Twisted paedophile Bob Higgins groomed young football players into thinking he was 'the Messiah'.
The former Southampton and Peterborough United youth coach used a deeply disturbing pattern of psychological manipulation and sexual grooming that has been likened to a 'cult'.
Higgins abused boys in his car, at his home and even in plain sight during training - once being caught on camera by local TV crews touching them as they landed from jumping exercises.
The sick football coach had trained high profile stars such as Alan Shearer, who was not a complainant, and Saints legend Matt Le Tissier, who said he was not abused but was given a "very, very wrong massage".
Higgins was the subject of a police investigation in the early 1990s after leaving Southampton, but the subsequent trial resulted in acquittal, then he joined Peterborough and continued to abuse more young boys.
Following on from the seismic revelations of historical child abuse in football in November 2016 with another youth coach, Barry Bennell, more brave victims came forward to say they had been abused by Higgins.
The second episode of BBC documentary Football's Darkest Secret follows the investigation into Higgins as his victims reveal their harrowing stories.
Cult
The players would walk around chanting Higgins' name and singing songs about their coach, which is seen in the documentary in sickening footage.
The boys would compete to sing the loudest so that Higgins would hear them, according to former Southampton youth team player Dean Radford.
"It was like a cult and he was the Messiah. Everyone just had this admiration for him," he explains.
"We would run round on warm ups chanting out his name. As you ran by you would shout it as loud as you could because you wanted him to hear your voice above everyone else’s. You wanted him to feel you were besotted by him. Thats what he wanted from you."
Radford says he kept a diary as a child, with 90% of the entries relating to Higgins as he was "infatuated " by him.
During his police interviews fellow former youth footballer Billy Seymour says: "It makes me feel quite sick now that on a number of occasions I told him I loved him. And I can say with my hand on my heart I think I was in love with him."
Former England international Matt Le Tissier said he was not abused but described having to line up for naked massages from Higgins.
"Everyone was kind of just naked and getting thrown on this bed and... a very, very quick massage," he said.
"It was was uncomfortable. It was very, very wrong for a start - looking back on it, you think it's wrong but as a young boy you thought 'is this normal'?"
Love letters
Higgins had such power over his victims that they sent him love letter which would "make your skin crawl".
The paedophile kept the letters from the young boys in his loft and they were found when police carried out a search after his arrest in 2016.
"We were finding very romantic loving letters from 13-14-year-old boys which made the skin crawl when you read them," admits Gemma Hunter, DI Hampshire Constabulary.
They contained phrases such as "love you", "we will never split or part as we have special bond" and "will do anything you want me to do".
Higgins would promise to give the boys special training at his house and parents thought it would be safe as he had a wife and child, but it was the perfect foil.
"We had pictures painted in our minds by the victims of him sat or laid on the sofa with boys draped all over him, sat at his feet, laying on his legs or spooning with him on the sofa," says DI Hunter.
Raitt says: "A couple of times he’s put his foot on my penis. I remember looking round up at him but I sort of froze and allowed it to continue. That was the start of that behaviour. When he looked down he made like a dirty noise."
Radford admits at the time he believed if he was taken into Higgins' bedroom he was loved more and had "gone to the next level".
"I wanted to please him. I wanted him to spend more time with me than anyone else. I wanted him to cuddle me and touch me uncertain ways. because if he didn’t I’d feel I had done something wrong," he says.
Special treatment
Higgins gave certain boys "preferential treatment", such as gifting them tracksuits and taking them to stay round his house.
He would play the boys off against each other so they would compete for his praise.
Raitt explains: "When you’re winning the runs and doing everything right, he built me up. 'You should be more like him. If I could take one man into the trenches it wold be him'. When people say nice things to you you think 'I like him'."
Former Southampton youth footballer Jamie Webb says the abuser would look for ways to bond with the players emotionally.
"Little things like winks. He’d say to me come on son you’re my number one. I was aware of that intimacy but I almost liked it. Almost wanted it," he confesses.
Another former Saints youth player, Lee Smith, says he was made to feel "special".
