Sport Football
How did Chelsea scout’s sex abuse
At least 23 young players
were assaulted at club
Report concludes that
some turned a blind eye
By Jeremy Wilson
CHIEF SPORTS REPORTER
The first major club report into
football’s abuse scandal yesterday
delivered a damning verdict on
how serial sexual offender Eddie
Heath went “unchallenged” at
Chelsea over a decade in which at
least 23 young players were as-
saulted.
Heath, who died in 1983 and
never faced criminal proceedings,
was the club’s chief scout between
1968 and 1979 when subjecting
players aged between 10 and 17 to
“manipulative” and “systematic”
sexual abuse before being sacked
by former England striker Sir Geoff
Hurst for “footballing reasons”.
Hurst, who declined to be for-
mally interviewed in person for the
review, yesterday stressed that he
was unaware of abuse allegations
concerning Heath before they be-
came public in 2016 and that he dis-
missed him shortly after being
appointed manager as he was not
satisfied with his scouting work.
An independent 2½-year investi-
gation was led by Charles Geekie
GQ, who concluded that, while the
evidence did not show that other
adults had actual knowledge of the
serious acts of abuse, others would
have been aware of and observed
Heath’s “lewd” behaviour.
“The unhappy reality is that
some must have seen things and
turned a blind eye to what they
saw,” said Geekie.
There is particular criticism for
Dario Gradi, who was then assistant
coach, after a complaint was made
to him about Heath that, according
to Geekie, became a lost opportu-
nity “to prevent Mr Heath from go-
ing on to abuse others”.
As well as Heath, the Chelsea in-
vestigation also revealed com-
plaints of sexual abuse relating to a
now deceased “driver and referee”
who was also working at the club in
the mid-Seventies. These allega-
tions were considered “credible” by
Geekie, who led a 17-strong legal
team and conducted 139 interviews.
A separate review into allega-
tions of racial abuse at Chelsea from
1982 until the late Nineties, con-
ducted by the charity Barnardo’s,
yesterday also concluded that
By Jeremy Wilson
Dario Gradi has been accused of
missing an opportunity to prevent
further abuse by serial sexual
offender Eddie Heath following the
way he handled a complaint about
the former Chelsea chief scout.
A 247-page review into “non-
recent child sexual abuse” at Chel-
sea has been published and, while
QC Charles Geekie is “satisfied that
Heath was a prolific, manipulative
and sophisticated sexual abuser”, a“black players were subjected to a
daily tirade of racial abuse”.
The club’s board apologised “un-
reservedly for the terrible past ex-
periences of some of our former
players” and said that they wanted
to “shine a bright light in the dark
corners of the club’s history...to
protect the players of the future”.
Forty players came forward to
give evidence across the two re-
views and 17 of those have since
held face-to-face meetings with
Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck, who
was brought to tears on several oc-
casions.
There have also been private
apologies and ongoing support is
being provided to any affected
player or family member. Some had
never previously been back to
Stamford Bridge, while others
asked to see how the current safe-
guarding procedures worked for
the academy players at the club’s
Cobham training base.
Forty individuals have made
compensation claims and, while
some are already settled, it is un-
derstood the majority are still being
handled by the club’s insurers.
After some dissatisfaction at thesignificant section of his report
focuses on how Gradi, who was
assistant coach, handled a com-
plaint about Heath.
Gradi, who is suspended by the
Football Association but denies any
wrongdoing, was Crewe Alexandra
manager almost continuously from
1983 until 2011 and is now the club’s
director of football.
The 78-year-old was appointed
assistant coach at Chelsea in Janu-
ary 1971, with responsibility for the
reserve team, but visited one of the
youth-team player’s houses in themid-1970s following an allegation
against Heath. In evidence to the
review, the player says that Heath
had “grabbed and caressed me in
the changing room” and that he
informed his parents immediately.
The player, who is identified in
the report as “AV”, felt that Gradi
was “making an effort to be his
most charming and affable” when
he visited him and his father fol-
lowing the complaint and that he
told them Heath “got carried away”
and that he would “have a word
with him”. Gradi initially respondedAbuser: Eddie
Heath was
Chelsea’s chief
scout between
1968 and 1979Denial: Dario
Gradi says he did
not ‘smooth over’
boy’s complaintQC says Gradi
failed to seize
opportunity
to halt Heath
been “untouchable” amid a culture
of silence that made children too
scared or embarrassed to come for-
ward. Most of the witnesses could
recall Heath using sexual innuendo
and behaving inappropriately but it
was reported that he took care that
his most serious sexual assaults,
which included rape, took place inprivate. There were 15 witnesses
who were subjected to “serious and
unambiguous sexual assaults”.
The profound and lasting impact
of Heath’s abuse is detailed in the
report, with one player turning to
drugs, going to prison and still un-
able to show affection to his chil-
dren or grandchildren. “Othersprocess, amid concern that lawyers
could be receiving more in fees
than the compensation for victims,
the Football Association and Pro-
fessional Footballers’ Association
have funded a “survivor advocate”
to support players through the
claims process. Chelsea have also
promised not to suggest non-dis-
closure agreements after The Daily
Telegraph previously revealed how
Gary Johnson received £50,000 as
part of an arrangement to keep
quiet about being abused by Heath.
That was shortly before the full
scale of the scandal became evident
in 2016 following Andy Wood-
ward’s revelations about being sex-
ually abused at Crewe Alexandra by
Barry Bennell.
Hundreds of sexual abuse vic-
tims then came forward from across
Britain and, as well as the Chelsea
review, investigations are being
held into offences at clubs includ-
ing Manchester City, Southampton
and Crewe.
Heath, who was known by some
players as “nightmare Eddie”, is de-
scribed by witnesses as havingA separate Barnardo’s review
concluded that ‘black players
[at Chelsea] were subjected to
a daily tirade of racial abuse’
4 *** Wednesday 7 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
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