Now FOUR players name child abuser who still works in game
FOUR former Southampton FC players last night claimed the same member of staff at the club abused them as youngsters in the 1980s.
The former employee, now in his 60s, left Southampton under a cloud after concerns were raised about his behaviour towards members of the club’s youth team, but according to a BBC report yesterday, he still has a job in football.
One of his alleged victims, Neil Kerton, speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday, today gives a graphic account of the systematic abuse he and other boys suffered when a member of the youth team at the then First Division club, now in the Premier League.
Mr Kerton accused the club of ‘closing their eyes’ to the man’s abuses because of the ‘conveyor belt’ of top quality players he spotted over the years. Southampton yesterday said it will work with Hampshire police as at least 18 forces around the country investigate claims from up to 350 people of historical child sexual abuse in youth football.
The news came as the scandal of historical child abuse in football gathered momentum and:
Ex-Southampton manager Lawrie McMenemy said he was ‘shocked and disgusted’ by claims of grooming and sexual abuse.
Former sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe said he didn’t believe the Football Association was in a good position to investigate how their predecessors had dealt with the matter.
Chelsea FC apologised ‘profusely’ to former youth team player Gary Johnson over abuse he suffered in the 1970s which led the club to pay him £50,000 for his silence.
One-time Chelsea midfielder Alan Hudson said it was ‘common knowledge that former chief scout Eddie Heath was a danger to us youngsters’.
Ex-players Andy Woodward, 43, Steve Walters and Chris Unsworth, both 44, have launched a support organisation – called the Offside Trust – to support victims of abuse.
Earlier, former Southampton players Dean Radford and Jamie Webb alleged they had suffered years of sexual abuse by the same former employee identified by Mr Kerton.
Mr Radford, 46, who was a first team player alongside future England captain Alan Shearer in the late 1980s, described the way the alleged abuser groomed him and manipulated his affections.
There is no suggestion that any other players on the above first-team photograph from 1989 were abused.
‘The reasons he gave were that we needed to trust him, he needed to be like a second father to us,’ said Mr Radford. ‘If we trusted him, and it worked both ways, then the chances were there that we could become a professional footballer.’
He also described a sexual assault which he said took place after he had developed a back injury and was asked to lie down for treatment.
Jamie Webb, who joined the club when he was 13, described how boys were ‘asked to write the man “love” letters’.
A fourth, anonymous player in his 40s yesterday told Radio 4’s Today that young team-mates were made to take part in games of a sexual nature. His allegations bore a chilling resemblance to Mr Kerton’s testimony, opposite.
The man at the centre of the allegations was acquitted of six charges of indecent assault against youngsters in the 1990s. Mr Kerton was not one of the witnesses.
The unnamed former player described to the BBC the shame he felt as an adult looking back on what happened, saying he would dread going near the man.
He said the club employee would inspect the boys while they were naked, deliberately touch them inappropriately while giving massages, and make them put their heads in his lap.
‘He tried to assault me in a hotel room. I’ve sort of blocked it out of my mind. When it happened, I just got up before he did anything, I got out of the room.’ He criticised the police and Southampton FC for not doing more to investigate what happened at the club.
‘I’m angry it’s happening now and wasn’t sorted out years ago,’ he said. ‘There’s lots of failures in the system and he needs to be held accountable and he’s scarred me.’
Mr Sutcliffe, Labour Sports Minister from 2007 to 2010, said it would be preferable if an independent body looked at the issue rather than the FA, adding: ‘They’re very narrow and insular and may not do a proper job even though with the right intentions.’
Southampton FC said it would co-operate fully with any police investigation.
‘Club closed their eyes to abuses because of the top players he spotted’