Taylor accused of abuse cover-up

Victim claims former boss ignored warning

FORMER England manager Graham Taylor covered up the sexual abuse of boys by a paedophile, it is claimed.

An inquiry was told he discouraged at least two teenage players from making complaints, telling one of them to “sweep it under the carpet and move on”.

Taylor, who died in January aged 72, was Aston Villa boss when he was told scout Ted Langford was a paedophile.

Villa defender Tony Brien, who was abused by Langford as a 12-year-old youth player for a feeder club, claims Taylor ignored his warnings that other youngsters were at risk.

Brien had moved to Taylor’s Villa team as an 18-year-old in the 1987-88 season. He decided to tell assistant manager Dave Richardson how Langford, who was also then working for Villa, had abused him as a young boy.

Brien had several conservations with Richardson and a single phone call with Taylor, an independent FA inquiry into football abuse was told.

Brien says Taylor told him: “Look, you’re a young lad starting out in the game. You’ve just made your debut.

“Could you really be dealing with all the obscenities from the terraces? So I just suggest you sweep it under the carpet and move on.”

Brien told the inquiry: “They discouraged me from going forward and never offered me a chance to go to the police.”

A second player said Taylor visited him at home and discouraged him from taking a complaint further against the scout, the inquiry was told.

Langford worked for Villa until 1989, when he was sacked in the wake of other abuse allegations.

He admitted three charges of indecent assault and four of gross indecency against boys in 2007. Langford, 66, was jailed for three years. He died in 2012.

Brien, now 48, played as a defender for Leicester, Chesterfield, Rotherham, West Bromand Hull City.

The inquiry is investigating whether Villa failed to alert authorities about the child sexual abuse.

So far, 741 alleged victims have come forward and 276 suspects have been identified in Operation Hydrant. Aston Villa said they had “co-operated fully” with the FA investigation.

Richardson said he could not recall any conversation with Brien about alleged abuse.