The Athletic FC: Ex-Chelsea coach’s secret lifetime ban; Man Utd undone by Palace

A dejected Gianfranco Zola and Dennis Wise are consoled by asistant manager Gwyn Williams  (Photo by Tony Marshall/EMPICS via Getty Images)
By Phil Hay
May 7, 2024

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We’re writing today about a former Chelsea coach who’s been banned from football for life over allegations of racist behaviour. He’s five years into his punishment — yet this is the first you’re hearing about it.

Williams a ‘risk of harm to children in football’

In 2022, Chelsea reached an out-of-court settlement with four of their former players. As The Athletic reported, the players alleged they had been victims of racist bullying at Chelsea in the 1990s, some of it verbal and some of it physical.

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Two men were accused of inflicting that abuse — Graham Rix and Gwyn Williams, two former members of Chelsea’s coaching staff. Chelsea denied ‘vicarious liability’, by which an employer is held responsible for the actions of a third party, but accepted there was “overwhelming” evidence of racist behaviour. They issued an apology.

Not long before a five-week trial was due to start at the High Court in 2022, a private agreement was reached to settle the case. Each of the four players received financial compensation worth six figures.

All of this is public knowledge. But what wasn’t known, and what was kept secret until today, is that three years earlier, Williams had been banned for life by the Football Association for posing “a risk of harm to children within affiliated football”.

It’s the most serious punishment the FA can issue — yet for five years, almost no one was aware of it.

Who is he?

Graham Rix (right) and Gwyn Williams (Mark Leech/Offside/Getty Images).

Williams worked for Chelsea for 27 years. He was a very close confidant of Ken Bates, the former Chelsea chairman, and later moved to Leeds United after Bates became chairman of Leeds in 2005.

Some of his work focused on recruitment and he was credited with finding former Chelsea captain John Terry. He operated under Jose Mourinho, Claudio Ranieri and many other recognised managers.

Williams was not especially outwardly-facing, which is to say that not every fan would have known much about him. But inside Chelsea, he was a powerful figure with significant influence.

When allegations were first made against him, he denied them, but an FA safeguarding investigation, which interviewed 15 witnesses, ruled he should be removed from the game “to protect children”.

An inquiry by children’s charity Barnardo’s, instigated by Chelsea themselves, found Williams had subjected boys as young as 12 to a “daily tirade of racial abuse”.

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One player said Williams would “use the N-word, black b******. I think he’d said pretty much everything at some point”. There were many stories like it.

Why was this secret?

Williams is 76 years old and has been absent from the game for a while. The assumption was that he had retired.

Why, then, did the FA keep his ban confidential from 2019 onwards? Many of those involved in this case were unaware of the existence of his suspension, revealed by The Athletic’s Daniel Taylor this morning.

The governing body’s media guide says it is concerned about “re-traumatising victims” and causing them to relive experiences of abuse. It also says it considers possible “vigilantism” in safeguarding cases.

There’s a very obvious question, though, about who its policy serves or protects. Is it right that a penalty as severe as Williams’, involving a club as high-profile as Chelsea, is kept under wraps? Do those affected not have the right to know? And might they not want to know?


News round-up


Palace pile pressure on Ten Hag

Manchester United are on course to finish a season with a negative goal difference for the first time in three decades. I’m not sure how significant that really is, but it’s clearly not good. Something else to add to the list.

True, Erik ten Hag’s defence has been decimated by injuries and Manchester United are masters at designing squads on the back of a cigarette packet.

But watching them cave in at Crystal Palace last night, you could not avoid the conclusion that sticking with Ten Hag next season would mean ignoring everything they can see with their eyes; the same failings, over and over.

Casemiro sums it up. A piece of him dies every time he plays. The attempted tackle on Michael Olise before Palace’s first goal is becoming his trademark — a yard behind in body and mind. Not unlike Manchester United themselves.


How to win a penalty in the Premier League

If you’ve seen it, you’ll have a view on the penalty given to Arsenal in their 3-0 win over Bournemouth last weekend. Was Kai Havertz fouled by Bournemouth goalkeeper Mark Travers (above)? Did Havertz initiate contact? Or is the right answer somewhere in between?

Certain penalties are blatant. Others, like Saturday’s, are more strategic (let’s stick with that word). The laws of football as they stand encourage players to look for contact — and as Jacob Whitehead writes, that makes winning them a skill worth honing.

Some players are very good at drawing them, none better in the Premier League than Newcastle United’s Anthony Gordon (a mere six won by him this season). But if Havertz’s trick of drawing a foul becomes too prevalent, a rule-change will be waiting somewhere down the line. You know the drill.


Managers’ tracksuits, superstitions and results

Does it matter what a manager wears on the touchline?

Some in the job think it does — like Sean Dyche, who says ditching a shirt and tie for training gear in the dugout helped to drive Everton away from relegation.

Sounds legit. Much like the coach I remember who changed his lucky pen every time it failed. There’s nothing so fickle as superstition.

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Inspired by Dyche, The Athletic’s writers had a look at what the well-dressed ranks of Premier League coaches are wearing.

Two things: Expected Pundit Trainers (xPT – you know, the black ones with white soles) was higher than the reality. And no one is on the level of Steve Evans, who turned up for a Rotherham United game in 2015 wearing shorts, flip-flops, a T-shirt and a sombrero — and then brought the hat back earlier this year.

Don’t ask…

(George Wood/Getty Images)

Catch a match

Paris Saint-Germain vs Borussia Dortmund (agg 0-1)

Champions League semi-final second leg. 3pm ET, 8pm UK. Paramount+, TNT Sports 1.

(Top photo: Gianfranco Zola and Dennis Wise with Chelsea assistant manager Gwyn Williams in 1999 – Tony Marshall/EMPICS via Getty Images)

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Phil Hay

Phil grew up near Edinburgh in Scotland and is a staff writer for The Athletic, covering Leeds United. He previously worked for the Yorkshire Evening Post as its chief football writer. Follow Phil on Twitter @PhilHay_