KEEP ON! KEEPING ON!

Danny Wallace has been in better shape. Born in Greenwich in 1964, he was a Southampton starlet at 16 and his spell with the Saints was 9 years long, playing over 300 times. He helped the club rise to the dizzy heights of runners up in the old First Division and took them to play Liverpool in an FA Cup semi-final. The Saints side was full of very good players; Shilton, Keegan, Le Tiss and co.

In 1990 he joined Manchester United whilst his brother Rod went to Leeds. Things did not go that well for Danny and any match that he played in against Leeds led to the fans taunting Danny by the suggestion that they had got the better brother. There was also another brother Ray at the Dell and all three played against Sheffid Wednesday in 1988-89, the first time three brothers had played for the same team in a top division match since the 1920s.

Danny was slowly in decline and during the early 90s he gradually realised that not all was well; he was eventually diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. This led to injuries and a lack of form of course, which rapidly brought about his retirement in 1997. He has an FA Cup winners' medal and a European Cup Winners medal although that was earned on the bench and also won 1 international cap for England against Egypt in 1986 after being a regular at U21 level.

His career spiralled downwards, so he tried to recover his form by going to Birmingham briefly, Millwall on loan and to Wycombe in 1995, but that was about it.

Danny then had various bouts of depression and inevitably other forms of "illness" which he and his wife, Jan, have had to endure. He has formed the Danny Wallace foundation and his aim is to raise awareness of his condition and invest money to help others. He started his fund raising when "did" the London Marathon in 2006, taking five days or so to complete.

Where are the others from his era? Well a number are still involved in football, such as Mike Phelan, Mark Robins and Paul Ince but others have not been so lucky.

Les Sealey died on a heart attack in 2001, Lee Martin helps young people in Chester find jobs, Neil Webb has worked as a postman in Reading and a truck driver, Bryan Robson has recovered from throat cancer now a pundit and Clayton Blackmore became a professional golfer.

Most of these named are in their late 40 or 50s. Wallace is 52 and Robbo 59. But don't fret, there is hope! Well you could play walking football OR keep taking the tablets.....what about this chap?

On Sunday the FA Vase went to 9th tier side, Morpeth FC, whose veteran pro, Chris Swailes, became the oldest goal scorer at the New Wembley, when he slotted home for his team against Hereford to take the trophy north.

Swailes had a career at Ipswich, retired from the pro game after having a metal screw inserted in his ankle to help repair an old injury and on top of that had heart surgery. He left full time football 10 years ago after playing at Bury and Rotherham. At 45 years old, he has now won the Vase three times; once with Bridlington at 22 years old, then with Dunston UTS in 2012 and now with the Highwaymen.