Former Town striker Trevor Whymark’s career in football can’t be ruled out as a factor which led to his death, the senior coroner for Norfolk, Jacqueline Lake, said at his inquest in Norwich yesterday.
Blues legend Whymark died aged 74 in October last year having suffered with Alzheimer’s since 2019, with a post-mortem also citing bronchopneumonia and Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which had been successfully treated.
In a statement read on her behalf at the inquest, Whymark’s wife Rita said the former striker, who was with the Blues between 1967 and 1979, had been known for his heading ability during his playing days.
"Trevor played professional football,” she said. "He played in the position of forward. He was renowned for being one of the best at heading the ball during his career.
"The Norfolk and Norwich Hospital undertook a brain scan to see if there was any connection to his football career and this came back inconclusive.”
Senior coroner Lake said whether football played a part in Burston-born Whymark’s dementia remains unanswered.
"A scan to see if there was any connection with his football career was inconclusive,” she said. "A further post-mortem CT scan is unlikely to resolve the question of whether Mr Whymark’s career as a footballer contributed to his condition.
"Scans have been carried out during Mr Whymark’s lifetime and [doctors] had commented that the scan results demonstrated a loss of brain tissue and decreased metabolic activity within part of the brain - consistent with a neurodegenerative process such as Alzheimer's disease.
"It was felt that cause of death was likely attributable to brain damage probably from his neurodegenerative disorder, with perhaps some contribution from his treated lymphoma.
"The medical cause of death is given as directly due to bronchopneumonia due to Alzheimer's dementia and treatment of Hodgkin lymphoma. This is a natural cause of death.
"However, in this case, we have heard a CT scan is unlikely to resolve the question of whether Mr Whymark’s career as a footballer contributed to his condition of Alzheimer’s disease. On that basis I do not think natural causes accurately reflects the evidence.
"Mr Whymark died from a combination of natural disease and from Alzheimer's disease. The cause of the Alzheimer's disease is not revealed by the evidence.”
Whymark scored 104 goals in 322 starts and 13 sub appearances for Town, famously netting four times in the 4-0 UEFA Cup thrashing of Lazio at Portman Road in 1973. He also scored four times against West Brom in the 7-0 victory and, again in the UEFA Cup, against Swedish side Landskrona.
Inducted into the Town Hall of Fame in 2012, Whymark, the sixth-highest scorer in the club’s history, was a member of Sir Bobby Robson’s team which won the Texaco Cup in 1973 but missed out on the 1978 FA Cup final due to injury, although he did appear at Wembley in the Charity Shield defeat to Nottingham Forest.
He won one full England cap while with the Blues, having previously played at U23 level, in a 2-0 victory in Luxembourg in 1977 in which Paul Mariner scored his first international goal and Kevin Beattie played his final game for the Three Lions.
Whymark also played for Grimsby, Derby, the Vancouver Whitecaps, Southend, Peterborough, Diss Town and Colchester United.