Silence shows contempt for brave Toon youngsters
SO much for safeguarding. So much for the insistence that player welfarwelfare is the priority for clubs. EighteenmEighteenmonths after a complaint oof bullying and racism was levellelevelled at Newcastle legend PetPeter Beardsley, the Magpies hhave quietly revealed he has left the club.
Nothing about what conclusioconclusions an independent investigat investigation had reached, in to allegatallegations of racism and bullying, all of which Beardsley denies. NothinNothing on whether he had been paid off or sacked. And no mention of support for playerplayers who had made the allegationallegations.
At bestbest, it shows contempt for the youngstersyou brave enough to ccome forward. At worst, it is a snapshot of the trouble withw football’s insistence thatth it can protect players in its care.
It was JanJanuary 2018 when the Daily Mirror rrevealed Beardsley, coach of NewNewcastle’s Under-23 squad, had been accused by Yasin Ben El-Mhanni, now 23, of conduconducting a sustained campaigcampaign designed to humiliathumiliate him.
Five pplayers gave statemestatements in support. AllegatiAllegations of racism were also made. Yet Beardsley, who denied the claims that were made in NoNovember 2017, was still allowed to work with those players until he was suspended on full pay following the Mirror revelations two months later.
In fact, El-Mhanni and others paid the price – released by Newcastle when their contracts ended last summer.
Neither the FA nor the Premier League were involved in the investigation, led by Newcastle chief executive Lee Charnley. The FA ‘monitored’ developments and are only now expected to request the club’s observations with the inquiry complete.
Those observations are likely to be of little consequence to El-Mhanni, rebuilding his career at Scunthorpe.
He was highly thought of by head coach Rafa Benitez after being signed in June 2016.
He would go on to tell the club that the alleged abuse began just months later. By then he was a broken and disillusioned young man, reportedly forced to steel himself to go to work every day.
In his submissions he insisted that while he accepted the use of industrial language in a highlycharged dressing-room atmosphere, he was concerned that abuse was allegedly being repeatedly directed at him, reportedly in a bid to belittle and humiliate him.
The London-born winger, whose parents are Moroccan, complained of continuously being referred to by Beardsley as “d***head” and “muppet”.
He claimed Beardsley did not pick him for matches he deserved to play in on merit. As other team-mates backed him, the club was told of an incident understood to have taken place at an adventure activity complex, Go Ape, in Newcastle.
Watching two African players struggling with a climbing frame, Beardsley allegedly quipped: “Why are you taking so long? Your lot should be good at this.”
It is understood witnesses saw the incident, put to Beardsley at his hearing with Charnley and head of safeguarding Steve Swinyard.
African players gave statements suggesting Beardsley regularly accused them of being older than they purported to be.
Some players, fearful they would not be believed, took to secretly recording team talks and conversations on their phones to protect themselves.
Academy players sung openly about Beardsley at the training ground during his period of leave, modifying the lyrics of one particular song to make their feelings about him clear.
It was the second time Beardsley had been formally accused of such behaviour at the club.
He and coach Kenny Wharton were cleared in 2003 after Under-19 players Ross Gardner and James Beaumont made allegations against them.
Yet Newcastle’s handling of the current claims gives little confidence their safeguarding processes stand up to scrutiny in an age where football remains under the spotlight.