Sheldon Report on child abuse in football

[Santa]

18 minutes ago, Jacko51 said:

"Had the club had any suspicion or belief that Mr Bennell was committing acts of abuse, either before, during or after he left the club’s employment, the club would have informed the police immediately. "

Yet the report says, ""It is likely that three directors of Crewe Alexandra FC discussed concerns about Bennell which hinted at his sexual interest in children."

So who do we believe?

Their defence seems to be that hearing a rumour and doing nothing about it is OK, as long as you can plausibly deny that you ever had any reason to suspect that it could possibly be true.

 

 

[toyahw]

Funny thing is, not living in the area but going down a few Vale/Crewe games, listening to the chants of Gradi is a paedo, I used to think "that is way out of order". But, this was never aimed at other clubs. Even the shiite. With hindsight I wonder if it was actually widely known within the local community what was up.

[Santa]

I used to dismiss it as people just being a bit vile.

In those days there were plenty of people* who would equate someone's sexuality with being a paedophile. So if you had someone who was known to be a "confirmed bachelor" with a reputation for working with young lads then it was a cheap shot.

On reflection, I don't know to what extent the chants were because to that, or if they were any way down to the same type of rumours mentioned in the report. There's no doubt that there must have been some Vale fans involved in youth football locally who would have observed a certain amount of, well, weirdness when they played against Crewe and/or Bennell's sides.

* probably still are but more so back then

[bycars rob]

7 hours ago, ELDERBEZZA said:

CreweMad Platform 12 forum still think the scum are innocent and we all should read the facts!!!UNBELIEVABLE !!!!??

They've just started a Dario thread .Still in denial!!!!

I don`t get this with Crewe fans. How can you defend Gradi, given his reported attitude towards interfering inside boys trousers. 

[The man in the pub]

7 hours ago, robf said:

I personally find it staggering that Crewe football club have not posted any sort of statement. However, I am not surprised. They must be terrified of admitting anything and opening the legal floodgates. That's no excuse by the way, morally it stinks.

At least Stoke City had the decency to make a statement.

However, I am genuinely stunned by the local media. It's rank bad journalism bordering on being complicit on trying to sweep it under the carpet. There's simply no excuse. 

The very least they could have done is acknowledge the report has been published. That's the very least but arguably they should be doing so much more. The local media should be leading this, should be right at the front asking the questions and demanding answers. To simply pretend it hasn't happened is disgraceful.

This is something that ruined the lives of several affected, that highlights serious failing and with recommendations that can go a long way to safeguard future generations. What confidence can we have that this may not happen again if the local media simply choose to avoid an inconvenient truth? 

 

 

Sadly Rob assume the only reason is that they are worried they will lose the cosy relationship they have with the club and it appears that is more important. Just imagine if it was a local company, you can almost write the frontpage yourself. Probably for several consecutive nights.

[Doha]

The common reaction to that Crewe statement so far is that they've actually made things worse. If you click on the individual tweets it will bring up pages of comments. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ELDERBEZZA]

The Offside Trust is now campaigning to get Dario stripped of his MBE.Crewe fans will continue to defend him no doubt,apart from a sensible Phil on here!!

[Mario]

The Offside Trust is now campaigning to get Dario stripped of his MBE.Crewe fans will continue to defend him no doubt,apart from a sensible Phil on here!!

I notice you had a chat with Platform 12

[ELDERBEZZA]

1 minute ago, Mario said:

I notice you had a chat with Platform 12

They love me......not🤣🤣🤣

[tommytunstall]

1 hour ago, toyahw said:

Funny thing is, not living in the area but going down a few Vale/Crewe games, listening to the chants of Gradi is a paedo, I used to think "that is way out of order". But, this was never aimed at other clubs. Even the shiite. With hindsight I wonder if it was actually widely known within the local community what was up.

I worked close to Gresty Road from 1973 to 2010 and I can tell you that people were fully aware and joked about what was going on. A despicable state of affairs and a despicable club.

[Andyregs]

Interesting how vale knew about it so as not to employ him, but Crewe had no idea despite having a board meeting about it.

