I've written about being disillusioned with The Athletic and cancelling my subscription, but I paid straight up for a year at a big discount and still have access. I've therefore read Danny Taylor's article, linked to above, about Gary Cliffe, who was in the City youth system when abused by Bennell. while it's quite harrowing in many ways at least it gives grounds for encouragement in terms of the way the club is dealing with the matter. I've also slated a wide range of football journalists recently but think that Taylor is due great credit for his work on this subject going back to 2016.
Anyway, I agree with the post above: we can't undo what was done but it's vital that we fully acknowledge the wrongs that the club perpetrated in the past, make a genuine apology for them and seek to atone for it as best we can (while being aware that we'll never be able to do enough). It sounds as though that's what the club is doing. I asked Danny a while back on Twitter when the findings of City's inquiry might become known, and he said it could take some time depending on whether Bennell faces another trial for offences which have come to light more recently. However, he thought it would happen this year.
It's obvious that the findings, whenever they're made public, are going to be extremely damning. The piece quotes Simon Pearce as saying that City "will be rightly smashed" and, while it may be better not to name names at this stage, I suspect that some individual reputations (including those of one or two of people who are regarded as club stalwarts) may be shredded in addition to crass institutional failings being laid bare.
In particular, it will be interesting to find out the identity of the City figure named by Cliffe when giving evidence at Bennell's trial as someone who probably had knowledge of the abuse. This person must still be alive, or at least must have been alive after the start of City's inquiry into historic abuse by people linked to the club, because Taylor lets us know that Cliffe was somewhat shaken by finding out that the person in question “will not engage” with the club on this matter.
We should probably also note that the report states there are some Bennell victims who "are taking civil action and have opted not to accept City’s terms". Maybe, then, we should hold fire and wait until we have full information before assessing whether or not the modern MCFC is absolutely beyond reproach for its reaction to events in the here and now. But in the meantime, I take encouragement from the fact that Taylor clearly views our actions positively, especially given his background working on the story and building close relationships with several of the men abused.
As someone with a major emotional investment in this club, I find myself absolutely horrified that MCFC behaved in a way that facilitated vile large-scale abuse by a predatory paedophile such as Bennell. It matters greatly to me that we should now handle the matter unimpeachably. I thus find it a positive for Taylor to call Cliffe a "friend" and then write the following about his friend's recent dealings with the club:
Ultimately, though, Cliffe feels like he has been “welcomed back as part of the City family”. That matters after so many years of feeling betrayed and let down. It was the old City, not the later version, that failed him so badly and, though he would be entitled to hold a permanent grudge against the former regime, the apology has encouraged him to think there is a human side to the modern operation.
