CREWE BLASTED FOR SEX ABUSE ‘APOLOGY’

CREWE finally broke their silence on football’s child sexual abuse scandal last night with a caveat-riddled statement that was labelled ‘mealy-mouthed’ and ‘begrudging’ by survivors. Barry Bennell is serving a 34-year prison term for sexually abusing boys while he was a youth coach at Crewe and Manchester City. Crewe’s statement read: ‘The club acknowledges the findings of Mr Sheldon QC that, notwithstanding the club may still not have got to the truth of any matters at that time, more could have been done to monitor the situation concerning Mr Bennell.’ The club added that they were ‘truly sorry if there were in fact any warning signs that ought to have led the club to do more’. The club claimed that if they had had any suspicions over Bennell, they would have contacted the police straight away. In a historic statement in Sheldon’s report, the late former Crewe chairman Norman Rowlinson said he asked Ken Barnes, the chief scout at Manchester City, if he had ‘heard any reports about Barry Bennell mucking about with kids’. In what some may see as an attempt to shut the door on compensation claims, the statement added: ‘The club fully understands the additional hurt and trauma to the victims and survivors of Mr Bennell which has been caused by the fact no one at the club was aware of the offences being committed upon them at the time. The club wholeheartedly regrets and is sorry to every survivor of abuse that it was unaware of Bennell’s offending.’ The Offside Trust, set up by survivors of child sexual abuse in sport, blasted the club in response, saying: ‘We are pleased to see the club finally say “sorry”, shame it has been delivered in such cold, mealy-mouthed, legalistic fashion. The emphasis on their lack of culpability makes it sound almost begrudging.’ The Trust are also leading calls to strip Dario Gradi of his MBE following criticism of the former Crewe manager in the review. The report found that Gradi ‘should have done more’ to investigate concerns about Bennell, but that Gradi (below) was not involved in a cover-up. The Trust has asked the Cabinet Office to remove his MBE, awarded in 1998, and are also calling for him to be removed from the English Football Hall of Fame. The FA confirmed on Wednesday that Gradi’s suspension from football is still in place from 2016 due to concerns he could pose a risk to children.