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Alwaysaniron 11:56 Mon Mar 22
Footballs darkest secret

Excellent piece of tv. Fair play to those who have come forward to tell their horrific stories. Paul Stewart clearly is still going through hell. I hope his abusers and those of all those young lads rot in hell. (Not before they have the living shot kicked out of them inside of course).

Sven Roeder 12:03 Tue Mar 23
Re: Footballs darkest secret

Shocking stuff.
Paul Stewart was very impressive telling his story and the effect on him.
I don't believe clubs like Man City & Crewe (the ones featured here, there is another episode 10.45pm tomorrow presumably featuring Chelsea) didn't know that SOMETHING was going on.
Were saying that one of Barry Bennells youth teams would get taunted by opponents as Barry's Bum Boys.

ak37 1:31 Tue Mar 23
Re: Footballs darkest secret

Absolute sickening story. When dispatches did a report, they tried to ask the F.A for their reaction to the allegations, the F.A said nothing and refused to comment.
Brave lads that gave up their anonymity to testify.

Mike Oxsaw 6:46 Tue Mar 23
Re: Footballs darkest secret

Maybe the reason the authorities don't want issues like this raised publicly is because they have similar ones well hidden within their own ranks that would be difficult to hide from a thorough investigation?

blueeyed.handsomeman 7:29 Tue Mar 23
Re: Footballs darkest secret

Dario Gradi was the outstanding manager and coach with Crewe when they produced many tremendous and outstanding footballers,we had two of the stars with us at West Ham,

Nicky MAYNARD and Deano ASHTON were both with West Ham.

wd40 10:04 Tue Mar 23
Re: Footballs darkest secret

Dario Gradi is just waiting to be charged big time
Recall every one praising him a lot and a piece of football focus saying his was all but a god when its came to finding young players.


That was the great BBC by the way .

Grumpster 10:14 Tue Mar 23
Re: Footballs darkest secret

Nothing ever changes as sentences are so pathetic.

Would hang them and rapists personally, but as that won't happen then at least cut their cocks off.

Job done.

Sven Roeder 1:30 Tue Mar 23
Re: Footballs darkest secret

Gradi & Bennell were both at Chelsea I think.
Possibly that will be explored in tonights episode.
Whenever I think of Crewe I think of Dean Ashton but not sure he was there as a youth or if Bennell was gone by then

Blackythebanktramp 1:45 Tue Mar 23
Re: Footballs darkest secret

I'm from Crewe and have moved to Nantwich I can actually see gradis house from where I live and 41 years old so this was going on as I went to high school in the 90's and everyone round here new what was going on

A Freund who I went to primary school then high school was the best footballer of his age in the county and went to Crewe centre of excellence when we started high school. By the time he was 13 he stopped playing and heavily into drugs/alcohol/etc last I heard he moved to Leeds and topped himself

Speak to lads in the pub who are my age at Crewe and the old bill were getting complaints from parents but nothing ever happened

The lads who were at Crewe were nicknamed "Dario's bum boys" and loads have gone astray off the rails round here

A fucking tragedy

Sniper 1:52 Tue Mar 23
Re: Footballs darkest secret

The level of cover ups for any cases like these is as astounding as it is heartbreaking

How many people knew? There’s no way someone like Gradi wasn’t aware - turning a blind eye or ignoring repeated accusations is more or less admitting you know, but not wanting to acknowledge it. It’s complicity through inaction. The number of lives ruined is unbelievable - the boys involved, their families.

Vexed 2:11 Tue Mar 23
Re: Footballs darkest secret

Disgraceful that this was an accepted fact around football and the community. If Gradi is guilty of this I hope he gets a taste of his own medicine inside, the cunt.

paulon 2:43 Tue Mar 23
Re: Footballs darkest secret

Been common knowledge football has been covering up nonces years

Mind you not seen many people calling for football to be shut down the way they did the BBC when the Savile stuff came out

Funny that

Russ of the BML 3:52 Tue Mar 23
Re: Footballs darkest secret

Somebody at Crewe is lying. A bloke on the show said they raised it at boardroom level and it was discussed that Bennell should no longer allow boys at his house. They spoke to Gradi and he said he never had any parents complaining so why should it stop.

Then when it all came out Crewes statement was that nobody knew and it wasnt discussed at board level. Gradi released a statement to say he never knew and it was never raised.

Fucking liars. End of.

But my worry is why was Bennell allowed to invite boys round? It was sold as a way of getting to know players and a tradition. But surely someone should've said to Bennell "Look, it may be innocent, but it cannot happen for obvious reasons".

And when it was raised with Gradi why the fuck did he say what he allegedly did. My response would be "Well I have had no complaints but why are boys going round there anyway?"

Its fucking madness. But was Gradi and Crewe so enamoured with Bennell and so impressed with the players he brought through they never wanted to upset him?

They were called Bennells Bum Boys so obviously people were talking. As a club you must shut that down.

Fucking disgusting evil cu

Russ of the BML 3:54 Tue Mar 23
Re: Footballs darkest secret

Massive respect to the men for speaking up.

Paul Stewart looked such a tortured soul. I remember watching him as a player with his tan, smart looks, on big money living every boys dream.

Little did we know.

Northern Sold 3:56 Tue Mar 23
Re: Footballs darkest secret

Yeah bet there was a few on here getting off on the stories of getting wanked off by Dario Ogradi....







... too soon??

Sven Roeder 4:23 Tue Mar 23
Re: Footballs darkest secret

Interesting to watch that 1991 FA Cup final footage and hear Stewart talk about how his life was at that time.
Of course Gascoigne should have been carried off with a RED card so he never should have won that.

You suspect Spurs knew the state he was is in when they passed him on to Liverpool. As he said he only played 26 games there and was taking coke every day.

Pedro 4:24 Tue Mar 23
Re: Footballs darkest secret

Guess one reason that they either turned a blind eye or were just blinded by it all was the quality of player coming through.

Not sure of timelines but they did have likes of:
David Platt
Danny Murphy

Sven Roeder 4:26 Tue Mar 23
Re: Footballs darkest secret

Robbie Savage was at Crewe in the mid 90's after being rejected by Man U
Bennell may have found him a little too feminine

Swiss. 5:15 Tue Mar 23
Re: Footballs darkest secret

There were some rumours around Keegan and Graham Rix at one time I seem to remember.

Kaiser Zoso 5:18 Tue Mar 23
Re: Footballs darkest secret

dunno about rumours, but Keegan got beaten about the head by 'some blokes' with baseball bats — his explanation was he was tired and had stopped in a lay-by to have a bit of a ki, en route to Southampton?.

That's almost as idiotic as a two bob chancer boasting he speaks 5 languages and lives in Kensington.

Kaiser Zoso 5:19 Tue Mar 23
Re: Footballs darkest secret

*kip

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