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FAMILY AND FRIENDS PAY TRIBUTE TO UNITED HERO MCQUEEN AFTER DEMENTIA BATTLE

- TYRONE MARSHALL

TRIBUTES have been paid to former United defender Gordon McQueen, who has died at the age of 70 after a battle with dementia.

McQueen died at home early yesterday and the flags at Old Trafford were flown at half-mast as a tribute to the former Scotland international.

He started his career at St Mirren and moved to English football with Leeds United in 1972. After a six-year spell at Elland Road, McQueen joined United in 1978 in a £495,000 deal that made him Britain's most expensive footballer at the time.

He spent seven years at Old Trafford, making 229 appearances and scoring 26 goals, and was part of the side that won the 1983 FA Cup, beating Brighton and Hove Albion in a replay at Wembley. After hanging up his boots he spent time working as a coach at Middlesbrough under his former Reds team-mate Bryan Robson.

McQueen went on to become a popular Sky Sports pundit and his family announced he had been diagnosed with vascular dementia in February 2021.

Daughter Hayley, a Sky Sports presenter, revealed in an interview on ITV's Good Morning Britain in April that McQueen's condition had been spurred by the repeated heading of footballs.

A statement issued by the McQueen family said: "It is with the heaviest of hearts we announce the passing of Gordon McQueen, 70, who died at home in the early morning today leaving behind his wife Yvonne, daughters Hayley and Anna, son Eddie and his beloved grandchildren Rudi, Etta & Ayla.