Off Topic Paul Stewart: I was sexually abused by my football coach for four years

Those figures are for London clubs. There are 5 in the Premier League, which means only 1 hasn't had a complaint.
If there has been anything at Spurs, then I really hope that we do our best to bring it out into the open and deal with it.
We should also give a ton of help to any victims.

 

This evening's Standard had a boxout where the London clubs stated their position on two questions:
i.) Is your club among those the Metropolitan Police is investigating?
ii.) Have you received any allegations of sexual abuse at your club?

Here's the responses of the various clubs, using the exact wording of the article.

Arsenal
No comment/No comment

Crystal Palace
Club say they have not been contacted by the police/Club say they have received no allegations

Spurs
Club say they have not been contacted by the police/Club say they have received no allegations

West Ham
"To be the best of our knowledge, we have not been referenced by the Metropolitan Police"/"No."

Brentford
Club say they have not been contacted by the police/Club say they have received no allegations

Fulham
"Due to ongoing investigations by a number of police forces into allegations of non-recent child abuse at professional clubs, it would not be appropriate to provide information on the matter at this time"/"Due to ongoing investigations by a number of police forces into allegations of non-recent child abuse at professional clubs, it would not be appropriate to provide information on the matter at this time"

AFC Wimbledon
No comment/No comment

Millwall, Barnet & Leyton Orient
None of these clubs had responded by the time the Standard went to press

 

I can't really see clubs lying about this, so that's a bit weird.
Have the police received allegations and not contacted the clubs yet, while they get their ducks in a row? Seems possible.

Fulham's statement's rather a non-denial, isn't it?

 

The excessive amount of lawyerese in Fulham's statement makes it all the more suspicious, doesn't it?

 

Yep. The no comment stuff is acceptable, I guess. It's just clubs refusing to address it, which I can understand.
It's not exactly what I'd like to see at the moment, given the subject, but they'll have spoken to their legal teams.

Fulham's smacks of a yes, though.
If they have been contacted, then they can't discuss it publicly, but it sounds like an admission of contact.
If it isn't, then they need better lawyers, frankly.

 

This is Mrs Brian's area of policing and she has been heading up a large number of such investigations. The reason the clubs don't know anything is the police don't want them involved and interfering. I can say for definite that some of the clubs who have responded that they aren't aware of any allegations are, unbeknownst to them, indeed the subject of such allegations. Sorry, can't be specific for obvious reasons.

 

A former Norwich coach has been arrested as part of the ongoing investigation into child abuse in football:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-38770536
Can't say that I've ever heard of him, to be honest. I'm sure more details will be forthcoming.

 

I worked with Kit for a short while and he also signed my youngest son for Peterborough. He had a 10 year contract with Posh at the time and discovered Simon Davies and Matthew Etherington. He also discovered Jack Collison who went to West Ham.

Not trying to be clever after the event, but there were several of us who had doubts about him, although because he was married, we just assumed we were interpreting certain things incorrectly.

At one time his stock was very high and I believe Spurs tried to persuade him to quit Posh and head our academy.

 

****ing hell.

 

****ing hell indeed.

There are at least two people who must be squirming right now. One is Barry Fry who gave Kit Carson a 10 year contract to work with kids and the other should be Dan Ashworth. In his Cambridge United days, Carson worked very closely with Ashworth and we all know what position Ashworth holds in the game right now.

 

For those that don't know, he's the FA's director of elite development. For now.

 

And therein lies the problem.

Some of you sensed that something was "not right" , but to accuse someone of stuff
like this is a BIG deal considering the nature of it (this is not accusing someone of stealing
from the petty cash tin etc) .

So literally : what to do ??

 

It's the same thing with Jimmy Saville: there was a lot of suspicion and even more innuendo, but never did anyone actually come forward and make an actual allegation.