Celtic face threat of multimillion pound compensation claim(The Times)

Totally Johnkp,that is alarming to see the connections there from down south,I imagine they won’t be trying to pan this off like our sitting government and football authorities.

There is a connection to abuse kids across the border by these animals.

And to think Gradi still possesses an MBE or similar award from the Queen? Is that correct.

I'm no legal eagle, but that must add the crime of sex trafficking to any additional paedophile charges.
 
He is hell-bent on defending the cover up at Celtic with every fibre of his being. The victims of child abuse mean nothing to him. His treatment of the Gray family was nothing short of disgraceful.

Rest assured he will do EVERYTHING in his power to prevent this from going to an Independent Inquiry.

When Celtic are in trouble, and bhoy oh bhoy are they in trouble, they turn to their friends in high places. Politicians such as Brian Wilson and John Reid are just two of many that spring to mind.

Now we can add Humza Yousaf to that list. He is a bitter, bitter bastard of a man that would risk his political career before seeing his favourite club held to account and brought to justice.
He is hell-bent on defending the cover up at Celtic with every fibre of his being. The victims of child abuse mean nothing to him. His treatment of the Gray family was nothing short of disgraceful.

Rest assured he will do EVERYTHING in his power to prevent this from going to an Independent Inquiry.

When Celtic are in trouble, and bhoy oh bhoy are they in trouble, they turn to their friends in high places. Politicians such as Brian Wilson and John Reid are just two of many that spring to mind.

Now we can add Humza Yousaf to that list. He is a bitter, bitter bastard of a man that would risk his political career before seeing his favourite club held to account and brought to justice.
I bet if it was anything to do with his beliefs or culture he would be out there defending it, and calling out everyone
 
It stands out a mile, BB that all of the most critical (and accurate) reporting on this comes from outside of the Scottish media.

The Times (The proper Times - not the local rag), reported on 23 May 2019, that a source close to the Independent Review of Sexual Abuse in Scottish Football said there would be full disclosure in relation to criminality and co-operation involving McCafferty and Barry Bennell. It is expected that its final report will contain evidence that McCafferty took youngsters from Glasgow to tournaments in northwest England where they were introduced to Bennell.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...stigation-into-football-sex-abusers-dxmvndjgc

If this is true, that fact alone - never mind Torbett, Cairney, King, Cullen or even Strachan - should see the instant closure of Celtic FC and criminal and civil proceedings against everybody, past and present, who knew about this and covered it up.

Missed this before

How has that not had greater... publicity.
 
It stands out a mile, BB that all of the most critical (and accurate) reporting on this comes from outside of the Scottish media.

The Times (The proper Times - not the local rag), reported on 23 May 2019, that a source close to the Independent Review of Sexual Abuse in Scottish Football said there would be full disclosure in relation to criminality and co-operation involving McCafferty and Barry Bennell. It is expected that its final report will contain evidence that McCafferty took youngsters from Glasgow to tournaments in northwest England where they were introduced to Bennell.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...stigation-into-football-sex-abusers-dxmvndjgc

If this is true, that fact alone - never mind Torbett, Cairney, King, Cullen or even Strachan - should see the instant closure of Celtic FC and criminal and civil proceedings against everybody, past and present, who knew about this and covered it up.

The more I read about the cross border stuff I am convinced that McCafferty has at least had the decency to do his'civic duty' and tell the truth to the authorities about what has gone on.Let's face it, he was at the sharp end and knows perfectly well where the body's are buried, so to speak.Yes, he's a nonce and deserves to be caged for that, but I feel he must be given at least some credit for apparenly being open and honest now.In summary, I believe he's the essential ingredient to linking Scotland and England in this affair and in so doing is a thorn in the flesh of those in Scotland who would happily see this matter shelved.
 
So I mentioned a while ago about Torbett taking lads Florida in the US,well had it confirmed to me earlier that in June/July 91.

