BENNELL: NONE OF MY TEAMS WERE CONNECTED TO MAN CITY
But paedophile coach admits he gave impression of links to Blues
PAEDOPHILE football coach Barry Bennell told a High Court judge he was not linked to Manchester City four decades ago after eight men who say he abused them made damages claims.
Bennell, who is in jail after being convicted of child sex offences, told Mr Justice Johnson he had been a ‘local scout’ for the club between 1975 and 1979.
But he told the judge, who is overseeing a High Court trial in London, he had not been a Manchester City ‘coach’ between 1979 and 1985, when the men say they were abused.
He also said his ‘junior teams’ had no connection with City.
The men, now in their 40s and 50s, say Bennell, aged 67, abused them when they were playing schoolboy football for teams he coached in the North West of
England between 1979 and 1985.
They claim Bennell, who became a coach at Crewe Alexandra in 1985, was a scout for Manchester City during that time and argue that the relationship between Bennell and Manchester City was ‘one of employment or one akin to employment’.
Manchester City deny that claim and say Bennell had been a local club scout in the mid-1970s but not between 1979 and 1985.
Bennell said he had used his ‘previous connection as a draw for players to join my junior teams’.
“None of the teams they played for that I ran were in any way connected with MCFC,” Bennell told the judge, in a written witness statement. “However, I can entirely understand why some of the claimants may have genuinely believed they were playing for teams connected with MCFC because I was responsible for creating that belief.
“I was particularly good at creating the impression with junior players, their parents, other coaches and, for that matter, anyone else I met that I was an MCFC coach and that playing for one of my junior teams meant that they were in some way connected with MCFC, which of course was what the players and their parents themselves always wanted to believe.
“However, the reality is that I was never an MCFC coach and after 1978/1979 my junior teams had no connection at all with MCFC.”
Mr Justice Johnson has heard that Bennell, who used to live near Buxton, had abused schoolboy footballers after inviting them to stay at his home.
The eight men are claiming damages for psychiatric injuries. Six are also claiming damages for loss of potential football earnings.
Bennell is serving a 34-year sentence after being convicted of sexual offences against boys on five separate occasions – four in the UK and one in the US.
Bennell gave evidence from prison, via a video link and was questioned by barrister James Counsell QC, who is representing the eight men.
He denied abusing four of the men involved in the litigation. He admitted abusing others.
Mr Counsell asked Bennell about his wider abuse of boys between the 1970s and 1990s.
“How many boys do you say you have abused?” Mr Counsell asked. Bennell replied: “I am not answering that question.”
He added: “I am not prepared to go into that. I’ve been found guilty. I’ve plead guilty. I’m doing time. What do you want?”
Bennell suggested there had been a ‘bandwagon’. “Without a doubt,” he said. “Give me a polygraph.”
The case continues.