Gradi’s legacy at Crewe left tainted by terrible ignorance
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As a child born in wartime Italy who came to England to forge a successful career as a football coach over four decades, determinedly producing international players at a small club in the shadow of others, it is truly remarkable how much slipped the attention of Dario Gradi.
His interview with Clive Sheldon QC encompassing Gradi’s involvement with the coach Barry Bennell during the 6½ years they worked together over two periods in the 1980s and then early 1990s, is the story of how one man failed to spot the appalling reality. That being, Bennell was a prolific child rapist and abuser whose crimes have blighted innumerable lives in what has become one of the British game’s biggest scandals.
Bennell will most likely die in jail. Gradi, at 79, is banned from working in the game by the Football Association on the basis of a safeguarding report it will not disclose. Sheldon, in his review of child sex abuse in football from 1970 to 2005, is left to pick up the pieces. An abuser allowed unfettered access to children, scores of broken lives and a club that knew nothing. There is no suggestion that Gradi abused boys in his care and none that, Sheldon says, Gradi knew about Bennell’s crimes.
Crewe Alexandra is not the only club at which Bennell committed his crimes, but it remains the one where his immediate boss, sometime champion and occasional housemate, has the power to explain how this tragic series of events might have been allowed to unfold.
Yet as one reads the pages of Sheldon’s report of Bennell’s time at Crewe, it becomes clear this is a list of the crucial things that, at times in his 30 years at Crewe, Gradi did not know, did not notice or did not act upon. It is a long list.
When Bennell’s Crewe youth teams played against local sides, Gradi was not aware, or concerned enough, they were often taunted by opposition as “Barry’s bum boys” or similar slurs.
Neither did Gradi deduce anything unusual about the arrangement that boys stayed overnight at Bennell’s home because, as he pointed out, the club’s limited resources meant boys stayed at his home, too. “Well, I didn’t think [it was odd],” Gradi tells Sheldon, “as I often had kids staying with me and in my car; not to the same extent he did. But no, I didn’t think it was odd”. What, Sheldon asks, would have been his reaction to boys, who could have gone home, staying with Bennell? “I never,” Gradi says, “gave it any real thought.”
Indeed, when Gradi was asked by Sheldon whether it might be considered against the norm to have children staying at the home of a coach, his response is to view it through the lens of football. “Nor was it the norm for clubs like us to produce international players out of our schoolboys.” he says. This was all part of the magic of Crewe.
When Bennell stayed at Gradi’s home, no alarm bell rang either. If there was a boy staying in the house, the two men, Gradi says, would sleep in the same room. Was it possible, as was alleged to Sheldon, Bennell abused boys when Gradi was there? “No, I don’t – well, I can’t believe that I would allow that to happen,” he says.
There is one rather stunning demonstration of Gradi’s grasp of child protection issues which one can only assume the review’s author included for a reason. In reference to Gradi’s time working with the late Eddie Heath, a sex abuser, at Chelsea in the 1970s, Sheldon says Gradi expresses the opinion that putting one’s hands down another’s trousers does not constitute assault. “I informed him [Gradi] that it was,” Sheldon says, “and he then accepted that.”
At Crewe one can only wonder at the scale of the abuse of boys in the care of the club. Although Gradi, Sheldon concludes, knew nothing of it. “More should have been done by the club to check on the welfare of the boys who stayed with Bennell or were in his presence”.
Sheldon hears from Joanne Smith, daughter of former Crewe director Hamilton Smith, that staff at the club “loathed” Bennell. She includes Gill Palin, the club secretary at the time, although Sheldon says he is unable to corroborate Smith’s account. Palin is interviewed and says she was unaware a nine-year-old boy stayed overnight with Bennell in his caravan.
As for Bennell’s own claim it was “ridiculous” to imagine that Gradi, Palin or indeed others at Crewe were not aware of his crimes, Sheldon dismisses all Bennell’s evidence as unreliable.
For all his success it seems that Gradi, and those around him at the club, knew very little about the academy. There were, Sheldon concludes, “enough warning signs for the club to have done more”.
What are we left with? That Gradi has an indefinite FA ban – for what, the FA will not say. And the long and distressing list of events Gradi had no idea about at the club he came to embody for years.
This is a list of the crucial things that he did not know, did not notice or did not act on
Patrick Bamford has a strong chance of being included in the England squad for the first time when it is announced today, while Jesse Lingard is in line for a recall.
John Stones and Luke Shaw are also expected to be recalled when Gareth Southgate names his squad for this month’s World Cup qualifiers against San Marino, Albania and Poland.
As things stand, Southgate is unlikely to include Jude Bellingham because his club, Borussia Dortmund, do not have an exemption in place which means, under Germany’s Covid-19 travel rules, he would have to quarantine for 14 days on his return to the country. Dortmund would, therefore, prevent him from travelling.
The Football Association has been hoping the situation might change but unless a sudden exemption is granted the 17-year-old is likely to miss out, along with his team-mate Jadon Sancho, who is one of several injured players.
There will be a new goalkeeper in the squad following Everton’s confirmation that Jordan Pickford is out with an oblique abdominal muscle injury. Southgate is likely to include West Bromwich Albion’s Sam Johnstone, along with
Nick Pope and Dean Henderson.
Already out are Joe Gomez, Jordan Henderson, Harvey Barnes, Danny Ings, James Maddison, Jack Grealish, Tammy Abraham and Callum Wilson. There is hope that Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka will be available, despite being forced off at half-time in the north London derby with a hamstring problem.
The number of wide players who are out is a particular concern for Southgate who, earlier this week, allowed Callum Hudson-odoi and Mason Greenwood to be included in the Under-21 squad who are heading to Slovenia for the Euro Finals group stage.
At that time coach Aidy Boothroyd said he expected Bellingham to be in the senior squad, but the FA is unlikely to want to embroil itself in a row with Dortmund if an exemption cannot be obtained. Fifa has said clubs are not compelled to release players.
The absentees appear to offer an opportunity for Bamford, who Southgate watched during Leeds United’s goalless draw at home to Chelsea on Saturday.
The 27-year-old was substituted in the first half with a hip problem, but is expected to be fit for tomorrow’s Premier League fixture away to Fulham.
Bamford has been in outstanding form following Leeds’ return to the Premier League, scoring 13 goals and leading the line intelligently for Marcelo Bielsa’s side.
“Bamford contributes goals, he makes runs in behind and he is a presence in the box. He has a combativeness to recover the ball and he is always involved throughout the game,” the Leeds manager said. Of the prospect of a call-up along with Kalvin Phillips, Bielsa added: “It’s recognition first of all for the players. Second it’s recognition for the project of the club, the structure of the squad to compete in the Premier League.” Southgate is also considering including Lingard, who has impressed during his loan spell at West Ham United from Manchester United and last appeared for England in 2019. The form of Manchester City’s Stones and Manchester United’s Shaw means they are certain to be recalled.