A former youth football coach accused of sexually abusing schoolboy players told one alleged victim he would call up his “gangster brother” if the youngster reported an alleged indecent assault.
Bob Higgins, who worked at Southampton and Peterborough United, told the player his brother could make people “go missing”.
The complainant, who can only be named as W, also claimed Higgins used to mention names of famous players he had worked with, such as the former England captain Alan Shearer and the former Southampton midfielder Matt Le Tissier.
Higgins, 65, is accused of being a “predatory paedophile” who abused boys over 25 years. He denies 50 charges involving 24 complainants.
W, a former Peterborough player, told Winchester crown court he was called into the club on a Sunday.
“He [Higgins] said [to] get changed into just a towel. He said he was going to do a soap-water massage. I took a shower and went down to the youth development office in a towel.
“I asked what was happening, where the other lads were. Bob said the others had come and gone and I was the last one there.
“Bob said he had done [soap-water massages] previously to Alan Shearer and Matt Le Tissier and they benefited from them. He dropped names.”
W claimed Higgins sexually assaulted him during the massage. “I said to him: ‘What are you doing? It’s not fucking right.’ I just wanted to get out of there as fast as I could. He said to me it was an accident and that he had slipped. I just said I was going home,” he told the court.
The next day, the complainant said Higgins confronted him: “He said to me: ‘You know what happened was an accident. If you tell anyone, you know what will happen, I will have to make a phone call to my brother.’
“Bob had told me on numerous occasions that he had a brother who was a gangster and that any issues he had had, his brother had sorted and he had the ability to hurt people and make people go missing. After that, there was not really a relationship between us.”
The former footballer told the court that after being released by Peterborough, he struggled to find a new club. “It was blatantly clear that Bob Higgins had many contacts in football,” he said.
The trial continues.
