Details emerge of racist abuse allegedly doled out by Chelsea coaches after settlement

Shocking details have emerged of the racist abuse that was allegedly hurled by Chelsea Football Club's coaching staff towards their young black players in the 1990s, after the club settled a High Court case.

The club paid out six-figure sums to the claimants, known as the Chelsea Four, who sought damages for personal injury and loss after they say they were subjected to 'disgracefully offensive racist abuse' from coaches Graham Rix and Gwyn Williams.

Since the settlement yesterday, specifics of those allegations have re-emerged after a report by the Athletic which revealed Rix was suspended by the Football Association in 2017 while the claims were investigated.

The claims included that a 'feral environment' existed for black players in their youth team, with one allegation that they were treated 'like a race of dogs'.

According to the news outlet, Rix, who worked at Chelsea between 1993 and 2000, once told a black teenager in front of teammates that he should have realised 'blacks were always winning the long-distance Olympic events in the heat, if they weren't chucking spears'.

The comment was reportedly made during a trip to Spain in the middle of a heatwave where Rix is also alleged to have said words to the effect that 'if his heart was as big as his c***, he would be a great player who ran more'.

Meanwhile, one of the complaints claims Gwyn Williams, who joined the club in 1979 and left in 2006, would single out black players and use a litany of racist names.

These allegedly included 'c**n', 'monkey', 'black b*****d', 'spear chucker' and 'darkie'.

Williams, who was at one time Chelsea's director of youth development', is also alleged to have asked one black player if he had 'f****d any n*****-loving white girls' and when the player walked out, he reportedly shouted at him: 'pull your lip up, it's dragging on the floor'.

Other allegations include that one player was punched, kicked, and had hot coffee poured over his head during the alleged abuse, which he said caused him 'great distress and upset'.

Mr Williams and Mr Rix strongly denied allegations they racially abused Chelsea youth players.

Rix and Williams, who for more than two decades was a key figure at Stamford Bridge, denied the claims when they were investigated by the police. The case was dropped after seven months because of insufficient evidence.

At one stage Williams was assistant manager to Claudio Ranieri. He left the club to join former chairman Ken Bates at Leeds United.

In March 1999, Rix admitted two charges of unlawful sex with a 15-year-old girl and indecent assault and was sentenced to 12 months in prison.

He was also placed on the sex offenders' register for 10 years and yet was reinstated by Chelsea immediately after his release. He was appointed first-team coach.

The Athletic claims that Rix was suspended for two years in during the 2017 season while the Football Association (FA) investigated claims of racist bullying.

The 64-year-old is currently the first team coach at Gosport Borough FC while Williams, 74, has retired from football.

Lawyers for the players claimed Chelsea were 'vicariously liable' for abuse they faced as teenagers between 14 and 18, which they alleged was committed by Graham Rix and Gwyn Williams.

Their cases were due to go to trial but a settlement has now been reached, a High Court judge was told at a pre-trial review hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice on Monday morning.

David McClenaghan, representing the men, told the court: 'I'm pleased to let you know that a successful settlement agreement has been achieved between the parties.'

Mr Justice Sweeting congratulated lawyers on settling the case, adding: 'The only thing to do this morning is to vacate the trial.'

It is understood the four former players, now in their 40s, will receive a six-figure sum from Chelsea.

After the hearing a Chelsea spokesman 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.'

Mr McClenaghan and Rebecca Sherriff, partners at law firm Bolt Burdon Kemp, said in a statement: 'This is a historic moment for our incredibly brave clients, who have spoken out about their horrendous experiences that they suffered over many years at Chelsea Football Club as young boys at the hands of their football coaches.

'This settlement will hopefully go some way in repairing the harm and ongoing trauma caused to our clients, who were just children when the abuse was inflicted on them by those in positions of trust.

'Through our clients' courage, we believe that this will prompt other victims of racial abuse to come forward and our clients hope that this case will prevent others from enduring what they had to.'

A trial which would have heard from more than 60 witnesses was in place and set to go on for 25 days before today's settlement was reached, according to Mirror.

A number of footballers have been on the receiving end of racist abuse online, it was revealed last month, including Chelsea defender Reece James.

James shared some of the vile racist messages he received on social media and insisted 'something needs to change' after he became fourth player to be targeted in one week.

Manchester United's Axel Tuanzebe and Anthony Martial as well as West Brom's Romaine Sawyers all received abuse following their sides' defeats.

James shared a screenshot of some of the abusive messages he received alongside his own caption: 'Something needs to change!'.

Chelsea said they were 'disgusted' by the abuse James had received and called for more urgent action.

A club statement from last month read: 'Everyone at Chelsea FC is disgusted with the racist abuse Reece James received on social media on Friday evening.

'This club finds racism and all forms of discriminatory behaviour completely unacceptable. We totally condemn it.'