Club statement regarding Barry Bennell's conviction

[Len Rum]

As has been said the club have to be proactive in managing this. Releasing carefully worded statements isn't going to hack it, we need to show real leadership.

Seems to me the club have been proactive by instigating a QC led internal investigation.
The club are constrained by what they can say due to ongoing legal cases.
What exactly did you have in mind by saying the club should "show real leadership".

 

[its a Barm]

I wad seriously pissed of last night that they had cameras at the stadium reporting on this terrible event, you can see the headlines soon "city cover up" and don't be surprised to see "pep knew" it's like the media are loving this and are so desperate to get some shit to stick on us.

 

[DontLookBackInAnger]

I wad seriously pissed of last night that they had cameras at the stadium reporting on this terrible event, you can see the headlines soon "city cover up" and don't be surprised to see "pep knew" it's like the media are loving this and are so desperate to get some shit to stick on us.

The problem is it would seem that there was a "City cover-up" given Swales position within the FA I'm shocked that the FA seem to be getting a free ride on this right now.

 

[City Raider]

Seems to me the club have been proactive by instigating a QC led internal investigation.
The club are constrained by what they can say due to ongoing legal cases.
What exactly did you have in mind by saying the club should "show real leadership".

Unfortunately I don't think hiding behind due process is going to cut it in this case. We need to find a way to balance that with some openness and transparency around the facts as we uncover them.

 

[Indaparkside]

I wad seriously pissed of last night that they had cameras at the stadium reporting on this terrible event, you can see the headlines soon "city cover up" and don't be surprised to see "pep knew" it's like the media are loving this and are so desperate to get some shit to stick on us.

Said the same to the wife anything to tarnish us, supprised they didn't go on about Adam Johnson straight afterwards

 

[Rascal]

Personally I could not give two fucks about City with this. This is far more serious than our football club, as much as I love City I would rather we were closed down and get the real truth out so lads could maybe get some relief from the horrors inflicted upon them

I lived close to Bennell, my mum and his mum were friends. Toffee Balls from here lived round the corner from him (if he still posts I will leave his thoughts for him to post) We played football with his younger brother. His older brother was a **** who murdered two girls, one was with my Aunty the night he did the first girl and the coward hung himself. His mum had to move, she told my mum she had tried really hard to bring her boys up properly. She is a victim of the bastard too. Hounded out of her home, had to get a new identity and move on. Not seen the younger brother for years, maybe he has done the same. Last time I saw him was over 20 years ago and he had a pub in Worsley.

My mate was coached by Bennell and drank himself to death aged 29. He never spoke about it, but it makes sense now. The bastard had reduced a decent very talented young footballer into a shell of himself. A fair number of lads from my area where involved with Bennell. He was well known in our area. I remember as a kid my mum crossing the road and telling me to avoid him, he was not a nice man she said.

I'm angry this morning, I'm not a violent man at all, but I could quite easily disembowel the **** and have no regrets at all.

 

[DontLookBackInAnger]

Said the same to the wife anything to tarnish us, supprised they didn't go on about Adam Johnson straight afterwards

What do you want them to say? There is an established and acknowledged link between Bennell and the club and it would seem that atleast at some level the club turned a blind eye. As a supporter from back then I can totally imagine it was due to the club's total mismanagement at pretty much every level, but we have been caught with our pants down, forgive the pun. However I'm sure there are those out there that would take a darker view.

 

[geoff clipp]

Well it wasn't at half time was it? It's like blaming British Rail for someone getting molested on a train.

Puzzled too about City being sued. Did any victims of Rolf Harris or Savile sue the BBC? (Obviously Savile is dead so that is a no to him)

I think the train analogy is shaky. Even though I don't know why it should be needed, i'll respond with another shaky one.

A music teacher (not officially employed by a prestigious high school but very well known to them) asks to use the school's facilities to provide private lessons for kids about to hoping to attend that school, and that high school, even after being warned that this particular person was a child molester, gives him the keys to the school to bring in kids to come and go as he wants. The inevitable happens. You don't think that school is partially responsible for what happened on its premises? It's ok cos it happened after school rather than at playtime?

Ps for what it's worth, I would hold British rail partly responsible if i was assaulted by an outsourced employee on one of their trains and I discovered they had been warned he was a threat.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Throughout the 80s as a young lad, I idolised City, I desperately wanted to play for them but sadly trials came to nothing. I would travel from Cumbria to watch games with my granddad, he would take me to see training sessions when Howard Kendall/Peter Reid was in charge, i even got onto the Maine Road pitch when they had a team photoshoot in 1991 and i took the team photo on my crappy instant camera (still have that photo, magic).

To learn that my club were possibly complicit/lenient towards a serial paedophile, who was making hellish existences for boys of a very similar age to me at the time, is profoundly upsetting and disappointing to me as a supporter of the club.

Some will see this as an overreaction, some wont really blink an eyelid at this from 30 years ago, but it's very very real.

It’s clear the investigations need to be very thorough. Anyone complicit or turning a blind eye to abuse need to be held to account.

That said, the despicable Bennell may well have had to much / to easy access at City but like you said in your post, anybody could walk around Platt Lane or around Maine Road. The media are using this access as proof of guilt. There is a shortage of hard evidence and very few people are still about who ran the Club in those days.

 

[City Raider]

Personally I could not give two fucks about City with this. This is far more serious than our football club, as much as I love City I would rather we were closed down and get the real truth out so lads could maybe get some relief from the horrors inflicted upon them

I lived close to Bennell, my mum and his mum were friends. Toffee Balls from here lived round the corner from him (if he still posts I will leave his thoughts for him to post) We played football with his younger brother. His older brother was a **** who murdered two girls, one was with my Aunty the night he did the first girl and the coward hung himself. His mum had to move, she told my mum she had tried really hard to bring her boys up properly. She is a victim of the bastard too. Hounded out of her home, had to get a new identity and move on. Not seen the younger brother for years, maybe he has done the same. Last time I saw him was over 20 years ago and he had a pub in Worsley.

My mate was coached by Bennell and drank himself to death aged 29. He never spoke about it, but it makes sense now. The bastard had reduced a decent very talented young footballer into a shell of himself. A fair number of lads from my area where involved with Bennell. He was well known in our area. I remember as a kid my mum crossing the road and telling me to avoid him, he was not a nice man she said.

I'm angry this morning, I'm not a violent man at all, but I could quite easily disembowel the **** and have no regrets at all.

Can't argue with this. I may have been more concerned with reputational damage on the club and impact this could have on our owner, as the club is used as a vehicle for promoting Abu Dhabi.

However my brother played for Blue Star and we both attended regular training sessions at Platt Lane in the 80s. I was also at Nova, another club with links to a now dead pervert. There but for the grace of God, somehow I wonder how we both made it through. The victims come first.