Football Abuse: The Ugly Side of the Beautiful Game BBC Scotland Investigates

This programme contains scenes which some viewers

may find upsetting.

It is our national game, an obsession.

And the dream of millions of kids is to make it in the sport,

just like their heroes.

But since last November, football has been in crisis.

Hundreds of young people might have suffered from historical sexual

abuse in the world of football.

More men come forward to say they were assaulted as children.

The Scottish Football Association have met Police Scotland.

Police say they've received 109 referrals of cases

of child sexual abuse.

Police forces say around 350 people have now come forward.

The abuse could be on the scale of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

Did you have any idea what was happening to you?

At that age I hadn't a clue what was going on.

Roughly, do you know how many times this happened?

Oh, time after time after time.

Tonight, BBC Scotland's investigations unit uncovers

new evidence about child sex abuse in football.

He said well, you can't ever discuss this with anybody.

I'm telling you as a pal in confidence.

And I've held that confidence until recently.

The men said to have abused boys in their care for years -

moving from club to club, and child to child.

And we reveal the untold story of the most notorious sex abuse case

in the history of Scottish football.

Football ? the beautiful game.

But for the last six months, BBC Scotland

has been investigating a hidden, darker, side.

We've uncovered new testimony that lays bare the scale of allegations

of sexual abuse against children - boys who just wanted

to play football.

None of the former players you'll hear from has

ever spoken out before, so tonight, for the first time,

we give them a voice.

In a quiet corner of south-west Edinburgh sits a piece

of football history, the base of Hutchison Vale FC.

It might not look like much, but for decades, this clubhouse has

been a place where youngsters have come to realise their dreams.

Tam.

It's run by Tam Smith, who's been nurturing

talent here since 1986.

This place is amazing.

Aye, well, there's a lot of history in it.

The walls are lined with photo after photo of teams of smiling

kids, faces full of hope, proud to wear the yellow

and black of Hutchie Vale.

Many went on to make it in the senior game.

It's like a who's who of Scottish football.

There's not everybody that's played and went to the senior game's

represented up on the wall, but we've got John Collins,

who's in this photograph.

John Collins, Hibs, Celtic, Scotland.

Steven McLean there.

Still playing, at St Johnstone.

He was really a fantastic goal-scorer.

Used to score about 100 goals every season.

There's Kenny Miller there.

How old will he be there?

He'll be about 13 there.

Leigh Griffiths was here for a few years.

These two young guys are down at senior clubs the now, doing well.

Regan Hendry and Ethan Hamilton, Regan's at Celtic,

and Ethan's at Man United.

Is that a younger version of you?

That's a younger version of me.

You must be very proud?

Yeah, very proud, of course.

Yeah, very proud of all the kids that's played here.

I think it's just important that the kids are healthy and happy

and we provide an environment from which, that they can

thrive in, really.

Among the photographs that line the walls is one

of a team from 1982.

In the bottom row of the picture, wearing number four,

is a boy called Jon.

Football was always a big interest in my life.

From an early age, my father encouraged me to kick a football.

Jon was just like most boys he knew ? he dreamt

of being a professional footballer.

We went on an exchange trip and we had a small football

tournament and I seemed to be, I seemed to play at such a higher

level than everyone else.

He soon caught the attention of a man there called Gordon Neely,

who would go on to coach and scout at the highest level

of the Scottish game.

But this, Jon says, is when his abuse started.

He took me into a room at the back of our hall and told me

to take my shorts down and he put me over his knee and he proceeded

to spank me, which I felt I had done something wrong

and it was my punishment.

Did you tell anyone?

Didn't tell anyone.

Jon's silence seemed to be Neely's cue to escalate the abuse.

Said I looked like I had had an injury.

And same kind of thing, put me over his knee

and started to spank me, then he asked me to lean over a desk.

And that's when I was raped.

Did you have any idea what was happening to you?

Hadn't a clue.

At that age, hadn't a clue what was going on.

You were 11.

11.

Could you tell anyone about that?

No, I couldn't have possibly at that age.

I thought it was my fault.

I thought I had done something wrong.

Jon says, with Neely, he was never safe -

even in Hutchie Vale's clubhouse.