There was no footy tournament and only a”treat” for a few lads there,one was Andrew Gray,I know the lad that Andy was roomed with and think there was another couple lads as well,and definitely the two Gilbert brothers.
 
I'm not comfortable with Twitter but this would appear to be an appropriate page to contact them on


Al Jazeera Investigations

@AJIunit
·
Apr 10
Very pleased to report that our investigations #CricketsMatchFixers, #IslamophobiaInc, #TheOligarchs and #FootballsWallOfSilence all picked up gold medals at the New York Festival TV & Film Awards

You can watch our award winning films on our website: (link: https://www.aljazeera.com/investigations/) aljazeera.com/investigations/ (link: ) twitter.com/NYFTVFilmAward…
Quote Tweet

NYF TV & Film Awards

@NYFTVFilmAwards
· Apr 10
Al Jazeera Investigations earned six Gold and two Silvers. In “Football Wall of Silence ,” producers working with journalist Deborah Davies revisit victims of the sexual child abuse scandal that rocked the British football establishment twenty years earlier. #NYFTVF2019 (link: ) pic.twitter.com/ySA0teLtY6

Thanks for posting that Southernlion. I watched the documentary and found it difficult hearing Bennell's voice again. Some of the points made, like the 4 linked suicides, were things that I didn't know. I hope the documentaries which are being produced at the moment are properly researched and are as well made.
 
Totally agree, their long game goes way beyond a football field. They have ambitions to take over all factions of Scottish society. To make Catholicism the one dominant religion and to turn our country into the Scottish Republic of Ireland.
This is to be achieved at all cost and by any cost.
Correct mate. It is so blatantly obvious and would be easy enough for to tramp them into the ground but the majority of people, the Scottish PUL and decent folk, just cannot see it or just don't give a toss.
 
Correct mate. It is so blatantly obvious and would be easy enough for to tramp them into the ground but the majority of people, the Scottish PUL and decent folk, just cannot see it or just don't give a toss.

Trying to re-educate the useful idiots here in Edinburgh is basically mission impossible. They haven’t a clue what’s going on and aren’t remotely interested.
 
The more I read about the cross border stuff I am convinced that McCafferty has at least had the decency to do his'civic duty' and tell the truth to the authorities about what has gone on.Let's face it, he was at the sharp end and knows perfectly well where the body's are buried, so to speak.Yes, he's a nonce and deserves to be caged for that, but I feel he must be given at least some credit for apparenly being open and honest now.In summary, I believe he's the essential ingredient to linking Scotland and England in this affair and in so doing is a thorn in the flesh of those in Scotland who would happily see this matter shelved.

The Double A Man; Is this the link between Torbett & McCafferty when JT has the

link to Fairbridge. Recall it being said that JMcC had the Fairbridge (Transit) Bus/Van that he took the kids(?) on trips at weekend down south.

Now wether that was troubled kids(fairbridge) or Boys Club lads (maybe both)

this was possibly the link to Bennell(crewe). Needs a lot more ferreting for info on

the time period; was McC. a CBC or CFC kitman during his "charity" trips with

JT thro' Fairbridge. Anyone recall coming across any info on this time period,

I am sure I have read about this?:mad::confused:
 
The Double A Man; Is this the link between Torbett & McCafferty when JT has the

link to Fairbridge. Recall it being said that JMcC had the Fairbridge (Transit) Bus/Van that he took the kids(?) on trips at weekend down south.

