On the Guardian website today....

[thnhouse]

https://www.theguardian.com/football.../andy-woodward



Doesn't paint the club in a wonderful light does it?

[PAULCAFC]

No! Shocking and a stain on our club.

[paddockrefugee]

Only needs a few more ex players to be as brave as Andy for the 'colluder' name to be revealed.

[jamesdad]

Club has declined to make a statement . Brave of him tell his story and I am sure this will open the gates for others to now come forward and tell experiences whilst at our club. I have a feeling this is going to pull in others ,

[thnhouse]

Club has declined to make a statement . Brave of him tell his story and I am sure this will open the gates for others to now come forward and tell experiences whilst at our club. I have a feeling this is going to pull in others ,

I'm not too sure how I feel about the club not making a statement, when someone is publicly speaking about something that has clearly had a huge impact on his life and was proven to have been committed by a club employee it seems almost naive to just keep quiet.

I'm sure legally there's many reasons an apology couldn't be issued, but surely a statement supporting Woodward in his struggles and acknowledging the safeguarding the club now does to make sure this kind of thing never happens again is more appropriate.

[paddockrefugee]

Maybe there are still people within the club who were involved? Sincerely hope not.

[gazan]

Full page in the Observer too. A lot being made of the club's refusal to respond to questions.
Looks bad-regardless of the moral implications of not coming out and condemning the events, think how it will impact on parents deciding where to let their children sign for an academy.
If this rolls on for too long without a satisfactory conclusion, many of those against the academy may get their wish.

[MikeSB]

One thing that this club excels at without a shadow of any doubt is its communication skills (lack of)

I wonder if the board has been abducted by aliens three years ago and if they haven't, they may as well have been.

Why not a simple statement which in due course they will have to make and it will make parents wonder what was going on either way and could affect its future but the academy is dead anyway and most conference players are as good as any of ours based on when we have played some of them. Three years and no significant transfer income makes that at least 2 million pounds down the drain which could have easily gone on signing some better players. I wonder if Colchester will ditch theirs as they too are looking close to non league and really shows how over rated the Cat 2 category is...Money or lack of will dictate the next steps. Bur Bowler is doing harm to the club by keeping his usual head down as too are the rest of the board. What's Dario's role now? Director of? Football? Is that what we have been seeing for the last three years then?

[whosbrianwilson]

The legal advice will almost certainly be to NOT make a statement until all the facts have been investigated.

I am sure consideration will be given to the following;

http://corrupt-police.co.uk/lancashi...ard-dismissed/

and perhaps to;

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...defendant.html

None of the above should detract from the fact that Barry Bennell was the absolute pits and deserved everything he got, but perhaps goes someway to explaining why the club are not being over hasty in issuing a statement. The timing of Andy Woodwards statements need consideration also.

Interesting that neither the Guardian or Observer refer to the above in their various articles. Selective journalism? Don't tell me that they are unaware.

[Roebuck]

The legal advice will almost certainly be to NOT make a statement until all the facts have been investigated.

I am sure consideration will be given to the following;

http://corrupt-police.co.uk/lancashi...ard-dismissed/

and perhaps to;

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...defendant.html

None of the above should detract from the fact that Barry Bennell was the absolute pits and deserved everything he got, but perhaps goes someway to explaining why the club are not being over hasty in issuing a statement. The timing of Andy Woodwards statements need consideration also.

Interesting that neither the Guardian or Observer refer to the above in their various articles. Selective journalism? Don't tell me that they are unaware.

Regardless of the timing reasons as mentioned above the Club surely HAVE to say something. At least draw attention to the safeguards that are in place now to stop such unthinkable crimes from reoccurring. Sticking their heads in the sand for much longer is unforgiveable.

A couple of points:

- I'm not sure I understand why people say this was swept under the carpet. Maybe it's because we were close to it that we were aware of the prosecution when it happened, but I have to admit I am surprised that the likes of Oliver Holt say they were completely unaware of this and that it was swept under the carpet. The Channel 4 programme in the late 90's was extremely high profile and didn't hold back on the description of the crimes, with an in depth interview of one of the evil *******'s victims. I remember being shell-shocked by the severity of it. Bennell has been in prison on and off since then (extremely lenient sentences if you ask me). I am sure his case had an impact on setting Child Welfare safeguards. One of the key modules of the basic FA training course is "Safeguarding Children". Nothing like this was in place in the pre-Academy 80's.

- It will be interesting to see how Man City deal with it compared to the Alex when the following is released:

http://www.brownsbfs.co.uk/Product/W.../9781782437703