There was a massage table in the room and a cabinet on the wall,

which I vividly remember.

And he would start to rub my legs and it would progress

from that to the point where I was getting raped.

How many times did he do this to you?

I can't be 100% sure, but it was at least eight to ten

times over the space of 18 months.

The town of Dunkeld in Perthshire, near to Dalguise Activity Centre.

This was a place where, for at least 20 years,

Gordon Neely took promising young footballers on outdoor activity

weekends away from their parents.

I'm coming here with Jon.

He says he was one the boys brought here -

and abused - by Neely.

When was the last time you drove down this road?

36 years ago.

A trip here, Jon says, will be part of the healing process.

I'm kind of guessing it's got a lot of history to it,

but the history that I remember isn't a very good one.

I actually feel very emotional.

In the main part of the building on the right hand side,

I don't know if you can see the window's open.

That's where the dormitories were.

Yeah, I'm done.

OK, let's go.

We've uncovered a catalogue of abuse claims involving

Gordon Neely at Hutchison Vale, some other Edinburgh youth

teams, and at Dalguise.

But somehow, he progressed to senior youth development positions

at several top-flight Scottish clubs - firstly Dundee United,

where, we're told, the abuse continued.

We've spoken to several men who've told us about abuse by Neely.

Their verbatim accounts are voiced by actors.

Gordon Neely's MO was about power.

Punishment spankings too.

Lots of us youth players got them.

He would make up stories that you'd done something wrong.

He'd say, "We can sort this out in two ways.

"Either we kick you out or you come and see me

"and we sort this out privately."

Sometimes he'd wait for the manager to go out, take me into his office.

He'd have me over his knee, bare backside, spanking me.

By age 12, Jon - like Chris - was training at Hibs,

even picked to play for a Scotland youth team, under former national

manager Andy Roxburgh.

But what should have been the time of his young life

was actually a nightmare, endured in silence.

Was Neely taking you to training?

Yeah.

He would always stop in the car park first.

And again, he would always talk about football-related things.

That was always the start of knowing that something would happen.

And then I would have to go and train with Hibs after that.

After he'd abused you?

Yeah.

It was at that point that I couldn't do it,

I couldn't face going to football training.

I lost interest in football.

And your dad couldn't work out why?

Dad thought I'd thrown everything away.

I could have been this and I could have been that.

And you were carrying all this inside you?

Yeah.

Alone.

I didn't have the confidence to tell my parents.

away in the background.

He was front and centre, even sitting in the dugout

alongside the manager.

So was anyone at Hibs aware of Neely's abuse?

Ray Hepburn, a sports reporter, was one of those around

the club at the time.

He had a close friendship with the late Hibs chairman Kenny Waugh.

He says Waugh confided in him about Neely's abuse.

He was a bit agitated and unsettled and he said,

"We've got a big problem at Hibs."

And I said, "What is it?"

And he said, "Well, you can't ever discuss this

"with anybody, I'm telling you as a pal, in confidence."

He said we've had complaints by two sets of parents about Gordon Neely

and his behaviour with some of the boys.

And of course it was quite devastating news.

He went on to explain that he had sacked him that day,

had reassured the parents by dealing with it in a very speedy

and decisive way.

No police. No police, though?

No police, no. No.

Some might say that this was a missed opportunity

to put an end to Neely's abuse.

It clearly was.

But football clubs have to be pragmatic and practical and deal

with it in a way that perhaps protects their ongoing operations.

The manager of Hibs at the time Neely was there was John Blackley.

involving Gordon Neely, and that Kenny Waugh and the club

were fully aware of it.

He says the police were never involved.

Hibs told us the club was co-operating fully with the police.

In a statement, the club said it was:

"saddened to be told" that personnel at the club at the time

were "allegedly made aware of concerns" about Neely and,

again allegedly, "did not contact the police with the concerns."

This is something which "current policies and practices"

would "prevent from happening today".

It was a missed opportunity to stop Neely in his tracks.

Instead, he landed an even bigger job.

This time, as head of youth development at Rangers.

Apparently, no-one at Ibrox was warned about Neely's

criminal behaviour.

