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8th November 2024
12:47pm GMT
The Football Association has opened a safeguarding inquiry into a Premier League club boss, a year on from an investigation by the BBC.
The investigation found that despite three women reporting the man to the police for alleged sexual offences, he kept his position at the club.
One of the women, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claimed the FA had failed to protect women and girls by deciding to take no action. She was under 16 at the time of the alleged incident.
Reports in The Athletic confirmed the police had taken no further action but the BBC revealed the FA opened an inquiry of its own.
In an email sent at the end of October, the FA invited one of the claimants to a meeting to discuss her experiences as part of the investigation.
The FA added that it will not be able to share with her any details of their investigations including any outcome reached once complete.
The woman first contacted the governing body in July 2023 where she informed them, she had reported the man to the police for a historical rape that she claims happened when she was 15.
The claimant believes the FA did nothing until now.
She told the BBC: “Football authorities and [the] government seem to have turned a blind eye, deaf ear and chose to say and do nothing to protect females from the threats he poses to girls and women.”
While the claimant welcomes the investigation, she has serious concerns about the lack of transparency about any action taken.
The boss was investigated on two other occasions – in 2021 he was investigated she has serious concerns about the lack of transparency about any action taken.
No further action was taken in that case because of legislation which stated that if an offence of "unlawful sexual intercourse" took place between 1956 and 2004, and the alleged victim was a girl aged 13 to 15, she had to make a complaint within a year.
A third woman claimed that in the late 90s she was locked in a room by the boss as he attempted to coerce her into sexual activity during a job interview.
The police have dropped all three investigations.
According to the BBC, as many as seven out of 20 Premier League clubs have had players or bosses investigated by the police for sexual offences since 2020.
FA regulations only cover how to respond to allegations of this nature if they occur within a “football environment”, or if concerns relate to children or vulnerable adults.
They have the power to impose an interim suspension order blocking the individual from some or all activity within the game while it continues its investigation.
They can impose the order if the FA receives information that causes it to ‘reasonably believe that a person poses or may pose a risk of harm’.
This inquiry will be led by the FA’s professional game safeguarding manager.
