Former footballer Andy Woodward’s brave revelations led hundreds of other victims to come forward
(Picture: PA)The FA will publish their long-awaited independent review into historic child sex abuse in football on Wednesday, ahead of the airing of a three-part BBC documentary detailing the scandal.
The review by Clive Sheldon QC, which has taken four years to complete, will be shared with survivors on Wednesday morning before being released by the FA at lunchtime.
The release coincides with the start of Daniel Gordon’s documentary, Football’s Darkest Secret, which begins on Monday and examines the abuse in youth football which took place across the UK in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
An official trailer released last week revealed it would feature contributions from the likes of former Tottenham midfielder Paul Stewart and ex-Crewe player Andy Woodward, whose 2016 revelation that he had been a victim of prolific paedophile Barry Bennell prompted more than 800 other victims to come forward.
Stewart, who was abused as a youth player and scored in Spurs’s 1991 FA Cup Final win, tells the documentary: “I had some highs in my career. I never enjoyed them because I had this empty soul.”
A total of 340 football clubs have since been implicated and 300 suspects identified.
In February 2018, Bennell was jailed for 31 years after being found guilty of 50 counts of child sexual abuse. Then, in October 2020, he was sentenced for a fifth time, receiving a further four years.