Under the new regime of Graeme Souness and Walter Smith,

in 1986, Neely was given responsibility for turning Rangers

into a powerhouse for young talent.

But we've been told his abuse continued at Ibrox.

I mean, he had his own office inside Ibrox and he'd call

you in and he'd make you close the door.

And he'd pull your shorts and pants down and then he'd spank

you with like this kind of, like, rubber shoe.

I mean, I wasn't the only one.

He'd give you ten or 20 whacks for anything.

I was only about 13.

Rangers told us it was aware of an alleged incident

more than 25 years ago.

In a statement the club said: "It is understood" the individual

was "dismissed immediately" and that the "police were informed."

"All employees adhered" to the "strictest codes of conduct..."

And the club "would always cooperate fully" with the authorities.

Police Scotland say they can't confirm whether Rangers

made a complaint or not.

We've asked just about every surviving senior person

who was at Rangers at that time for more details,

but they've given none.

And we can find no trace of a police report being sent

to the Procurator Fiscal.

Neely was put out of senior football, but like so many abusers,

he simply changed tactics.

I was playing with one of the Edinburgh clubs at the time,

and a guy came up to me after a match.

It was Gordon Neely.

And he said he could make me a better player, and I needed some

one-to-one coaching.

Said he knew all the big players and managers.

So every other weekend I'd go up to Dunkeld.

He told me I had a condition that was hampering me.

And that he could help me with it.

So he would examine my back side, and then he would put

his fingers inside me.

Looking back, he was basically raping me with his fingers.

I knew it was wrong.

It went on for about ten minutes each time,

but I couldn't do anything. I just froze.

I didn't want to complain because I thought it would ruin

the chances of me getting the trial he'd promised me.

"Paul's" alleged abuse took place around a decade after complaints

about Neely were made to Hibs, and more than five years after

a complaint was made at Rangers.

Neely had simply reinvented himself by organising outdoor activities

and one-to-one training either here at Dalguise, or nearby Dunkeld.

Over three decades, hundreds, if not thousands of boys would have

passed through there under his care.

Opportunities to put an end to Neely's abuse ?

either by the football clubs or by the police ? were squandered.

Police Scotland is now investigating Gordon Neely.

But that's come too late for his victims.

In 2014, at the age of 62, Neely died -

without ever having to face justice.

who is still alive.

Someone who operated as a senior scout for years

at the biggest clubs in the UK. He can't be named for legal reasons.

At that age you think it's your own fault,

or people won't believe you.

This is John Burgess, who knew the man as a high-profile scout.

His reputation was, you know, highly thought of.

He was a scout for Rangers, he knew Jock Wallace.

And he was pretty well respected.

As a 17-year-old who'd had too much to drink one night

in a local social club, John says he had a lucky escape.

He says, look at the state of you, what would your mother think?

He says, you can't go home in that state, can you?

So I got in the car.

I felt a bit queasy and he said, well, I'll put you to bed.

So still thinking nothing of it, I went through to one of the rooms.

I remember saying to him, is that not your room?

He said, oh, no, I'll sleep in the spare room.

So not thinking anything of it again, you know, full of trust.

He says what happened next has lived with him since then.

Woke up with a bit of a fright.

He was next to me, pressing himself into me.

Telling me you know, telling me what he wanted to do to me,

which was quite frightening.

I thought if there is a race to the door, I'm going to win.

So I got my clothes and got to the door and fumbled

with the locks and heard footsteps behind me, but I managed to get

out and into the street and made a bee-line home.

It's something that never leaves you.

I feel guilty about it, not doing anything about it then.

Because, you know, I'm older.

I should have known better.

We've been told the abuse became increasingly serious.

We know of three men who now allege the scout

assaulted them as children. One of them was Levi Stephen.

He represented Scotland at youth level and had a career

in the professional game, playing for Rangers, and Clydebank.

As a 13-year-old, he was considered to be one of the most promising

players of his generation.

It was at this time he came to the attention of the scout,

who'd allegedly assaulted John Burgess.

He was now working for Liverpool ? then,

the most successful club in the UK.

Levi's mum remembers the call from the scout.

