Chelsea agree damages settlements to four former players who were victims of historical ‘racist bullying’

CHELSEA have agreed damages settlements to four former players who were victims of “racist bullying” three decades ago.

The quartet faced a potential High Court inquisition over the claims against former Blues coaches Gwyn Williams and Graham Rix.

Chelsea’s former youth-team coach Graham Rix and ex-chief scout Gwyn Williams at the 2000 FA Cup final

But an out-of-court settlement agreeing payments of six-figure sums to all four was agreed between lawyers, sparing the ex-players the court ordeal.

That was also a reason that Chelsea, keen to avoid the former players having to undergo cross-examination, extricated themselves from their insurers’ lawyers to address the matter themselves.

It prevented any of the four players from having to face the trauma of standing in the witness box and going over the events that took place in the 1990s when they were youth team members.

Up to 62 witnesses were on standby to appear at what was slated as a five-week trial.

According to the documents lodged at the High Court, the trial would have heard allegations that young black players were punched, kicked and subjected to other assaults by coaches.

Former England midfielder Rix was said to have punched one of the players on a number of occasions.

The Blues and the players in question were set to go to the high court over the issue before coming to an agreement

That player also said he was assaulted on a number of occasions by Williams, then the director of youth development and a long-time confidante of former Blues chairman Ken Bates.

Rix was intending to denying all the allegations while Williams, who accepted he used racial language, insisted it was not intended maliciously and denied all allegations of assault.

Chelsea, under completely new ownership since the takeover of the club by Roman Abramovich in 2003, have previously accepted there was a racist culture within the club at that time.

In 2018, the club brought in the childrens’ charity Barnardos to conduct a full inquiry and the following year accepted there was “overwhelming information” of “bullying and racist behaviour during the 1980s and 1990s”.

Chelsea issued a full apology for the “deeply shocking behaviour” and have since sought to bring the former players back into the club’s fold.

In a statement confirming the ending of the case, Chelsea said: “The club is pleased that we have been able to conclude a settlement of these claims without any further litigation.

“We will continue to offer support to the former players concerned through our dedicated Player Support Service.”