Now wether that was troubled kids(fairbridge) or Boys Club lads (maybe both)

this was possibly the link to Bennell(crewe). Needs a lot more ferreting for info on

the time period; was McC. a CBC or CFC kitman during his "charity" trips with

JT thro' Fairbridge. Anyone recall coming across any info on this time period,

I am sure I have read about this?:mad::confused:



https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/pervert-coach-kitman-jim-mccafferty-9420855


Iain Hamilton, who ran a Salvation Army hostel for vulnerable children, told us McCafferty used a Drake Fellowship minibus to take two or three kids at a time on overnight stays to London.
He has been horrified by McCafferty’s confession.
He said: “I was so shocked when I saw his picture in the Record. I never had any idea what he was doing. Now I feel sick with guilt.
I’m worried I was helping by delivering children to him.”
Dad-of-two Iain, 57, said he met McCafferty in 1984 while he was working at Salvation Army’s Raisdale hostel in Barrhead, near Glasgow.
The hostel housed homeless teens aged 15-18. McCafferty is believed to have been working for Drake Fellowship at the time.
Iain said: “The group concentrated on yacht trips. We would send the kids down near London with McCafferty.
“They would do team-building training and outdoor activities, things like that.

We ran a hostel-type situation for school leavers, aged about 16. Because they were school leavers, there weren’t the same restrictions as in a children’s home.
“The kids had freedom of movement. We would take them along to their courses and pick them up later on.
“They would go away for the weekend with the Drake Fellowship. McCafferty had a lot of contact with the kids then. After what he has admitted, this period should be investigated.”
'People knew what Jim McCafferty was': Tam McManus demands probe into why game turned blind eye to pervert
The Record’s original whistleblower on McCafferty – who we have not named – told how he was abused in a van used by McCafferty for Drake Fellowship activities.
The vehicle was also used by McCafferty to take kids on their trips to London.
He said: “He ran this youth group that would take kids away to outdoor activities.
“I think the van had signage that mentioned Drake. He invited me to his office in the Sighthill area of Glasgow as well.”
Two other teenage boys also told us they fled a weekend trip organised by McCafferty in 1984.
Another victim, who revealed McCafferty’s links to Crewe Alexandra coach Barry Bennell, who is at the centre of an abuse scandal in England, said he knew McCafferty when he worked for Fairbridge Drake.
The Drake Fellowship merged with the Fairbridge Society to become Fairbridge Drake in 1987.
The organisation worked with vulnerable young people to help them into education and training.
They became Fairbridge, named Fairbridge In Scotland north of the border, in 1992.
Celtic Boys Club coach Jim Torbett was named as managing director in company accounts that year.
Pervert kitman Jim McCafferty sent youth players to home of man at centre of English football abuse scandal Barry Bennell
 
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/pervert-coach-kitman-jim-mccafferty-9420855


Iain Hamilton, who ran a Salvation Army hostel for vulnerable children, told us McCafferty used a Drake Fellowship minibus to take two or three kids at a time on overnight stays to London.
He has been horrified by McCafferty’s confession.
He said: “I was so shocked when I saw his picture in the Record. I never had any idea what he was doing. Now I feel sick with guilt.
I’m worried I was helping by delivering children to him.”
Dad-of-two Iain, 57, said he met McCafferty in 1984 while he was working at Salvation Army’s Raisdale hostel in Barrhead, near Glasgow.
The hostel housed homeless teens aged 15-18. McCafferty is believed to have been working for Drake Fellowship at the time.
Iain said: “The group concentrated on yacht trips. We would send the kids down near London with McCafferty.
“They would do team-building training and outdoor activities, things like that.

