In July 2018, the FA's independent inquiry was said to have found no evidence of an institutional cover-up or of a paedophile ring operating within football, but intended publication of its report in September 2018 was delayed, potentially by up to a year, pending Higgins' retrial and further charges against Bennell (tried in 2020).
[8][9] On 23 November, former Manchester City players David White and Paul Stewart made similar sex abuse allegations about Bennell,[10] and about another coach[11] (later named as Frank Roper) at the Nova feeder club.
[23] Secondly, on 7 December 2016, the BBC reported that the mother of a former Crewe youth team player wrote an anonymous letter to Dario Gradi in 1989–90, asking him to investigate "inappropriate" behaviour involving a member of staff, who "took lots of boys into his room overnight" during a weekend away in Blackpool.
The documentary featured Ian Ackley, a former player at Derbyshire youth side White Knowl, who was one of four boys who had come forward to British police after Bennell's US arrest.
Following the earlier seven guilty pleas, he was sentenced on Monday 19 February for a total of 50 offences against 12 boys,[63] and was jailed for 31 years (being expected to serve half in custody, with the rest on licence).
[77] On 19 March 2019, the Guardian reported Crewe Alexandra planned to contest victims' claims, using specialist lawyers – appointed for the club by Football League insurers – with experience of defending child sex abuse allegations involving the Catholic church.
[96] On 23 November 2016, former Manchester City players David White and Paul Stewart made similar sex abuse allegations about Bennell,[10] and about another coach,[11] later named as Frank Roper, at the Nova feeder club.
[100] On 24 November 2016, The Guardian reported that an anonymous ex-footballer had contacted police to say he was a victim of George Ormond,[101] a former Newcastle United youth coach who was jailed in December 2002 for offences against young footballers in the area.
[113] On 3 July 2018, the jury returned guilty verdicts on 36 counts of sexual abuse against 18 victims over a 24-year period between 1973 and 1997 (he was acquitted of two other offences);[114] the following day, Ormond was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
[146] One former youth player alleged Higgins provided "soapy massages";[150] another, 'Jon' (not his real name), said he was left emotionally scarred and needing treatment for mental health issues, and that complaints made in 2013 to Peterborough resulted in no action.
[165] On 5 December 2016, allegations spread to Scotland when a former youth football coach and assistant referee, Hugh Stevenson (who died in 2004), was accused by Peter Haynes of child sex offences over a three to four-year period said to have begun on the day of the 1979 Scottish Cup Final between Rangers and Hibernian at Hampden Park.
[194] Carson worked at Norwich City from 1983 until 1993, and was academy director at Peterborough from 1993 to 2001 (overlapping with Bob Higgins for almost a year; one child abuse victim was reportedly assaulted by both men),[163] before leaving to become head of talent development at Cambridge United from 2001 to 2005.
[197] Carson, 75, was killed when the car he was driving crashed into a tree near Bottisham in Cambridgeshire on 7 January 2019, the day his trial was due to start at Peterborough Crown Court; no other vehicle was involved.
[203][204] On 24 March 2017, it was reported that 84-year-old former youth football scout Harry Dunn, who had worked at Liverpool, Rangers and Chelsea, had been arrested by Scottish police investigating allegations of historical sex abuse.
[209] James Torbett, a former Celtic Boys Club manager, was found guilty in 1998 of shameless and indecent conduct with three juvenile players between October 1967 and March 1974,[210][211] and given a prison sentence of 30 months.
[233] On 5 December 2018, King was convicted of five charges of using lewd and libidinous practises towards five victims between August 1984 and April 1989, and found guilty of taking indecent pictures of children in February 1987.
[247] On 15 January 2019 at the High Court in Edinburgh, former football coach Norman Shaw, 84, was jailed for nine years for sexual abuse against boys between August 1979 and December 1989 when he was involved with a children's team called Perth Rovers.
[267] The FA and NSPCC also collaborated to produce a film about how to keep children safe in the sport, featuring the captains of England's men's, women's and cerebral palsy football teams (Wayne Rooney, Steph Houghton and Jack Rutter).
[269] The FA was criticised by Conservative MP Damian Collins, chair of the House of Commons' Culture, Media and Sport Committee, for being too slow in reacting and not instigating a wider review.
[273] Sutcliffe said an independent body, such as the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, should look at the issue rather than the FA investigating itself: "What I've seen in football over the years is that they're very narrow, very insular, and may not do a proper job even though with the right intentions.
Brunel University's Daniel Rhind said the FA is today seen as a leading sports governing body for child protection with the system put in place since the CPSU was formed regarded as a "gold standard" model other countries can follow.
[276] On 11 January 2017, it was reported that the FA's review, led by Clive Sheldon, had made its first call for evidence, writing to all football clubs in England and Wales, amateur and professional, asking for information about allegations of child sexual abuse between 1970 and 2005.
Sheldon's report, likely to be highly critical of several clubs, was initially expected to be delivered to the FA in September 2018,[289] but its publication was delayed, potentially by up to a year, pending the retrial of Bob Higgins and possible further charges against Barry Bennell.
[172] In February 2017, it was reported that the SFA's enquiry would be headed by Martin Henry, formerly a police protection chief and national manager of child sexual abuse prevention charity Stop it Now!
[306] At the launch, the Trust's lawyer Ed Smethurst talked of alleged abusers still working "in the senior echelons" of football, of "grave misgivings about the FA's independent inquiry", and of new claims that clubs had paid 'hush money'.
"[312] The club was also excluded from the NorthWest Football Awards, was criticised by Damian Collins, chair of the DCMS select committee,[313] and by Crewe Town Council,[314] and was called to reconsider its decision by the PFA's Gordon Taylor.
[279] In March 2019, a year after Bennell was convicted and jailed, and with the Mulcahy review still ongoing, Manchester City announced it had created a compensation fund for victims of historical child sexual abuse at the club.
Clubs including Chelsea, Manchester City, Newcastle United, Southampton, Aston Villa, Blackpool and Crewe Alexandra were asked to submit evidence to Sheldon's own review.
It said Operation Hydrant had received 1,016 referrals from the NSPCC and from police forces (up from 819), and had identified 184 suspects and 526 potential victims, of whom 97% are male, with ages ranging from four to 20 when the alleged abuse took place.
[246] As well as football, 27 referrals of victims were made from other sports including basketball, rugby, gymnastics, martial arts, tennis, wrestling, golf, sailing, athletics, cricket, and swimming.