of all time, came for Bolton against Ipswich Town, where he did a few keepy uppies outside the box before flicking it over his head and volleying it into the net.
Former Huddersfield, Leicester, Bolton and England striker Frank Worthington has died aged 72 after battling dementia
Worthington hit the headlines as much for his off-field exploits as his rarefied talents on it, especially in his book One Hump or Two? where he described being wooed by pin-up Raquel Welch in a London nightclub
Frank Worthington eventually settled down with model Carol Dwyer, and the couple remained together until his death
Worthington’s wife Carol (pictured together in 2019) paid tribute to the much-loved football showman, who died in hospital in Huddersfield
Flamboyant Frank Worthington dressed as Elvis Presley supported by the Grumbleweeds Group at the Bailey’s Club in Leicester in 1975
Tributes for Worthington flooded in from clubs and players including Gary Lineker, who hailed him ‘a beautiful footballer, a maverick and a wonderful character’
Chris Sutton tells MPs PFA chief Gordon Taylor ‘has blood on his hands’ after ‘hundreds of players have died’ from dementia
Former striker Chris Sutton is fighting for football to change its attitude to dementia
Premier League winner Chris Sutton has told MPs that the authorities have stood by while players have died as a result of dementia they developed through playing professional football.
The former Blackburn Rovers, Celtic and Norwich City striker pulled no punches when he met politicians, who are gathering evidence on the links between sport and brain injury.
Sutton’s professional footballer father, Mike, died on Boxing Day following a 10-year battle with dementia.
And the player-turned-pundit has spearheaded Sportsmail’s campaign for research funding, temporary concussion substitutes and limited heading in training to protect players.
‘This meeting should have happened 20 years ago,’ said Sutton.
‘The fact is the FA and PFA [Professional Footballers’ Association] have not done anywhere near enough. They have ignored, shunned, turned their backs on a massive issue.
‘Hundreds of players have died. My father among them. And we do not even know what has happened in the amateur game.’
‘They have not been interested,’he added. ‘Gordon Taylor has blood on his hands.
‘We have to recognise this and we cannot keep talking about it. There are things we can do and we can put in place.’
The MPs on the Department of Culture Media and Sport select committee heard from 10 experts at the hearing on Tuesday, including Dawn Astle, the daughter of West Bromwich Albion forward, Jeff.
Unashamedly anti-establishment, Worthington hit the headlines as much for his off-field exploits as his rarefied talents on it.
Worthington won eight England caps and represented over 20 clubs in a long playing career that began with Huddersfield in 1966. He went on to play for Leicester and Bolton.
Worthington’s daughter, Kim Malou, announced on Facebook in 2016 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, but he issued a statement the following day denying that he had the condition.
He said at the time: ‘I have never been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or any other neurological disorder or illness.
‘I do have some issues with short-term memory impairment but I have been assured this is not particularly unusual for a man of my age.’
However, his loved ones described how the disease took over his life – leaving him a shell of the charismatic great he once was.
His brother Bob told The Athletic in 2019 that Worthington’s deterioration was so severe he would forget who he was.
Bob said: ‘He asked me a couple of months back: “Do you ever see your parents at all?”
‘I had to remind him, as gently as I could, that he actually meant “our parents” because they were his mum and dad as well.
‘Then I tried to explain that Dad died 40-odd years ago and Mum 25 years ago. “Oh,” he’d say, and then he wouldn’t talk any more.’
Worthington was a fan favourite, much-loved for his outlandish sense of dress and well-reported playboy lifestyle.
An avid Elvis fan – once christened ‘the cowboy’ on an England Under 23 trip – he often donned medallion-man jewellery, paired with a shirt open at the chest, a fedora and buckled leather boots with his hair slicked back with Brylcreem.
He only stopped wearing the medallions when his wife Carol told him ‘it was beginning to look a bit naff’, he earlier said.
Commenting on his escapades in 1985 he said: ‘I admit I have not been an angel, but nothing has ever come before football.’
In 1994, his autobiography One Hump or Two?, detailing his various exploits.
One such anecdote sees him fined one week’s wages by Huddersfield after being caught hiding two female dancers in his hotel wardrobe before a game at Everton.
In another, he recalls joining the Mile High Club with a French woman he had known for 20 minutes on a flight to Los Angeles while playing for Leicester City.
The woman’s husband was asleep in the next seat.