We ran a hostel-type situation for school leavers, aged about 16. Because they were school leavers, there weren’t the same restrictions as in a children’s home.
“The kids had freedom of movement. We would take them along to their courses and pick them up later on.
“They would go away for the weekend with the Drake Fellowship. McCafferty had a lot of contact with the kids then. After what he has admitted, this period should be investigated.”
'People knew what Jim McCafferty was': Tam McManus demands probe into why game turned blind eye to pervert
The Record’s original whistleblower on McCafferty – who we have not named – told how he was abused in a van used by McCafferty for Drake Fellowship activities.
The vehicle was also used by McCafferty to take kids on their trips to London.
He said: “He ran this youth group that would take kids away to outdoor activities.
“I think the van had signage that mentioned Drake. He invited me to his office in the Sighthill area of Glasgow as well.”
Two other teenage boys also told us they fled a weekend trip organised by McCafferty in 1984.
Another victim, who revealed McCafferty’s links to Crewe Alexandra coach Barry Bennell, who is at the centre of an abuse scandal in England, said he knew McCafferty when he worked for Fairbridge Drake.
The Drake Fellowship merged with the Fairbridge Society to become Fairbridge Drake in 1987.
The organisation worked with vulnerable young people to help them into education and training.
They became Fairbridge, named Fairbridge In Scotland north of the border, in 1992.
Celtic Boys Club coach Jim Torbett was named as managing director in company accounts that year.
Pervert kitman Jim McCafferty sent youth players to home of man at centre of English football abuse scandal Barry Bennell

In the Mirror he is pictured with the Celtic Youth Team?

What is the difference between the Boys Club & the Youth Team?:confused:
 
Having now watched the majority of the Netflix documentary 'The Keepers', as ever I can't help but notice the glaring similarities between what is happening here and what has transpired in other abuse scandals in catholic communities around the globe. It's not just the crimes and cover up, but its the tactics used to intimidate and deny victims justice which are the give-away signs about who is involved and who is ultimately being protected and why.

I have a lot to say about the revelations made during this show and I've come to some disturbing conclusions about 'the bigger picture', but not wanting to derail this thread and the excellent work being done here by many, I'll leave it there for now, and let those who are intrested watch it themselves. A heads up though, to avoid confusion, only from the second episode will the relevance to this thread become abundantly clear.
 
Guys this thread is most certainly being used by both the lurking enablers and the media.

It is best kept to facts or opinions based on such.

Its pretty clear that an organised ring was in place and that corporate criminality by separate entity FC occurring.

We all want the actual perps and the business that enabled them to face the full wrath of the law.

We all want justice for the victims.

So lets keep this in mind at all times and ensure this thread is not diluted with petty comment and arguments.

Keep to the topic in hand and justice will prevail.
 
Having now watched the majority of the Netflix documentary 'The Keepers', as ever I can't help but notice the glaring similarities between what is happening here and what has transpired in other abuse scandals in catholic communities around the globe. It's not just the crimes and cover up, but its the tactics used to intimidate and deny victims justice which are the give-away signs about who is involved and who is ultimately being protected and why.

I have a lot to say about the revelations made during this show and I've come to some disturbing conclusions about 'the bigger picture', but not wanting to derail this thread and the excellent work being done here by many, I'll leave it there for now, and let those who are intrested watch it themselves. A heads up though, to avoid confusion, only from the second episode will the relevance to this thread become abundantly clear.

I agree there’s a lot of simalarites. From the cover up, discrediting the victims, dealing with people within the church who want to uncover the truth and people in prominent positions outwith the church being part of the cover up.

It one one of the most difficult things I’ve ever watched. The stories are horrifying.
 
decent article
https://www.independent.ie/sport/so...e-in-football-facilitated-abuse-38392715.html