[Doha]

https://twitter.com/danroan/status/1372600746538065920/retweets/with_comments

[toyahw]

14 minutes ago, tommytunstall said:

I worked close to Gresty Road from 1973 to 2010 and I can tell you that people were fully aware and joked about what was going on. A despicable state of affairs and a despicable club.

Thanks for the insight. I suspected as much.  A disgraceful thing indeed, even more disgraceful the way it has swept under the carpet for so long.

[Walter]

Crewe statement.

https://www.crewealex.net/news/2021/march/club-statement---sheldon-review/
 

The club acknowledges the findings of Mr Sheldon QC that, notwithstanding the club may still not have got to the truth of any matters at that time, more could have been done to monitor the situation concerning Mr Bennell. 

The club is truly sorry if there were in fact any warning signs that ought to have led the club to do more.  Had the club had any suspicion or belief that Mr Bennell was committing acts of abuse, either before, during or after he left the club’s employment, the club would have informed the police immediately.

 

The club wishes to make it absolutely clear that it sincerely regrets and is disgusted by the terrible crimes committed by Mr Bennell upon many young footballers over a significant number of years.  The despicable abuse committed by Mr Bennell was abhorrent and the club continues to have the deepest sympathy for the victims and survivors of Mr Bennell.

The club fully understands the additional hurt and trauma to the victims and survivors of Mr Bennell which has been caused by the fact that no one at the club was aware of the offences being committed upon them at the time.  The club wholeheartedly regrets and is sorry to every survivor of abuse that it was unaware of Bennell’s offending.

The report of Clive Sheldon rightly acknowledges that for most of the period of Mr Bennell’s and others’ offending there was little or no guidance on child protection available to those working in sport or society in general. The club acknowledges that awareness of child protection matters and systems of safeguarding in football and in society have now improved considerably and safeguarding has become an integral part of the club’s everyday life.

The club acknowledges however that improvements to safeguarding can always be made and the club accepts the recommendations made by Clive Sheldon QC to ensure our safeguarding procedures remain as robust as possible.

The club also acknowledges the contributions made by all individuals to the report of Clive Sheldon QC and reiterates its deepest sympathy to all those victims and survivors of Mr Bennell.

This is a really poor statement in my opinion.

[ELDERBEZZA]

1 hour ago, Walter said:

5 hours ago, mr.hobblesworth said:

Crewe statement.

https://www.crewealex.net/news/2021/march/club-statement---sheldon-review/
 

The club acknowledges the findings of Mr Sheldon QC that, notwithstanding the club may still not have got to the truth of any matters at that time, more could have been done to monitor the situation concerning Mr Bennell. 

The club is truly sorry if there were in fact any warning signs that ought to have led the club to do more.  Had the club had any suspicion or belief that Mr Bennell was committing acts of abuse, either before, during or after he left the club’s employment, the club would have informed the police immediately.

 

The club wishes to make it absolutely clear that it sincerely regrets and is disgusted by the terrible crimes committed by Mr Bennell upon many young footballers over a significant number of years.  The despicable abuse committed by Mr Bennell was abhorrent and the club continues to have the deepest sympathy for the victims and survivors of Mr Bennell.

The club fully understands the additional hurt and trauma to the victims and survivors of Mr Bennell which has been caused by the fact that no one at the club was aware of the offences being committed upon them at the time.  The club wholeheartedly regrets and is sorry to every survivor of abuse that it was unaware of Bennell’s offending.

The report of Clive Sheldon rightly acknowledges that for most of the period of Mr Bennell’s and others’ offending there was little or no guidance on child protection available to those working in sport or society in general. The club acknowledges that awareness of child protection matters and systems of safeguarding in football and in society have now improved considerably and safeguarding has become an integral part of the club’s everyday life.

The club acknowledges however that improvements to safeguarding can always be made and the club accepts the recommendations made by Clive Sheldon QC to ensure our safeguarding procedures remain as robust as possible.

The club also acknowledges the contributions made by all individuals to the report of Clive Sheldon QC and reiterates its deepest sympathy to all those victims and survivors of Mr Bennell.

This is a really poor statement in my opinion.

Fans nationally are of the same opinion about the statement APART FROM THOSE IDIOTS IN SOUTH CHESHIRE.It will be a very interesting Praise and Grumble on Friday and Saturday on Radio Stoke. 🤔🤔