Liverpool, her son's favourite team, wanted him to come down

from Aberdeen for a trial.

He sounded very nice on the phone.

But I think maybe not only Levi, but I was star-struck.

Like, you trust. Och, it's like, Liverpool.

You know, like. Wow.

He convinced me that Levi would be in safe hands.

I just wanted to play football.

You just want to play and play to the best

of your ability and impress people.

Over the weekend of the trial, Levi was to stay with

the scout at his flat.

He would be captain, wearing the coveted number seven ?

the same as his hero, Kenny Dalglish, who'd

invited him to the trial.

I played the game and then we got back after the game in his living

room and he said, oh, there's a thing you can do

to relax your muscles, do you want to try it?

And I'm like that, well yeah anything that will,

ken, help me recover and improve the game.

Levi says the scout gave him a massage, but he soon felt faint

and had to be helped to a bedroom.

So it ended up I'm on the bed lying on my back,

and obviously I was naked, and I had a towel on my chest

and he just, out of nowhere, he just flicked, flicked my private.

And the next thing I know he's abusing me and

things were going through my mind, just like, what's going on?

Then obviously I climaxed and then he just says I'll go and help

clean it up for you, left the room, came back with toilet roll,

cleaned it off his hands and whatever and then just says,

"Oh, see you in the morning," and he shut the door.

So I'm like that, what, what just happened, you know?

And it's like, well, was that right?

How old were you, Levi?

I think it was two weeks shy of my 14th birthday.

Levi says he believes the scout was grooming him for what lay

ahead, the next day.

We went to a market and we got back to the flat.

And I opened the door, and I opened the door

and he tripped me up and then he, I landed face first and he got

and he tripped me up and then he, I landed face first and he got

on top of me and he's trying to take my pants down and that.

You could feel his erection, ken, in the back of my leg

so I fought him off.

I says, "It ain't happening," and he just accepted it.

And nothing else was said.

How long did you have to stay in his company for after that?

A whole day. A whole day.

Levi says the scout simply dropped him off at the train station

as if nothing had happened.

Do you remember the train journey home?

I was wrestling in my mind whether to tell my mother.

Cos we're quite an open family.

Did you tell her?

How do you tell your mum, though?

I couldn't speak, I was just in shock.

I didn't know what to do.

So I was frantic, I just says, well, we have to tell the police,

we have to do something about this.

But he's only like, oh, it's Liverpool, can't,

don't say anything, Mum, it's fine, I'll be fine.

But he wasn't.

I was so scared of jeopardising his career.

Because he was up and coming.

I mean, all the premier teams were after him.

I think my mum had my best interests at heart.

She didn't want to affect my future prospects, I think.

I felt weak, I felt a bad mother. I felt I let him down.

Because I didn't do anything at the time.

were told about this scout.

Remember Tam Smith from Hutchie Vale?

Tam became aware of allegations when a former Rangers youth player

told him that he had been abused in the 80s by the same scout.

told him that he had been abused in the' 80s by the same scout.

I said, you need to go to the police with this.

And he was a wee bit hesitant about doing that.

He was only 24, and never told anybody ever before that.

After giving a statement, Tam says the boy never heard

back from the police.

Around a decade later, Tam says he got a shock

when watching a TV documentary.

I want to see if you recognise this.

Oh, aye, I recognise him all right.

The scout was still working with boys -

this time, at one of Britain's biggest clubs, Chelsea.

When I saw it I was, incredulous with rage.

Had been to the police in '92 about him,

with a lad who told me he'd been abused.

A lad I've known since he was 11 years old.

Tam says he phoned Chelsea to warn them he believed the scout

was a danger to children.

And he phoned me back the next day and says he'd never had any

complaints about him and didnae see any reason why he shouldnae continue

working with Chelsea, so that was that.

I just felt that, do you know what I felt?

I felt like nobody's really cared, nobody was bothered,

that's what I felt.

It makes me feel angry and it makes me feel helpless as well,

actually, that nothing was done.

Chelsea said it was "fully supporting" police investigations

on this issue, and "encouraged anyone to come forward"

by contacting either the "club or the police".

More than 80 men involved in football are being investigated

by police across the UK, including this scout.