Football's child sex abuse scandal means we will never be able to look at the game in the same way again.
Geoff Hurst won't just be the only man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final.
He'll also be the man who refused, despite several requests, to answer questions from an inquiry into the abuse perpetrated by Eddie Heath.
Heath was a former youth coach with Chelsea sacked by then-manager Hurst under circumstances which remain unclear.
Celtic won't just be the first British club to win the European Cup.
It'll also be the club which refused to take responsibility for child molestation at Celtic Boys Club on the technically correct but morally flimsy grounds that this was a feeder club rather than an official part of the senior set-up.
22Barry Bennell. Photo: AP
Dario Gradi will no longer be regarded as one of the game's great coaches of young players. He'll go down in history as the man who stood by and did nothing even though he knew what Heath was doing to teenage boys at Chelsea when Gradi was assistant manager.
The 1970s and '80s can't be regarded any more as a kind of golden age, a more innocent time before the influx of big money changed the game forever. They were a dark age when sexual abuse ran rife in the game and was enabled to do so by a toxic combination of indifference and ignorance.
This story is just beginning. It's less than three years since former Crewe defender Andy Woodward went public about the abuse inflicted upon him at the club by a coach, Barry Bennell.
After that it was as though a dam had burst. Victims who'd long kept silent were emboldened to come forward by Woodward's disclosures.
The Oscar-winning movie Spotlight, about child sex abuse in the archdiocese of Boston, perfectly captured the way in which these scandals escalate.
At the beginning the reporters believe they're merely documenting the misdeeds of a handful of bad apples, by the end they've uncovered a problem of such enormous proportions it seems systemic.
We are very early in the days of football's reckoning with child abuse. There will be many more terrible things heard and many more clubs implicated.
It is to Chelsea's credit that they did at least commission the enquiry which last week reported on Heath's offences at the club.
That inquiry, led by Charles Geekie QC, involved a 17-strong legal team which conducted 139 interviews, dealt with eight police forces and took two and a half years to complete their work. Last week a statement from the club said: "The board wishes to thank all the survivors and witnesses who came forward to assist the reviews and the club apologises unreservedly for the terrible past experiences of our former players."
That's the kind of apology Celtic should make, according to clinical psychologist Dr John Marshall who gave evidence at last year's trial of Jim Torbett, one of four former Celtic Boys Club coaches to be convicted of child abuse. Celtic, says Dr Marshall, should "be open and transparent in a similar way to Chelsea. They have to acknowledge what the victims have gone through and the impact on them and thoroughly investigate like Chelsea did."
Marshall has described Celtic's response to the cases as "abysmal," while Patrick McGuire, the solicitor for many of the victims, says the club's denial of responsibility is "a stance that is hideously cruel to the survivors, insults the intelligence of every fan and the public and is a stain on the reputation of an institution set up with egalitarian aims at its heart."
In contrast to Chelsea's inquiry, there is little transparency about the one currently being carried out by Celtic. McGuire says that in the two years since it began none of his clients have been contacted in connection with it.
Sadly there is still a coterie of Celtic fans who persist in treating the scandal as some kind of conspiracy against the club. They defend the club's legalistic refusal of any responsibility though the Boys Club status as nursery club for the senior side is well known. Among other things, the two clubs shared a common child protection policy, entitled 'Aware and Confident'.
Celtic's defenders remind me of the Irish-American politicians who defended Cardinal Law of Boston's handling of child abuse in the diocese on the grounds that the media had it in for the Catholic Church. This stuff does not age well. Some things are more important than the eternal round of sectarian Scottish shit-kicking.
Such reactions are not confined to Celtic fans. Adam Breeze, a Crewe fan for 38 years who stopped supporting the club due to its response to the Bennell case, described how he was "accused of being a fake fan and worse by supporters who cannot countenance their club ever doing wrong. I believe the majority of Crewe fans are decent, fair-minded folk who want the truth, but there is a sizable faction who think every journalist is out to get them and every article is fake news."
The attitude of that minority is rooted in their affection for Dario Gradi, Crewe manager for almost 30 years, who brought Bennell to the club and has been accused of turning a blind eye to his proclivities.
These allegations led to Gradi being suspended from football by the FA in November 2016, yet he remains Director of Football at Crewe. The moral bankruptcy of this decision has now been further underlined by the findings of the inquiry at Chelsea.
Because if there is a smoking gun in the report it is the finding that "Mr Gradi is the single example of a clear account of an adult in a position of responsibility being informed about an allegation in relation to Mr Heath. The complaint was not referred to more senior members of the club and an opportunity to prevent Mr Heath going on to abuse others was lost."
That refers to a complaint in the early 1970s by a father whose son had been sexually assaulted in the showers by Heath. Gradi's reaction was to go to the child's parents because he didn't want the matter to go any further. "I'd got no intention of getting Eddie Heath into trouble," he recalled to the inquiry, "I don't remember being horrified by it. To be quite honest I think I would have tried to stand up for Eddie Heath a bit."
The boy's father remembers that in their meeting, "Gradi was defending what had happened."
Gradi told the enquiry, "the boy was blaming the sexual stuff going against him as a footballer."
Gradi is a figure of considerable standing within football, an MBE, a member of the English Football Hall of Fame, a winner of a PFA Merit Award and an award for Outstanding Contribution to League Football. There is even a street in Crewe, Dario Gradi Drive, named after him. This standing rested largely on his reputation as a nurturer of young talent. Yet it is now clear that he should have never been put in a position where he had responsibility for teenage boys.
Many more reputations will have to be re-evaluated before the whole truth about football and sexual abuse comes out. FA chairman Greg Clarke is not exaggerating when he describes it as the biggest crisis to hit the game. His observation that "All the organisations in the old days used to protect themselves by keeping quiet and closing ranks. That's completely inappropriate and unacceptable today," is apposite.
In the past the football authorities have been part of the problem. Ian Ackley, who was abused by a coach connected with Manchester City and spoke about it in a Channel 4 documentary as long ago as 1997, said the Association had been "dismissive" when his father had written to them about child protection deficiencies within the game back then.
This was a problem no-one wanted to face up to. And, just as the secretive and hierarchical nature of the Catholic Church facilitated the cover-up of abuse within its ranks, something about football clubs may have helped Bennell, Heath and Torbett to operate with impunity.
The game's cult of machismo must have made it more difficult for victims to admit to something they felt would be regarded as shameful. The code of omerta which prevails at clubs would also have militated against exposure of the culprits.
That coaches had the power to make and break the careers of the boys in their charge must have been a godsend to abusers. So must a tolerance of bullying unusual in most other walks of life. Last week also saw the publication of a report Chelsea commissioned from Barnardos which revealed that in the 1980s and '90s racial abuse of young players had been commonplace.
It was a rotten culture exploited by the very rottenest of men. There are no partisan conclusions to be drawn because there are probably few clubs unaffected at some level. Ireland has not escaped the scourge. Rugby and Gaelic games also have their tragic tales of abusers allowed free rein for far too long.
This is the saddest sporting story of all. But it cannot be ignored. When football's future histories are written Andy Woodward should have a prominent place.
He has done the game some service.

