Manchester United settle case with victim of alleged historic child sex abuse by ex-club employee

Manchester United have reached an out-of-court settlement with one of the people who alleges he was sexually assaulted by a club employee in the 1980s.

Billy Watts was a caretaker at United’s old training ground, the Cliff, where he held a number of other roles, predominantly as a kit man and groundsman. He left the club in 1989, shortly after an internal disciplinary hearing.

Watts, who died in October 2009, was subsequently named in the official inquiry into football’s sexual abuse scandal, published in 2021, after United reported a number of complaints to the investigation team.

In November last year, one of Watts’ alleged victims launched a civil case through the High Court for damages, alleging that he was the victim of a sexual assault, aged 14, at the Cliff in November 1986, shortly after Alex Ferguson’s appointment as manager. Unreported until now, the case was settled in March, without the club admitting any liability, and an undisclosed payout was made. Other clubs have typically paid low five-figure sums, from £10,000 to £20,000, in similar cases.

Watts was the subject of a disciplinary hearing in 1989 that led to him being “redeployed” from the Cliff to work at Old Trafford, United’s home stadium. 

United have stated in the past that Watts, then in his 50s, left the club a few months later, apparently to take a job as a cleaner at a police station. The club have no official records relating to the disciplinary hearing, but felt sufficiently concerned to report Watts to the abuse inquiry, led by Clive Sheldon KC, that was commissioned by the English Football Association to deal with the “tidal wave” of complaints that rocked the sport after Woodward’s revelations.

“The club (United) was made aware in 2016 of allegations that in the 1980s the caretaker had made inappropriate comments of a sexual nature, physically pulled an individual into an office against his will, followed an individual into a sauna at the training ground and wrestled with him,” Sheldon’s report states.

“There was also an allegation that the caretaker had tried to touch another individual inappropriately in the showers; that the caretaker was referred to by youth team players as a ‘pervert’. There was a further allegation that the caretaker had tried to touch another boy and, when confronted, had said that ‘I’m only messing, shut up.’ The club referred the matter to the FA in 2016.”

A United spokesperson told The Athletic: “As we said at the time, we cooperated fully with the Sheldon review in an effort to make sure we were as comprehensive on this important matter as we could be. While it would not be appropriate to comment on individuals, we take any allegations of this nature extremely seriously and have met and listened to anyone who has come forward with dignity and respect.”