Manchester United is facing a High Court legal case over allegations that the club failed to protect a claimant from sexual abuse perpetrated by a former employee, Billy Watts, during the 1980s.
Watts, who passed away in 2009, held several roles at Manchester United’s training ground, The Cliff in Salford, including caretaker, groundsman, and kit man. He was subject to internal disciplinary action in 2009 and later reassigned away from the training facility.
The claimant, whose identity remains confidential for legal reasons, alleges that he suffered sexual and physical abuseas a child while under the club’s care. It has not been disclosed whether the claimant was an academy player at the time.
According to the law firm Simpson Millar, which filed the civil claim last week,
“Manchester United failed to protect the claimant from abuse while he was under the club’s care and supervision.”
Kate Hall, an abuse law expert at Simpson Millar, praised the claimant’s bravery, stating:
“Our client has shown enormous courage in coming forward after so many years. He, like many survivors, has had to relive incredibly painful memories in order to seek justice. While Manchester United contributed to the Sheldon Review, its approach to this legal claim has been disappointing. Survivors deserve more than sympathy—they deserve meaningful engagement and accountability.”
The Sheldon Review, commissioned by the Football Association in 2016, examined historical child sexual abuse in English football between 1970 and 2005. Published in 2021, the report included allegations against an unnamed “caretaker” at Manchester United, who is now deceased.
It detailed claims that, in the 1980s, the caretaker made inappropriate sexual remarks, physically restrainedindividuals, and attempted to touch young players inappropriately in showers and saunas. He was reportedly referred to by youth players as a “pervert.”
The review further revealed that United referred the matter to the FA in 2016 and discovered that Watts had previously been reassigned from the training ground to the club’s stadium following an internal investigation in the 1980s, though the reasons for his redeployment remain unclear.
In response to the public emergence of allegations in 2019, Manchester United said:
“We have cooperated fully with the Sheldon Review in an effort to make sure we were as comprehensive on this important matter as we could be. This involved conducting multiple interviews as part of our wide-ranging enquiries, including with employees from the 1970s and 1980s.”
Manchester United added that all information regarding Watts had been included in its official submissions to the review and reaffirmed its commitment to transparency and cooperation in addressing historical allegations.