Sunday Indo Sport
 
decent article
https://www.independent.ie/sport/so...e-in-football-facilitated-abuse-38392715.html

Football's child sex abuse scandal means we will never be able to look at the game in the same way again.
Geoff Hurst won't just be the only man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final.
He'll also be the man who refused, despite several requests, to answer questions from an inquiry into the abuse perpetrated by Eddie Heath.
Heath was a former youth coach with Chelsea sacked by then-manager Hurst under circumstances which remain unclear.
Celtic won't just be the first British club to win the European Cup.
It'll also be the club which refused to take responsibility for child molestation at Celtic Boys Club on the technically correct but morally flimsy grounds that this was a feeder club rather than an official part of the senior set-up.
22Barry Bennell. Photo: AP
Dario Gradi will no longer be regarded as one of the game's great coaches of young players. He'll go down in history as the man who stood by and did nothing even though he knew what Heath was doing to teenage boys at Chelsea when Gradi was assistant manager.
The 1970s and '80s can't be regarded any more as a kind of golden age, a more innocent time before the influx of big money changed the game forever. They were a dark age when sexual abuse ran rife in the game and was enabled to do so by a toxic combination of indifference and ignorance.
This story is just beginning. It's less than three years since former Crewe defender Andy Woodward went public about the abuse inflicted upon him at the club by a coach, Barry Bennell.
After that it was as though a dam had burst. Victims who'd long kept silent were emboldened to come forward by Woodward's disclosures.
The Oscar-winning movie Spotlight, about child sex abuse in the archdiocese of Boston, perfectly captured the way in which these scandals escalate.
At the beginning the reporters believe they're merely documenting the misdeeds of a handful of bad apples, by the end they've uncovered a problem of such enormous proportions it seems systemic.
We are very early in the days of football's reckoning with child abuse. There will be many more terrible things heard and many more clubs implicated.
It is to Chelsea's credit that they did at least commission the enquiry which last week reported on Heath's offences at the club.
That inquiry, led by Charles Geekie QC, involved a 17-strong legal team which conducted 139 interviews, dealt with eight police forces and took two and a half years to complete their work. Last week a statement from the club said: "The board wishes to thank all the survivors and witnesses who came forward to assist the reviews and the club apologises unreservedly for the terrible past experiences of our former players."
That's the kind of apology Celtic should make, according to clinical psychologist Dr John Marshall who gave evidence at last year's trial of Jim Torbett, one of four former Celtic Boys Club coaches to be convicted of child abuse. Celtic, says Dr Marshall, should "be open and transparent in a similar way to Chelsea. They have to acknowledge what the victims have gone through and the impact on them and thoroughly investigate like Chelsea did."
Marshall has described Celtic's response to the cases as "abysmal," while Patrick McGuire, the solicitor for many of the victims, says the club's denial of responsibility is "a stance that is hideously cruel to the survivors, insults the intelligence of every fan and the public and is a stain on the reputation of an institution set up with egalitarian aims at its heart."
In contrast to Chelsea's inquiry, there is little transparency about the one currently being carried out by Celtic. McGuire says that in the two years since it began none of his clients have been contacted in connection with it.
Sadly there is still a coterie of Celtic fans who persist in treating the scandal as some kind of conspiracy against the club. They defend the club's legalistic refusal of any responsibility though the Boys Club status as nursery club for the senior side is well known. Among other things, the two clubs shared a common child protection policy, entitled 'Aware and Confident'.
Celtic's defenders remind me of the Irish-American politicians who defended Cardinal Law of Boston's handling of child abuse in the diocese on the grounds that the media had it in for the Catholic Church. This stuff does not age well. Some things are more important than the eternal round of sectarian Scottish shit-kicking.
