It's no different to any other gross misconduct case at work (other than the particularly vile nature of the behaviour). There will have been an accusation and an investigation would have been carried out by sometime senior and a conclusion reached.
In terms of proof, the balance of evidence must have shown that the person who made the complaint was believed. There isn't always proof, nor does there need to be, it's based on the balance of probabilities.
Someone accused of what is a s e xual offence is unlikely to 'accept' it, let's be realistic, so I don't think anything can be read into that.
Agree entirely about the media getting hold of it, but am guessing that will be down to an individual who knew or found out, maybe even at the FA, rather than the club itself leaking it.
As their governing body, presumably Chessie were obliged to tell the FA. Depressing but but not surprising that the FA don't consider it a safeguarding issue as the alleged victim was over 18. They didn't even keep children safe from predators.