Accused Football Coach Barry Bennell Found Unconscious Near Stevenage

Crewe have stated they are holding their own investigation into how the club dealt with allegations about their employee, and another of their former youth-team players, Tony Hughes, has joined the growing number of victims to go public, telling the Sunday Mirror he was also targeted by a man the United States authorities have described as having “almost an insatiable appetite” for young boys.

Lawyer Kate Gallafent will lead the FA’s investigation, which is looking at what was known about the sexual abuse during the 1980s and 90s and what action was or should have been taken.

“Another 22 offences against an unknown number of victims had been left on file because the Crown Prosecution Service decided it was better not to put boys of that age through the trauma of a trial”, writes Daniel Taylor of The Guardian, the journalist whose interview with former Crewe player Andy Woodward brought the scandal to light two weeks ago.

A fifth former footballer has publically come out as having been sexually assaulted by Barry Bennell as a youth team player.

A Cambridge United spokesman said the club has been contacted by Cambridgeshire Police about historical disclosures of child sexual abuse. He said Bennell had silenced him during the years of abuse with threats of further violence and of undermining his prospective soccer career.

Chelsea Football Club, meanwhile, have announced that they have retained a law firm to carry out an investigation concerning an one of its 1970s employees, who is now dead. And I think most people agreed that something ought to be put in place within the football family, an independent organisation, but nothing has been done.

Those making allegations against him include former Manchester City star David White and youth player Jason Dunford, plus ex-Crewe player Steve Walters and youngster Chris Unsworth.

The allegations against coaches have spread beyond Bennell.

The scandal is now expanding, with the Football Association launching an inquiry into the allegations and the Professional Footballers’ Association saying more than 20 players have come forward to seek help over the abuse. Many, he said, have chosen to remain anonymous for now.

The Metropolitan Police and forces in Hampshire, Northumbria and Cheshire said they are investigating abuse allegations.

He said: “We got a report of an unconscious man at Knebworth Park”.

Crewe’s initial response to Woodward’s story was to offer no comment.

“I find it incredible if clubs have been paying these lads to be quiet”, said Taylor, who has been involved with the PFA since 1972.

While he managed to stave off Bennell’s advances, he alleged that “hundreds, if not thousands” of former players were abused at their youth clubs, who “hid it away from the rest of the footballing world”.

He was sacked by Crewe in 1992, although the club did not give a reason for his dismissal. He was first arrested two years later while working in Florida.

He served a four year prison sentence charged on six counts of sexual battery and lewd and lascivious behaviour. He was jailed for nine years.

He was jailed for a third time in 2015 after admitting abusing a boy at a 1980 football camp in Macclesfield.

The national child abuse inquiry headed by Professor Alexis Jay is considering whether to investigate abuse in football as part of its overarching probe, Culture Secretary Karen Bradley told MPs.

Claims have also emerged that clubs in England agreed settlements with players who suffered sexual abuse in exchange for confidentiality about the cases.