Such reactions are not confined to Celtic fans. Adam Breeze, a Crewe fan for 38 years who stopped supporting the club due to its response to the Bennell case, described how he was "accused of being a fake fan and worse by supporters who cannot countenance their club ever doing wrong. I believe the majority of Crewe fans are decent, fair-minded folk who want the truth, but there is a sizable faction who think every journalist is out to get them and every article is fake news."
The attitude of that minority is rooted in their affection for Dario Gradi, Crewe manager for almost 30 years, who brought Bennell to the club and has been accused of turning a blind eye to his proclivities.
These allegations led to Gradi being suspended from football by the FA in November 2016, yet he remains Director of Football at Crewe. The moral bankruptcy of this decision has now been further underlined by the findings of the inquiry at Chelsea.
Because if there is a smoking gun in the report it is the finding that "Mr Gradi is the single example of a clear account of an adult in a position of responsibility being informed about an allegation in relation to Mr Heath. The complaint was not referred to more senior members of the club and an opportunity to prevent Mr Heath going on to abuse others was lost."
That refers to a complaint in the early 1970s by a father whose son had been sexually assaulted in the showers by Heath. Gradi's reaction was to go to the child's parents because he didn't want the matter to go any further. "I'd got no intention of getting Eddie Heath into trouble," he recalled to the inquiry, "I don't remember being horrified by it. To be quite honest I think I would have tried to stand up for Eddie Heath a bit."
The boy's father remembers that in their meeting, "Gradi was defending what had happened."
Gradi told the enquiry, "the boy was blaming the sexual stuff going against him as a footballer."
Gradi is a figure of considerable standing within football, an MBE, a member of the English Football Hall of Fame, a winner of a PFA Merit Award and an award for Outstanding Contribution to League Football. There is even a street in Crewe, Dario Gradi Drive, named after him. This standing rested largely on his reputation as a nurturer of young talent. Yet it is now clear that he should have never been put in a position where he had responsibility for teenage boys.
Many more reputations will have to be re-evaluated before the whole truth about football and sexual abuse comes out. FA chairman Greg Clarke is not exaggerating when he describes it as the biggest crisis to hit the game. His observation that "All the organisations in the old days used to protect themselves by keeping quiet and closing ranks. That's completely inappropriate and unacceptable today," is apposite.
In the past the football authorities have been part of the problem. Ian Ackley, who was abused by a coach connected with Manchester City and spoke about it in a Channel 4 documentary as long ago as 1997, said the Association had been "dismissive" when his father had written to them about child protection deficiencies within the game back then.
This was a problem no-one wanted to face up to. And, just as the secretive and hierarchical nature of the Catholic Church facilitated the cover-up of abuse within its ranks, something about football clubs may have helped Bennell, Heath and Torbett to operate with impunity.
The game's cult of machismo must have made it more difficult for victims to admit to something they felt would be regarded as shameful. The code of omerta which prevails at clubs would also have militated against exposure of the culprits.
That coaches had the power to make and break the careers of the boys in their charge must have been a godsend to abusers. So must a tolerance of bullying unusual in most other walks of life. Last week also saw the publication of a report Chelsea commissioned from Barnardos which revealed that in the 1980s and '90s racial abuse of young players had been commonplace.
It was a rotten culture exploited by the very rottenest of men. There are no partisan conclusions to be drawn because there are probably few clubs unaffected at some level. Ireland has not escaped the scourge. Rugby and Gaelic games also have their tragic tales of abusers allowed free rein for far too long.
This is the saddest sporting story of all. But it cannot be ignored. When football's future histories are written Andy Woodward should have a prominent place.
He has done the game some service.

