Funny how when Trump does it you donât seem to object to it at all, and appear far more interested in branding those who object as âPC liberal snowflakesâ.
So why the difference here?
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Former team mates come out in support
I checked out months ago mate
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Fair play. Itâs no mean feat to be the first rat off the sinking ship.
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I regret it, Conte has them flying, he is a genius
Would you not think of changing your decision? Iâve heard Italians often reconsider their options and change outlook
Iâll wait until this racism thing dies down
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What a piece of work
Chelsea coaches âpunched and kicked young black playersâ in 1990s
By Daniel Taylor Aug 19, 2021
The harrowing details of a culture of âracist bullyingâ at Chelsea in the 1990s are laid bare in High Court documents, obtained by The Athletic, that allege young, black players were punched, kicked and subjected to other assaults by their own coaches.
One of the black players, who is suing Chelsea for aggravated damages, says he was punched on a number of occasions by Graham Rix, formerly the clubâs youth-team coach, and the victim of repeated assaults from Gwyn Williams, the director of youth development.
Rix, it is alleged, punched a youth-team footballer between the legs during a four-year ordeal that left the teenage victim, now in his forties, with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to court papers. He also struck the same player to the side of the head more than once, including one occasion while the boy was sitting on the ground, and is accused of leaving him with minor burns after pouring a scalding cup of coffee over his head.
In another shocking example of what black players allegedly had to endure in Chelseaâs youth system, Rix is said to have taken part in a training match and, shaping up to take a throw-in, hurled the ball into the boyâs face from almost point-blank range, leaving him on the floor with a bleeding nose.
Rix, a former England international who won 17 caps for his country, has just returned to football as first-team coach for Gosport Borough, of the seventh-tier Southern League Premier Division South, and is understood to deny all the allegations. Williams, whose association with Chelsea lasted 27 years in a range of roles including assistant first-team manager, accepts he used racial language but has submitted evidence to the court to say it was not intended maliciously. He, too, is understood to deny assaulting any player. Both men have declined to comment to The Athletic .
The allegations are set out in official papers submitted to the High Court in advance of a five-week trial, starting on March 7 next year, involving four of the 10 players who have launched civil claims against Chelsea, as the employers of Rix and Williams.
Williams, left, and Rix at the 2000 FA Cup final between Chelsea and Aston Villa (Photo: Mark Leech/Offside/Getty Images).
Chelsea, via their insurersâ lawyers, deny vicarious liability, even though they have previously accepted elsewhere there was a racist culture within the club at that time â and, indeed, issued a public apology two years ago.
The case â AMX v Chelsea Football Club Limited â is shaping up to become one of the most high-profile of its kind, featuring a line-up of 62 witnesses and potentially some of the biggest names who have played, or worked, for Chelsea in the relevant era, under the ownership of Ken Bates.
Legal documents also identify David James, the former England goalkeeper, as a key witness because of an incident that allegedly occurred when Liverpool played at Chelsea on December 30, 1995.
The game had finished 2-2, with Ruud Gullit among the Chelsea players and John Barnes and Stan Collymore alongside James in the Liverpool starting XI. James was said to have been talking to Williams within the stadium when one of Chelseaâs teenage black players â granted anonymity in this case and referred to as âthe claimantâ â walked past.
According to a legal submission written by James Counsell QC, representing the players, Williams was alleged to have âgrabbed the claimant by the collar of his tracksuit and accused him of being a âfake cnâ whereas, he said, James was a âproper cnâ.â That remark, Counsell adds, âcaused the claimant much embarrassment and distress and led to James taking (him) aside, shortly afterwards, to advise him that he would have to ignore Williamsâs racist remarks if he wanted to get on, because Williams âhad a lot of cloutâ.â
James, whose playing career also included spells at Watford, Aston Villa, West Ham United, Manchester City and Portsmouth while winning 53 senior caps, has been contacted by The Athletic and said: âI have no recollection of the event and canât add any facts.â James, it is understood, has either refused or declined to help with the case, but may be summoned to court anyway. Several witnesses are reluctant to be involved, according to lawyers on both sides.
The claimant has previously described Chelsea at that time as a âferal environmentâ in which black players were âtreated like a race of fucking dogsâ. Another of the players has called it a âmini-apartheid stateâ and an independent inquiry, conducted by the Barnardoâs childrenâs charity, concluded in 2019 that âthe ongoing and repeated use of racially abusive language ⌠appears to have created an atmosphere in which abuse was normalisedâ. Chelsea said they fully accept the findings that Williams had targeted boys as young as 12 with a âdaily tirade of racial abuseâ.
