Club statement regarding Barry Bennell's conviction

Prestwich_Blue said:
Why? I'm not aware Bennell was ever formally a City employee. He was a scout for us but that was via his involvement in junior clubs. He certainly had a close association with us but when he did apply for a full-time role at City they turned him down after people who had heard rumours about what he was up to expressed their doubts.

Had he been a full-time coach at City and been assaulting and abusing boys under his control through that role then you'd have a very fair point.
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Agreed. It is abhorrent what happened but this has absolutely nothing to do with modern day city. One or more of the older employees may have made errors in not clamping down on a scout where there were rumours. Sadly this will be all about compensation and lawyers will be trying to squeeze as much as they can out of modern day city.

Ken Barnes who I met and was a thorough decent man seems to have his name mentioned a couple of times. Sad that he is being tainted by this.
 
Mod note.

I've removed a couple of posts, one claiming something about people perhaps close to Bennell, without any back up evidence and unrelated to this case. A second suggestion that Gradi was complicit, when there is no evidence of such thing.

Please can we avoid comments like this, they will just be deleted.

Thanks.
 
Prestwich_Blue said:
Why? I'm not aware Bennell was ever formally a City employee. He was a scout for us but that was via his involvement in junior clubs. He certainly had a close association with us but when he did apply for a full-time role at City they turned him down after people who had heard rumours about what he was up to expressed their doubts.

Had he been a full-time coach at City and been assaulting and abusing boys under his control through that role then you'd have a very fair point.
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He abused two boys on the pitch at Maine Road. There has to be some ownership at City that that was allowed to happen.
 
geoff clipp said:
He abused two boys on the pitch at Maine Road. There has to be some ownership at City that that was allowed to happen.
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I don't follow that line of thinking. If a guy takes a girl to a hotel and assaults her, is that the hotel's responsibility? Do Travelodge or Premier Inn need to take ownership?

Don't get me wrong though. I think City have to tread a fine line here as they certainly can't be seen to wash their hands of this. But they do have to be clear just how far they are involved in this and what their responsibility is.
 
As has been said previously, it is indefinisble that this was allowed to occur, and for so long. I hope there are serious repercussions beyond Bennell’s conviction and punishment, as others were certainly involved in abetting or, at the very least, ignoring his and many other predator’s actions. I do not support capital punishment but these sorts of egregious violations of humanity certainly cause me to reassess that stance... and all too frequently, unfortunately.

I am heartened by the club’s current investigation efforts—we all need to continue to support (and, if necessary, prod) them in these endeavours and accept whatever reasonable outcomes result from them.

I am curious if anyone on here could confirm if they have been contacted by the club regarding these investigations? Often times there are gag orders of sorts with this sort of fact finding but, if you are free to confirm, it would be interesting to get first hand information about the club’s work on this issue.

Also, does anyone happen to have a link to the club’s official prevention and mitigation policies (I am assuming they’ve been codified, for the Academy at least)?
 
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