Among them: John Hart, former physiotherapist at Partick Thistle.

Jim McCafferty, ex-youth coach and kitman at Celtic, Hibs and Falkirk.

And Hugh Stevenson, who was a youth coach and referee.

And, the Scottish Youth FA has become embroiled in safety

concerns over its vetting procedures for coaches.

Since November, Police Scotland has received more than 130

claims of child sex abuse within Scottish football.

It's not the first time Scottish football has been rocked

by child abuse allegations.

The founder of Celtic Boys' Club James Torbett has been jailed

for two years for sexually abusing three young players

between 1967 and 197.

between 1967 and 1974.

In 1998, three former Celtic Boys' Club players,

including ex-Scotland international Alan Brazil testified

against their former coach.

Another former Celtic Boys' Club coach, Frank Cairney,

was acquitted of similar charges.

Although officially a separate entity, Celtic Boys' Club's history

has been inextricably linked with the senior club.

Founded by Torbett in 1966 with the permission of legendary

former manager, the late Jock Stein, the Boys' Club took Celtic's

name and club crest.

Over the next four decades, it would produce some of the club's

finest players, including Charlie Nicholas, Paul McStay,

Tommy Burns, and many others.

Torbett's conviction for offences committed up to 1974 cast a shadow

over the Boys Club's trophy-laden history.

Rumours have persisted

since Torbett was jailed that the full extent

of his offending has never been revealed.

I had to go back to the Daily Record's breaking

of the story in the 1990s.

Its chief reporter was Anna Smith.

Well, the very first whispers were a very long time ago.

There was things you heard but nobody had been able to prove

anything because nobody would talk about it.

So nobody ever really got to grips with it.

Then, former players came forward to tell of their abuse

at the hands of Torbett.

And the one particular guy that I spoke to.

I could see the effect that had on him.

That ruined his life.

All he wanted to do was play football for Celtic.

And when you're getting taken away and, tournaments abroad,

you're being groomed for stardom, but he was grooming

people for other things.

But were there more stories out there waiting to be told?

This is more than 30 years of bound copies of the Celtic View,

the official in-house magazine for Celtic Football Club

and what they contain is effectively a comprehensive account

of everything to do with Celtic over the years, but not just

about the big team - also about Celtic Boys' Club.

And anything I need to find out about the Boys' Club

is bound to be in here.

Some of the photos in here

were taken by this man, Hugh Birt, who had been a Celtic photographer.

Birt's evidence was crucial in the case against Torbett -

telling the jury Torbett had been kicked out of the boys' club

in 1974 by Jock Stein over child abuse claims.

And we've spoken to three other former Celtic Boys' Club officials ?

there at the time ? who also say they were told Torbett was sacked

by Stein after complaints Torbett had abused boys.

The police were never called.

But here, buried in the archives of the Celtic View, is the official

account of how Torbett left Celtic Boys' Club in 1974.

It says he's leaving because of business reasons,

time constraints and is full of praise for Torbett.

It makes no mention of course of any allegations of sexual abuse.

Which means, if Hugh Birt was telling the truth to a Glasgow

court 24 years later about the real reason for Jim Torbett

exiting Celtic Boys' Club, it was indeed a massive cover-up.

Three years after he was allegedly kicked out by Jock Stein,

Torbett was presented with an award for services to the boys' club -

by its honorary president, Stein. According to Birt's evidence

to court, and to other sources spoken to by the BBC,

some of those on the board of Celtic FC, including Kevin Kelly,

would learn exactly why Torbett had been kicked out in the '70s.

Kelly took over as honorary president of Celtic

Boys' Club in 1977.

And yet Torbett had managed by 1980 to return to the boys' club

and stay there till 1996.

Why would you ever bring him back?

If I was them I'd be searching my conscience

because perhaps they should have asked more questions.

The reporting of the Torbett trial suggested he had only returned

the club in a fundraising capacity ? but what these reveal

is that he returned to a central position within the club where once

more he was coaching boys and managing teams,

throughout the '80s and some of the '90s.

Torbett had friends on the Celtic board.

Kevin Kelly and Jack McGinn, for instance.

