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Research 'step forward' for Astle's family

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Jeff Astle's daughter has hailed a "massive step forward" after the FA announced their new expert panel on head injuries will meet for the first time on his birthday.

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The family of Albion legend Astle claimed another huge victory for their long-running campaign yesterday.

It came when the FA confirmed the make-up of an independent panel of medical experts to advise the governing body on head injuries and concussion.

His daughter Dawn set up the new Jeff Astle Foundation with her sisters and mother Laraine.

Dawn, after the FA confirmed details of the panel and the day of it's first meeting on May 13, said: "It's a massive step forward because this is what we've been campaigning for, right from the start.

"What is quite unusual is that the panel is meeting for the first time on dad's birthday. He would have been 73 on that day.

"It's just coincidence, but I can't help thinking he's up there saying 'I'm watching you and I'm making sure you do what you said you would.'

"It is important that the panel is set up, and we are pleased with the number of neurosurgeons who are on it.

"What we have always wanted is research from the FA so they can come up with proposals, but also so they can look into the past.

"They can see if they have a problem with other former players, assess how big the problem is and decide what to do about it."

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FA chairman Greg Dyke was at the Hawthorns last Saturday to launch the new foundation and celebrate the life of the late striker.

He died in 2002 from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which tests showed was caused by heading the ball.

The panel, which will meet on May 13, is led by eminent neurosurgeon Peter Hamlyn and including neuropathologist Dr William Stewart, who re-examined Astle's brain and diagnosed CTE.