Frank Worthington joined Huddersfield Town in 1966 (left) and in a glittering career that saw him play at the top level and for England (right in 1974), he retired in 1991
Footballer Frank Worthington seen here with his girlfriend at the time, Vicki, and his Lotus sports car. August 1971
Worthington won eight England caps and represented over 20 clubs in a long playing career that began with Huddersfield in 1966. He went on to play for Leicester and Bolton (pictured playing for the Bolton Wanderers)
Worthington also refused to wear shinpads on the pitch, playing with only his socks covering his ankles
One of English football’s great mavericks, Worthington (pictured in 2004) died peacefully in hospital on March 22, his family announced in a statement
Frank Worthington’s goal for Bolton against Ipswich Town in 1979, when the Tractor Boys were one of England’s top clubs, is considered one of the greatest of all time
Worthington juggled the ball before flicking it over Terry Butcher’s head and slamming the ball into the net past the Ipswich Town goalkeeper
The scourge of dementia on footballers: Gary Lineker wants his brain tested for illness that has killed a host of stars
The increased risk of dementia for footballers after years of heading the ball has only recently become known.
Last week, Gary Lineker, 60, revealed he will be getting tests on his brain to check for the illness. The Match of the Day host scored more headers for England than any other player and says that he and fellow presenters Alan Shearer and Ian Wright fear they could also fall ill.
Jack Charlton died of dementia, while brother Bobby was diagnosed with the disease last year
Lineker has also joined a talkSPORT to take part in a radio documentary on the brain condition.
He said: ‘I’ve had conversations with Alan Shearer and Ian Wright and others about the worry that come 10, 15 years that it might happen to one of us. The odds suggest that it probably will.
‘I have regular health checks, including the brain. So far everything is OK. I’ll have my triannual test this summer and ask if there’s anything they can establish around the brain, because I don’t see how, given the circumstances any footballer wouldn’t be worried about it.’
According to research on dementia, ex-footballers are 3.5 times more likely to die from the illness than the general population.
It comes after several former footballers died of dementia, including England’s 1966 World Cup heroes Nobby Stiles, Jack Charlton, Martin Peters and Ray Wilson.
Former Leeds United defender Gordon McQueen (left) announced he had dementia last week. Ex-England forward Jeff Astle (right) died in January 2002 aged 59 and an inquest found his death was from repeatedly heading balls
Bobby Charlton was diagnosed with the disease last year while former Leeds United defender Gordon McQueen announced he had it last week.
Ex-England forward Jeff Astle died in January 2002 aged 59 and an inquest found his death was from repeatedly heading balls.
His daughter Dawn, 53, has since led the campaign to battle the dementia in football.
Reacting to Gary Lineker’s revelation, she told the Mirror: ‘It’s great to see a big name like Lineker come out and do this. The time between the heading to outcome is often decades. But with all the evidence we have you can look on the balance of probability and say heading’s the problem.’
Discussing potential ways of limiting the impact of heading the ball, Lineker added: ‘Do you want to take heading out of the game? No I don’t think so, but you can take heading out of training, or limit it massively.
Several former footballers died of dementia, including England’s 1966 World Cup heroes Nobby Stiles (right) and Ray Wilson (left)
‘If I had known what I know now, I would have certainly limited the amount of heading I did.
‘The era of the 1966 players has made us really aware of this.’
The organisation leading the fight to understand a link between football and brain disease revealed in November that they know of at least 500 former players who have been affected.
The Jeff Astle Foundation believe the number may represent a fraction of the actual total.
Six of the 11 players who won the title for Burnley in 1959-60 have died with dementia while a seventh, Jimmy Robson, is also now struggling with the illness.
In February it emerged that the FA and PFA are to commission new studies into what causes the increased risk of dementia among footballers.
The two bodies have announced they will jointly fund research to follow the 2019 FIELD project, which found ex-footballers to be three and a half times more likely to die of neurodegenerative diseases than the general population.
The FA and PFA are seeking applications from researchers to answer the question: what is the cause of the observed increased risk of death from neurodegenerative disorders in former professional footballers found in the FIELD study?
He once admitted that should he have ‘taken things a little easier early on’ he would have progressed in his career further.
He said: ‘I have no complaints about my life and my career so far and no regrets, apart from one thing.
