“It’s going to be tough” says Barry Bennell to his excited young protege Andy Woodward. “But trust in me and you can go from £20 a week to two grand.” For a lad from early-80s Stockport whose mum is having to do shifts at the local chippy because his dad is out of work, that’s a big deal. But, as any kid with an unlikely dream would know, the money is only a tiny part of it. Really, it’s about the glory; about covering your bedroom wall with posters of footballers and wondering if you could be like them. That’s what the Crewe Alexandra youth coach was promising. And, as a coach reputed to be the best in the country, he had delivered on such promises before. He was, as he styled himself, the Star Maker.
The reality, of course, was more horrific than anyone could have imagined. In 2016, by now in his early 40s, Woodward shared his story with the Guardian journalist Daniel Taylor. In doing so, he opened the floodgates. Bennell had been a serial sex abuser with hundreds of young victims. In telling his story under his own name and on his own terms, Woodward opened up a space for others. Soon, the endemic abuse at the heart of Britain’s national game became clear. It wasn’t just Woodward and it wasn’t just Bennell. The story’s actual dimensions were almost too huge to contemplate.
