Former Aberdeen manager Jimmy Calderwood hopes to encourage more people to talk openly about dementia after revealing he has early-onset Alzheimer's disease.
The 62-year-old, who also played for Birmingham City, was given the shock diagnosis two years ago after being encouraged by his partner to see a doctor about his forgetfulness.
He said the news initially hit him hard but he has since approached life with vigour.
Former Aberdeen boss Jimmy Calderwood: I’m battling dementia
Calderwood, who had spells in charge of Dunfermline, Kilmarnock and Ross County as well as Dutch teams, decided to make his situation public in a meeting with sports writers in Glasgow, accompanied by partner Yvonne Buchanan and representatives of Alzheimer Scotland.
His determination and sense of humour was evident as he discussed how he had reacted after learning about the illness.
"I didn't know much about it at all," he said. "Getting your head round it is the most important thing, and accepting it. That was hard.
"But I have had a fantastic life and there is still a long, long way to go.
Former Aberdeen boss Jimmy Calderwood: I’m battling dementia
"There is no use walking about moaning all the time. I had enough of that on the pitch.
"Right now I am still fine, except for being a bit forgetful with some names, but I am determined to continue enjoying my life.
"Strangely, it's not too bad. I just get on with it.
"I've had a wonderful life in football, been all over the world about 10 times and it's not cost me a ha'penny. That's good for a wee boy from Govan.
"I'm not really a person that's scared of anything. I will just get on with life and I will see how it goes.
"I feel great at the moment and we will see how it goes."
The former manager was prompted to make the announcement after hearing a former Dutch team-mate was suffering badly from the illness.
Former Aberdeen boss Jimmy Calderwood: I’m battling dementia
He hopes to encourage other people to talk more openly about dementia.
"If we can help other people then that would be fantastic," he said.
Ms Buchanan said she knew something was not right when he started to forget things.
"But very seldom does he forget anything about football: goals, who is playing, when they are playing," she said.
"His memory for that is unbelievable.
"And when he is talking on the phone to his Dutch friends - fluent. He never pauses or stumbles. It's very smooth."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here