Williams and Rix both deny any wrongdoing and after a seven-month police investigation into the allegations the police found insufficient evidence to justify taking any further action.
However, separate evidence has been presented to the High Court by at least two players who did not take part in that Barnardoâs inquiry â and their testimony is perhaps the most shocking yet.
One incident occurred at a youth-team match in Spain when Rix allegedly shouted at one of the claimants, in the presence of the other players and coaching staff, that if his âheart was as big as his cock, he would be a great playerâ.
When this abuse was met by laughter from others, Rix went on to say that the claimant âshould have been the only person in the whole stadium to be able to endure the 40-degree heat, as blacks were always winning the long-distance Olympic events in the heat, if they werenât spear-chuckingâ.
On another occasion, the teenage apprentice was cleaning one of the professional playersâ boots when Rix allegedly asked him whether he had âfucked any of our white birdsâ at the weekend. âRix told him that if it was his daughter he would âlynch (his) black arseâ,â Counsell writes. âThe claimant, tired of the constant harassment, countered by joking that that may happen one day, at which (point) Rix lost his temper and poured a scalding cup of coffee over the claimantâs head, causing him to suffer minor burn injuries.â
The families of the youth-team players were invited to Stamford Bridge one day to meet the clubâs then-managing director, Colin Hutchinson, and other members of staff, including Rix and Williams. Rix was said to have made a number of sexually suggestive remarks to the playerâs sister, who was in her mid-twenties, and invited her for a drink.
Chelsea assistant Rix gives coaching tips to Dan Petrescu in 1998 (Photo: Ben Radford /Allsport)
When the player complained about it the following day, Rix allegedly punched him in the groin, leaving him in agony, and told him, âI will do whatever I want and I fancy a bit of black â I guarantee that her black ass will like it.â
When the teenager asked Rix during a training session why he was always being targeted for criticism, the coach was said to have responded by telling him he was âfucking weakâ and allegedly punched him to the head.
The Barnardoâs inquiry concluded that Rix, now 63, could be âaggressive and bullyingâ but, on the evidence presented to the report, not racially abusive.
Now in his seventies, Williams held a series of roles at Stamford Bridge during an era when Glenn Hoddle, Gullit and Gianluca Vialli were re-establishing Chelsea as one of the more glamorous clubs in English football. There is no suggestion they would have known about any of this behaviour.
âWhilst attending (youth-team) training sessions,â Counsell writes, âWilliams would single him (the claimant) out, and other young black players, by calling them such names as âcnâ, ân***â, âdarkieâ, âw**â, âmonkeyâ, âblack bastardâ, âjigabooâ, âmango muncherâ, âmidnightâ or âspear chuckerâ in the presence and hearing of the other players, belittling and humiliating them in the eyes of their team-mates and other members of the coaching staffâ.
To put it into context, the judge, Justice Stacey, decided at a pre-trial hearing in May that she would prefer to spell out some of the offending words, letter by letter, because she found it easier than repeating them verbatim.
The hearing was told Williams had admitted making a number of racial references but was using âa so-called âdifferent-timesâ defenceâ. In other words, he accepted using a lot of the language but appeared to think it was acceptable within a football environment of that era.
Williams, according to Counsell, would âfrequently walk up to the claimant (and other young players) and flick his scrotum and penis with his finger over his shorts or over a towel, if in the changing rooms. He would regularly make reference to the size of the claimantâs penis in derogatory terms, implying that all black men have large penises.â
Williams, credited with discovering John Terry, had a spell as Chelseaâs assistant manager during Claudio Ranieriâs 2000-04 reign. He was also involved in the scouting department during Jose Mourinhoâs first spell as manager from 2004-07 and was so close to chairman Bates that he later followed him to Leeds United. Williams lost his job at Leeds in ignominious circumstances, fired for gross misconduct in 2013 after emailing a pornographic image to a female receptionist.
Rix, meanwhile, has been trying to rebuild his reputation after being sentenced to a year in prison, in 1999, for admitting two charges of unlawful sex with a girl of 15. He returned to his job at Chelsea immediately after being freed and went on to manage Portsmouth, Oxford United and Scottish club Hearts.
