Chelsea FC has apologised “unreservedly” after a report found that young players were targeted for years by a “prolific and manipulative sexual abuser” who was able to operate “unchallenged”.
Drawing on the testimony of 23 witnesses, the report details how former chief scout Eddie Heath groomed and abused young boys aged between 10 and 17 in the 1970s. Heath died in 1983.
It found that some adults at Chelsea must have been aware of Heath's abuse but “turned a blind eye”.
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In a statement published alongside the findings, the Chelsea board said the club would “fully support those affected” and was committed to ensuring that “abhorrent abuse like this can never happen again”.
The BBC says that the review’s report is “heavily critical” of former assistant manager Dario Gradi, accusing him of failing to tell more senior club staff about an allegation regarding the sexual conduct of Heath, brought to him by the parent of a young player.
The review says that Gradi's alleged failure to report the allegation “was a lost opportunity to expose Heath and prevent further abuse”.
In his evidence to the review, Gradi, now 78, said he reported the allegations to the club's assistant manager and he denied trying to “smooth over” the matter in a meeting with the boy's father.
But he admitted he had “no intention of getting Eddie Heath into trouble”. The Guardian says the revelations mean that Gradi’s “long career could be ending in disgrace”.
Gradi, who is currently suspended by the Football Association is facing questions about the Barry Bennell scandal at Crewe Alexandra.
Sir Geoff Hurst, one of England’s winning team from the 1966 World Cup final, refused to co-operate with the inquiry, despite having been manager of Chelsea when Heath was sacked in 1979.
The recent investigations into sexual abuse in football have created what the Football Association chairman, Greg Clarke, has described as the biggest crisis in the history of the sport.
