The report also makes it clear that clubs should not attempt to use changes of commercial ownership or status to evade responsibility.
In 2018 an alleged victim of paedophile Gordon Neely, who worked as head of youth development at Rangers’ ground, Ibrox, between 1986 and 1991, was told he should pursue his complaint with liquidators.
The former youth footballer was told by lawyers that Rangers were owned by a different company when the abuse took place and that duty of care was not with the current owners.
An email sent to his solicitors said: “The company which owned Rangers Football Club . . . which you refer to as owing duties of care to your client will have been the company then called The Rangers Football Club PLC and now called RFC 2012 Limited.”
The review challenges this type of stance, stating: “The Independent Review considers it inadequate for clubs or organisations to avoid this issue because, in the intervening years, they have changed their governance, their name or their company status or ownership.
“The ethical obligations remain and are uninterrupted irrespective of intervening administrative, constitutional or commercial changes.”
Although the review panel possesses no legal authority to enforce its findings, clubs will find its conclusions difficult to dismiss.
The report notes that Neely, who died of cancer in 2014, was immediately dismissed by Rangers in 2011 after a parent complained after he pulled down his son’s underwear and pulled him over his knee. Rangers have repeatedly insisted they also informed the police, but investigators were “unable to confirm” whether this was the case.
Two other former Rangers youth players came forward to state they were sexually abused by Neely at Ibrox, but did not tell anyone at the time.
The report also contains testimony from a man who was raped by Neely at Hibernian’s stadium and training ground. It said parents had raised concerns about his conduct but there was no evidence that any action was taken, or warnings issued, before he went on to join Rangers.
The report criticised the Scottish FA for failing to do more to help Pete Haynes when he came forward to report that he had been sexually abused by Hugh Stevenson, a former youth coach and assistant referee, in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Mr Haynes, who waived his right to anonymity, asked for assistance in getting justice for the abuse that blighted his teenage years and later life, but little was done.
The report backed him and concluded the Scottish FA’s actions “fell short of the appropriate action that could have ensued from such a report or concern being raised”.
The report also contains allegations that Jim McCafferty, a former Celtic FC kit man and boys club coach, who is now serving a lengthy jail sentence, smeared toothpaste and boot polish on to the genitals of a naked boy as part of an “initiation ceremony” during a trip to Austria with the junior club Fauldhouse Juveniles.