A psychiatric report, included in the High Court documents, talks of the claimant in the racism case experiencing âvery severe distress and feelings of isolation and humiliation, all of which totally undermined his confidence in his footballing ability and as a young person at a critical age; damage from which he has never recovered.â
The former player turned to alcohol in an attempt to blot out the memories but continued to suffer from depression and anxiety in his adult life, experiencing flashbacks and nightmares, particularly related to the abuse from Rix.
On one occasion the player was lying on the ground, trying to get his breath back, along with several team-mates after a running exercise. Rix was said to have approached the players and was singing the words to Billy Oceanâs 1980s hit âWhen The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Goingâ before kicking him with force, twice, while he was on the floor. One kick was to the teenagerâs thigh, the other to his ribs, leaving him in considerable pain.
If the claimant objected to his treatment, according to Counsell, he was told âShut up, darkieâ or was labelled a âmoody cnâ and told to âFuck off back to Africaâ. Williams would tell him he should âeither sell drugs or rob old granniesâ and had a habit of calling him âRichard Pryorâ, after the black American actor-comedian, as well as asking whether he had been on the âwacky backyâ (marijuana). Williams, it is alleged, would âregularly and forcefully slap the claimant around the head when he was carrying out such menial tasks as cleaning boots, folding kit and packing boot skips. Every morning, Williams would greet the claimant with the words, âMorning, cnâ or âMorning, n*****â.â
Even when the player left Chelsea to pursue his career elsewhere, he tells the story of continuing to suffer because of the psychological damage and finding out that Rix and Williams had been denigrating him to the relevant people.
One example cited in the court papers came at another club, then in the top division of non-League, where the manager was formerly a team-mate of Rixâs at Arsenal.
The player also spoke to a further club but was told by their manager that Williams had been in touch to describe him as âa black boy with a chip on his shoulderâ. The manager was said to have explained that Williams had âtold him that he (the manager) was âthe best man to make a n***** like (the claimant) appreciate what he hadâ.â
Chelsea are fighting the claims through their insurers and have brought in a barrister, Nicholas Fewtrell, who previously represented Crewe Alexandra and Manchester City in compensation cases involving victims of the paedophile football coach Barry Bennell.
Fewtrell has also represented the Catholic Church in several compensation claims, whereas the players have appointed Counsell to explain why they are âtaken abackâ that Chelseaâs stance is markedly different from the one previously articulated by the club.
Chelsea, according to Counsell, have âentirely reversed from a public position of admission and regret at the time of the Barnardoâs report through to non-admission in the pleas and now, through witness statements, an outright denial.â
Chelseaâs defence is that they had no reason not to employ Rix or Williams, there were no complaints at the time and the nature of the abuse meant it happened away from people working at the top of the club. Chelseaâs legal team will also argue that it was not reasonable to have expected proper safeguarding measures to be in place at football clubs in the 1990s and have previously stated that, over 20 years on, it will be impossible to have a fair trial.
âThere is no adequate explanation for this delay on the part of the claimant,â Fewtrell writes in Chelseaâs legal papers.
Chelsea had previously declared they were âabsolutely determined to do the right thingâ in support of the players, including offering them counselling. The west London club, currently champions of Europe, wanted to âapologise unreservedly for the terrible past experiences of some of our former playersâ.
âOur clients are therefore disappointed that Chelsea have changed their position in the civil courts,â says Emma Ferguson, a solicitor for Bolt Burdon Kemp, which represents some of the former players. âRather than seeking to make reparations to our clients for this harm, Chelsea are relying on witness evidence from Williams stating that he âwould never use these words todayâ and there was âno malicious intentionâ.
âChelseaâs hypocrisy in appearing to support black lives in public, whilst refusing to support black victims of racist abuse in seeking the justice they deserve, simply aggravates our clientsâ pain and suffering.â
I donât like how theyâve used a picture of Rix beside a lot of Aston Villa flags. He is Chelsea through and through.
Racism or coincidence?
Shocking statistics
Sam Allison: Who is the history-making referee?
Premier League history will be made at Sheffield United v Luton Town on Boxing Day, when Sam Allison becomes the Premier Leagueâs first black referee since Uriah Rennie, who officiated in the competition for 11 years until 2008.
Until 2020, Allison - who took up refereeing 12 years ago - was the only black match official in the top four English divisions and the first since Rennie.
Following his promotion in 2020, he became the fifth black referee to officiate in the EFL, following in the footsteps of Rennie, Trevor Parkes, Phil Prosser and Joe Ross. He has taken charge of over 100 matches in the EFL.
Legacy of racism Iâd imagine. Just the way it was
manchester united as an institution is being implicated of late. The evidence seems to be growing