The club gave a lucrative contract to Torbett's

company, the Trophy Centre, which opened in 1984.

Kelly became a director of the business in 1986 and remained

on its board until 2005.

From around 1998 ? the year Torbett was jailed ?

Jack McGinn was an employee, of the Trophy Centre.

Kelly and McGinn's association with Torbett's business continued -

even after he was jailed for child abuse.

Kevin Kelly and Jack McGinn declined to be interviewed

for this programme.

In letters to the BBC, Mr Kelly and Mr McGinn said to draw

an inference they knew of Mr Torbett's conduct

is totally without foundation.

Both said they would have done all they could to prevent the return

of Mr Torbett to the Boys' Club had they known of,

or had been provided

with evidence of any historic abuse.

Remember, Torbett was only ever convicted for crimes

committed up to 1974.

And we know he returned to Celtic Boys' Club by the early

'80s, apparently with the blessing of the Celtic board.

No-one has yet spoken out about abuse during Torbett's second

spell at the boys' club.

But what if he simply carried on offending?

We'd heard about a number of boys who had apparently

been close to Torbett.

The same names kept popping up.

One of them was Kenny Campbell.

We tracked him down, and nearly 30 years on,

he was ready to talk. Is that you there?

Kenny had joined Celtic Boys' Club in 1985 as a 13-year-old sensation.

Tell me what it was like pulling on a Celtic jersey

for the first time. Unbelievable.

Words probably couldn't describe it.

To be honest with you, that's how much it meant

to me like, you know.

Absolutely amazing.

One of the best days of my life, still is to this day.

One day you were at school and the next day you were talking

to Paul McStay, just for example, or Frank McAvennie

or somebody like that.

I was like a rabbit in the headlights.

How do you think your mum and dad felt about you playing for Celtic?

Incredibly proud.

Definitely.

My dad especially, because he was a mad Celtic fan and all.

It was always his ambition for me to run out of the tunnel at Parkhead.

Kenny moved up to the senior team in 1989 after three years

with the boys' club.

He made around 20 appearances for the reserves but never broke

through to the first team.

But from under-14s right through to the senior team,

Kenny says everything he did, was under the spell of Jim Torbett.

Pretty quickly he became a hero of mine, pretty quickly.

In my mind he was doing good things for us and that.

What was he doing?

Cos he pushed the chief scout at Celtic to get me signed.

He pushed and pushed and pushed.

It was between me and a boy called Paul from Eastercraigs, and I'm

going to be honest in front of the camera and say

he was a better player than what I was, but I got signed

and he didn't.

And that was mainly down to Jim pushing.

I'd have jumped in front of a bus for him if he had

asked me, guaranteed.

So it was as if he had a hold over us.

He must have had a reason for doing what he did but I know

what his reasons were.

Torbett won the trust of Kenny's parents, even spending

a Christmas Day with them.

So no questions were asked when Kenny spent most

weekends at Torbett's flat.

I was just sitting on the couch one night with him and he started

rubbing my leg.

He must have been trying to see how it

would go, I don't know.

And you were 14?

Aye, 14, aye.

Just a boy.

Just a kid, know what I mean,

I just wanted to play football.

Kenny says this was start of three years of sexual abuse ? continuing

into his time at Celtic's senior team ? at the hands of the man

he regarded as a hero.

It would be him, masturbating himself in front of you.

He wanted to talk dirty and things like that, you know?

He would be saying things to you?

Aye, aye, aye.

I mean dirty to me was a dirty window.

I just presumed it was normal ? just, you know what I mean,

but again, today I know it's not.

What did he make you do?

He used to get my hand, and he used to wrap his penis -

call it that - in a white handkerchief and he used

to get your hand and get you to masturbate him.

I didn't realise at the time that it must have been his way of trying

to clear his conscience.

Then he would, he would touch away to you and kiss away until you had

an erection and then he would just take it from there.

Roughly, do you know how many times this happened?

Time after time after time.

That was just the start.

It progressed from there to then he would be giving

you money and all that.

It must have been

turning him on.

He would give you a ?50 note.

While he was abusing you?

Aye, aye, aye, aye.

