Club statement regarding Barry Bennell's conviction

bobbyowenquiff said:
It's very sad but to anyone who went to school in the 60s and 70s not a surprise. I think modern-day City are doing the right thing so far. It seems clear that in the late 70s and 80s our management set-up was a complete shambles. Let's be honest we were a disgrace in all areas of the business during this era under Swales so why should the way we protected our young players be any better.
If anyone did turn a blind eye they should be ashamed of themselves. They have brought shame to our club which has always had a fantastic reputation for community work in Manchester. This scandal will follow the same path as other ones in the Church and schools. No doubt it goes much wider than City but don't underestimate how much damage this will cause us if we do not get our response right.
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Your first sentence is bob on, it happened but the apathy towards it was something anyone not in that era would never be able to understand.
 
Rascal said:
For those who consider my post to be hysterical all I can say is this is a lot closer to home for some than others.

I could post a hell of a lot more here but I wont as I would be seen as hysterical.

That's how cover ups work.
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You need to contact the police mate...straight away
 
bobbyowenquiff said:
If anyone did turn a blind eye they should be ashamed of themselves. They have brought shame to our club which has always had a fantastic reputation for community work in Manchester. This scandal will follow the same path as other ones in the Church and schools. No doubt it goes much wider than City but don't underestimate how much damage this will cause us if we do not get our response right.
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I assume you have read the Martin Samuel article and agree that the club are getting their 'response right' and doing everything they can at the present time.
 
You could draw a parallel with the silence around Bennell with the silence around another Crewe member of staff against whom a lot of rumours exist. Should Crewe have sacked him years ago (irrespective of his support for Bennell) purely on the back of rumours? Is their continued employment of him a cover-up? If he takes a different job in the future, should they tell his future employers that they’ve heard rumours he’s a paedophile? In the absense of any specific allegations or evidence against him (apart from circumstantial evidence that players used to stay over at his house although for a cost-saving reason which, back then, was a legitimate reason), what’s the right thing to do? It’s not an easy one at all.

P.s. I’ve never heard a bad word said about this guy from any of his ex players which was the same situation as Bennell up until the 90s.
 
meltonblue said:
In terms of away fans and if we get any negative comments coming our way (which I doubt we will as I think this is just the tip of the iceberg), I don’t really care either way. The most important thing to me is that people at City now are doing everything they can to find out the truth and seemingly be transparent with what they find. Nothing else matters than that and bringing any individuals involved to account.

Football clubs are odd in that fans almost see them as sentient beings in themselves. They aren’t, it is a collection of individuals and the City of today is a completely different entity to the one previously and a completely different set of people. If there was anything that the club didn’t do previously that should have done, then absolutely it should be exposed and made sure that it never happens again. If modern day city get some stick for it, then so be it. The important thing is bringing the facts to light, it’s the minimum of what anyone that suffered as part of this deserves.
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Good post. By now the club have nearly all the facts. They are probably doing more than any other club.
It was explained to me that the club position is " They inherited everything warts and all" that was very pertinent when I heard it. Although I know it is an emotive subject, people with little knowledge or experience should not be too vocal.
 
Dribble said:
A point no-one has mentioned is Bennell's source of alternative income. It's said he had a nice house, wore designer gear, drove a flash car, had a Puma & other exotic animals....

I can't find where it says he came from money or had a job, & I can't see running a kids' football team as being that lucrative either.

We know it was illegal for clubs to have youth teams, so it's reasonable to assume Bennell was unofficially on City's payroll, but it would have been accounted for as scouting expenses.

This was probably the way clubs got around the FA rules so they could ring fence the best local youth talent. Bennell must have been getting a fantastic wage from somewhere to fund his lifestyle, club kits & the several football trips abroad & foreign holidays he took on a seemingly regular basis, so it's not unreasonable to assume this came unofficially from City.
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Is that reasonable?

I've seen it said that he got expenses from City but has that been officially confirmed? As to making assumptions about the size and nature of those expenses and those being some sort of unofficial pay packet for a guy who was refused employment at the club!

City appear to be undertaking a very thorough investigation, let's see what they find before we condemn anyone at the club.
 
Dribble said:
A point no-one has mentioned is Bennell's source of alternative income. It's said he had a nice house, wore designer gear, drove a flash car, had a Puma & other exotic animals....

I can't find where it says he came from money or had a job, & I can't see running a kids' football team as being that lucrative either.
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He owned a chain of video rental shops.
 
OB1 said:
Is that reasonable?

I've seen it said that he got expenses from City but has that been officially confirmed? As to making assumptions about the size and nature of those expenses and those being some sort of unofficial pay packet for a guy who was refused employment at the club!

City appear to be undertaking a very thorough investigation, let's see what they find before we condemn anyone at the club.
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in the mid '70's when schoolboy travel on buses was 2p..whitehill would pay their favourite kids a tenner ex's.
 
http://boards.footymad.net/showthread.php?t=38214085

I think the only way out for Crewe is that City knew of his past and present before he came to Crewe and never passed the information on to forearm the Alex so maybe City could pay any compensation awarded against Crewe, I mean they would not miss a couple of Millions and see a poor club like Crewe wind up would they
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I’ve been on Crewe’s forum to have a look to see their fans thoughts on this and this comment particularly disgusted me. As a club I feel mcfc s conduct and investigation is and should be totally professional and transparent, no stone unturned, no hiding the ugly truth, it’s should all come out no matter what. Only the victims should be considered and how we can make sure this never happens again.
Other clubs need to take responsibility for their actions. Don’t pass the buck or expect others to undo your wrongs !
 
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