"Nobody had ever shown anything towards me so it was nice when somebody used to put your arm around you, give you cuddles, used to sit on his knee and talk to him," he explains.
However, Higgins would show a dark side if the boys failed to comply with his disgusting demands.
Radford describes how he once "panicked" when pulled towards Higgins and kissed is forehead and pulled away.
He adds: "The next morning he didn’t speak to me and dropped me from the team and he was looking to release me.
"There was players there that were probably better footballers than me but they didn’t want it as bad so they wouldn’t dance to his tune."
Alone in car
Higgins' used to play Whitney Houston songs while travelling with the boys.
Raitt says that everyone would fight to get to the front of the mini bus to sit next to Higgins.
He describes how Higgins would save him a "special seat" behind his and take his cap off and rub his head to show he was "thinking of him".
Radford explains how Higgins would put his head on his lap while they were alone in the car together.
He says: "That smell of urine, whenever I go into a men's toilet, that's what I could smell. He kept me there for two hours stroking my hair. I could feel he had an erection."
Former Southampton youth player Greg Llewellyn describes how "insistent" Higgins forced his hands inside his flies and asked him to masturbate him.
"I still don’t have words to describe the feeling. I completely froze and remove myself from the situation emotionally and mentally. That was the one way I could cope with it," he says.
Trials
Former Southampton youth team manager Dave Merrington overheard some of the boys discussing some of Higgins' vile exploits.
After speaking to Radford about some of the abuse he had suffered, Merrington confronted Higgins, who resigned shortly afterwards.
"His manner changed. He became very aggressive. He jumped up off the chair and I wasn’t sure what he was going to do," explains Merrington.
Radford bravely spoke to the police, which resulted in he and six others bringing cases against Higgins in 1991.
The judge decided to split these into six individual cases and Higgins was found not guilty during Radford's trial, then the other five cases were not tried.
Radford, who said he only learned in the last few years that the other cases never even got to trial, described himself as "a lamb to the slaughter".
"I never stood a chance really did I," he says in the documentary. "You've got 12 people on a jury who don't know anything about you, another guy being paid £500 to make you look a liar and your word agains theirs really."
Radford explains he knew Higgins was still involved with kids but felt he had to shut up because he was found not guilty.
Higgins then started working at Peterborough United and abused more young boys, including Raitt, who says: "If they'd have got their justice the first time around, then I wouldn't have even met him.
"He would never have come into my life and my life would have taken a different course."
When Andy Woodward exposed the horrific abuse he received at the hands of Bennell, he was joined by Radford on the Victoria Derbyshire programme.
Many more victims bravely came forward and Higgins was put on trial and then a retrial.
Higgins was found guilty of 45 counts of sexual abuse against 24 boys between 1971 and 1996 and sentenced to 24 years in jail.
A report released this month by Clive Sheldon QC into sex abuse in football said a headteacher warned the club in the 1970s but it was dismissed as "malicious gossip".
The Sheldon Review said accounts given to the club's current inquiry into the abuse, being conducted independently by children's charity Barnardo's, suggested "rumours about Higgins abounded over decades".
"Many individuals who have contributed to the Barnardo's review have been adamant that club officials and managers must have known of the stories and rumours about him," the report said.
"Some views have also been expressed that board directors must have 'chosen' not to ask too many questions."
In an open letter, Southampton said it was "deeply sorry" and admitted "considerable failings".
"To all of the victims and survivors of the child abuse carried out by Bob Higgins at Southampton Football Club in the 1970s and 1980s, we are deeply sorry," it read.
The club invited any other victims to contact them and said it would publish the findings of its independent review.
The statement continued: "It is very clear that, historically, there were some very considerable failings that allowed this abuse to start and continue for such a long period of time.
"For a professional football club not to prevent this abuse or be able to provide support for anyone speaking up to report it, is inexcusable.
"This, along with the impact on the lives of the survivors of the abuse, as well as the families around them, is something we are very sorry for.
*All episode of Football's Darkest Secret are available to watch on BBC iPlayer