I think the most money I left his house with was 530 quid.

Either 520 or 530.

Did you tell anybody about this?

No.

No, I just thought it was natural.

I just thought that's was what happened.

Did you witness Jim Torbett abusing any other boys?

Aye.

Same scenario as with myself.

It was like a queue at the side of his bed, there would be two

of you there, or maybe three there, and everybody

would get their turn.

You moved up, and you're waiting to be served

like a butcher's or something, something like that,

you know what I mean?

It's shocking, absolutely shocking.

And he would be touching each boy in turn?

Aye, aye, as well as himself.

Kenny is the first person to speak out claiming he was abused

at Celtic Boys' Club during Torbett's second spell.

But he's not the only one to come forward.

I was contacted by another former player.

Not yet ready to speak publicly, we tell his story through an actor.

I went to a tournament in Noyon, France.

I hardly kicked a ball.

I'd been ill, but I went along anyway to the trip,

because Jim asked me to.

Somehow, when they were handing out the awards for the trip,

I won boy of the tournament.

I was confused by that, because I know I didn't deserve it.

I feel I can now see what that was about.

Jim Torbett abused me for the next three years, dozens of times.

Touching me in his car, in his flat.

He had a hold over me ? and I never told a soul till a few months ago.

Jason's experience mirrors what Kenny says happened to him.

Which brings me to a story about Player of the Year.

Torbett used to keep marks out of five and it was the last

game of the season, and it was neck-and-neck

between Brian O'Neil and me, for player of the year.

And rightly so in the last game,

Brian got a five and I got a four,

and he beat me by one point.

Now obviously, I've lost Player of the Year, right, but,

there was a mad trumped-up thing called Boy of The Year,

Billy McNeil, presented me with the big trophy.

Now when I think back to it, it's as if it's tarnished,

you know what I mean, it's tarnished, it's no good,

it's no good, because it wasn't done for the right reasons,

know what I mean?

Kenny's Celtic career was effectively ended by illness,

before his life spiralled downwards into drink and drugs.

He's now clean and sober.

But how does he feel knowing Torbett was allegedly allowed to return

to Celtic Boys' Club, despite previous child abuse claims?

I feel aggrieved at that.

If they had never let him back in it

would have never happened in the first place,

I could have had a normal life, normal people round about me.

If Celtic had done their due diligence, as they always say.

Best club in the world and all that.

Aye, cheers(!)

Know what I mean, he should never have been allowed near it, eh?

And it wouldn't have happened to me.

I wanted to confront Torbett to put these allegations to him.

Neighbours told me he hadn't been seen for two months.

Mr Torbett?

Mr Torbett, Mark Daly from the BBC ? can we have a word please?

I tried calling his mobile.

Foreign ringtone.

But I did hear from his lawyer, who told me Mr Torbett

vehemently denies these completely false allegations.

The lawyer said it would be inappropriate for Mr Torbett

to provide an interview with the BBC and that

due process of the law must be followed.

A spokesman for Celtic FC said the Boys' Club was a separate

and distinct organisation from Celtic Football Club.

It was vital that justice was served at that time,

due to the extremely serious nature of this issue.

Celtic asks anyone with any concerns to contact them.

The Scottish FA has launched a major inquiry into historical abuse.

But our investigation has revealed fresh claims of abuse ? stretching

back decades ? and repeated missed opportunities to stop it.

The BBC is prepared to assist police in any inquiries.

The reputation of football and those within it,

who play the sport.

And to those children ? who as men have found the courage to speak out

? the beautiful game will be forever in debt.

If you spend too much time dwelling on it,

it's going to destroy you.

That's the thing.

Talk to someone ? anyone.

Get it off your chest.

Tell your best friend.

Just talk to somebody you trust.

Why is now the time?

Just so I can sleep at night better.

The knot's away out my stomach.

I've had a knot in my stomach for 20 years.

I didn't know what it was.

It's away now.

You wouldn't believe it, wouldn't believe it.

For a long, long time I've felt like I've been standing at the edge

of a bridge but having spoke to the people that matter

in my life, I've been able to get onto that bridge.

I'm not quite over the other side yet.

But I'm on the bridge.