Sunday Indo Sport
Not to sure about the comment “technically correct” reference cbc. I really do have some reservations about that.
 
"Celtic Boys Club on the technically correct but morally flimsy" that would be accurate if it was true, but it's technically incorrect. They were one and the same entity for over 50 years, only lately Celtic cutting the ties that bonded them.
You are right jwb, even if the mentally challengeds were to try the separate entity pish the sfa stuff posted earlier , I think by @Tim Hunter , shows that they will still be held accountable despite all their guff
 
My understanding is that the boys club functioned as a youth academy. The SFA acknowledge as much in their preliminary report. But by 2004 that time had past.
Might be something that has to be found out positively IB because any doubt in a courtroom would give their lawyers a get out clause if they could argue that the youth academy and the boy’s club were “ separate entities “ :( but you know what I mean ! any escape route for those rhats will do nicely to escape the justice they have avoided for all those years .
 
No we don't if it wasn't for the Rangers fan's keeping this relevant it would be further under the carpet
Total agree, if we do stop highlighting this, it will be brushed over by politicians, media, CFC ex players and board members. We must stand with the victims and their families and push for justice or an independent inquiry what ever we can get for them.
 
Sadly I think too many rangers fans dont see the bigger picture we need to stop the BJK chants etc and instead of focusing on them concentrate on us we are a class above them never forget that

No we don't.

We are right to remind them that their all-time hero was in fact a paedophile enabler, and that countless other children were abused as he turned a blind eye.
 
Plus the punishment to be handed out by the football authorities will be interesting considering how “ LENIENT “ they were with us for a pittance compared to what that lot are guilty of hiding :mad: .
Celtc facilitated, protected and knowingly covered up a paedophile ring operating at their club for decades. There is only one appropriate punishment for this criminal conspiracy, by the Scottish football authorities. Permanent expulsion from football.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top