Terry Butcher sends support to Keegan and Dalglish after both reveal cancer diagnoses

Former England captain Terry Butcher has sent a public message of support to Kevin Keegan and Kenny Dalglish after both football legends revealed they have been diagnosed with cancer.

Speaking at a London screening of his new documentary Butcher: Invisible Wounds, the 67-year-old reflected on decades of fierce competition against the two men. “They are two icons of the game,” Butcher said. “Cancer can affect anyone. Kevin, Kenny, and I had some real battles over the years — they could be as hard as I was in those days. They are winners and fighters, and I hope they come out the other side.”

Other prominent figures from the game also offered their support. Steven Gerrard posted a message to Dalglish — “Sending our love Sir Kenny” — while Alan Shearer, whom Dalglish managed to the Premier League title at Blackburn Rovers in 1995, wrote: “Everyone is with you Kenny.” Supporters flooded social media with tributes to Keegan, with one fan recalling his arrival as Newcastle manager and describing him as someone who “gave me some fantastic memories of my club.”

The documentary screening provided the backdrop for Butcher’s comments, but the film itself carries a deeply personal weight. Butcher: Invisible Wounds chronicles not only his playing career — which included captaining England at Italia ‘90 — but also the death of his eldest son Chris in 2017. Chris Butcher served in the Royal Artillery and completed tours of Iraq and Afghanistan before leaving the forces, after which he struggled severely with post-traumatic stress disorder. He was 35 when he died at the family home in east Suffolk. An inquest found he died of an abnormal enlargement of the heart combined with the effects of drugs, against a background of PTSD, and the coroner ruled he had “become a victim of war.”

Next year marks the tenth anniversary of Chris’s death. Terry Butcher used the screening to thank the charity combat2coffee, whose founder Nigel Seaman developed PTSD after twelve years of service with the Royal Anglian Regiment. Butcher has worked closely with the organisation in the years since his son’s death.