‘If only I had taken things a little easier early on, I would have gone to Liverpool and the sky would have been the limit, but I have never made excuses for anything because that is a weakness.
‘I have always known what I was about and where I was going.’
He also refused to wear shinpads on the pitch, playing with only his socks covering his ankles.
Worthington is perhaps best known for his most-famous goal, scored for Bolton against Ipswich at the old Burnden Park in 1979.
He spoke about the goal in his last ever interview in 2016.
He told Sportsmail’s Ian Ladyman: ‘It was against Ipswich and it came to me from a throw-in and I controlled it on my head.
‘Now I am facing my team’s goal with the opponents’ goal behind me. I have four international defenders in tow – Terry Butcher and Russell Osman are right behind me – but I am juggling with it and juggling with it.
‘I am actually edging away from goal at this point, but then all of a sudden I flick it over my head, spin past Butcher and Osman so now they are going totally the wrong way!
‘The ball comes down and I hit it. Bang! Right in the far corner past Paul Cooper’s left hand.
‘As I turned to acknowledge the fans I felt sorry for Butcher, but still I couldn’t resist saying something.
‘I pointed to the Main Stand and said: ‘You could have got a better view of that from over there.’ ‘He wasn’t impressed.’
In that same interview, Worthington told how US actress Raquel Welch tried to kiss him after a game at Chelsea.
He said: ‘Most of my goals weren’t even caught on camera. I scored loads for Leicester. I even used my right foot occasionally.
‘I scored a nice one at Chelsea once in a game we lost, but that’s not what I remember from that day. After the game, guess who I got a strong connection with? Raquel Welch!
‘She spotted me in the players’ lounge and came over. I took her out later to a nightclub. She had a blue tight-fitting leather suit on.
‘I had quite a lot of hair and was a lot younger then. I was wearing some wild clothes and she tried to kiss me on the dance floor. Happily, I didn’t have my moustache at the time.’
A statement from Worthington’s family read: ‘It is with great sadness that the death is announced of football legend Frank Worthington who passed away last night.
‘A spokesman for his wife Carol said Frank died peacefully in hospital in Huddersfield following a long illness.’
His wife Carol Worthington said: ‘Frank brought joy to so many people throughout his career and in his private life.
‘He will be greatly missed by everyone who loved him so much.’
Meanwhile, Gary Lineker lead the tributes the footballing great online, taking to Twitter to dub Worthington his ‘boyhood hero’.
He wrote: ‘Profoundly saddened to hear that Frank Worthington has died. He was my boyhood hero when he was at Leicester City.
‘A beautiful footballer, a maverick and a wonderful character who was so kind to this young apprentice when he joined the club. RIP Frank (Elvis).’
Football commentator Gary Taphouse added: ‘RIP Frank Worthington. One of the great entertainers, scorer of one of the greatest ever goals.’
Worthington’s former clubs Bolton and Birmingham added their tributes on social media.
‘It is with great sadness that Bolton Wanderers has today learned of the passing of club legend Frank Worthington. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends,’ Bolton tweeted.
Worthington graced Birmingham’s colours from 1979 to 1982, with the Blues quick to add their condolences.
‘The club is saddened to learn of the passing of Frank Worthington aged 72. All of our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time,’ Birmingham posted on twitter.
Huddersfield Town Association Football Club’s Twitter account wrote: ‘Everyone at Huddersfield Town Football Club is devastated to hear of the passing of Town legend Frank Worthington.
‘Our thoughts are with his family and friends.’
Leicester were another of Worthington’s former clubs to issue a tribute.
‘It is with great sadness that we heard the news of the death of Leicester City legend Frank Worthington, who passed away on 22 March, 2021,’ the Foxes tweeted.
Southampton hailed Worthington for the joy he took to the south coast in his one-year stint with the Saints.
‘Saints FC is saddened by the passing of Frank Worthington, who lit up The Dell with his talents in 1983/84. Our thoughts are with Frank’s loved ones,’ the club tweeted.
Once described by former Huddersfield and Bolton manager Ian Greaves as ‘the working man’s George Best’, Worthington played in 22 consecutive Football League seasons from 1966/7, scoring 266 goals in 882 appearances in all competitions.
In 14 of those seasons he played in the top division, notching 150 goals in 466 matches, and won the Golden Boot award in 1978/79 as the leading scorer ahead of Kenny Dalglish and Frank Stapleton.
