Paulo Ferreira

Premier League giant Chelsea has been dragged into the unfolding child abuse scandal in football in the UK.

The club is believed to have agreed to a secret deal that involved financial settlement in a case of sexual abuse by a former chief scout, according to the report by the Telegraph. The alleged victim would have revealed the cases of abuse in the 1970s by the popular and long-serving scout, Eddie Heath but Chelsea waded in to kill off the building story in a secret deal.

The payment means that the victim, his family and legal representative were never to mention the case of the sexual abuses in public for any reason. The terms are so stringent that everyone involved were not to ever acknowledge the existence of the case. As the story broke out, the club said a law firm would investigate the whole incident that occurred in the 1970s, with the accused now deceased.

Chelsea did not deny claims of payment, even as the amount involved remained closed. The victim met with the club during the Jimmy Savile scandal three years ago. The victim reportedly complained to the Metropolitan Police as well. Chelsea opted to bury the case outright with stringent clauses aided by their financial might despite initially rebuffing the claims by the victim.

Heath is unavailable to defend himself. The chief scout for the Blues between 1968 and 1979 was the story behind the discovery of top football stars like Ray Wilkins. Chelsea has reached out to the Football Association for wider investigation into the matter. There are rumours amongst former players at the club that point to a possibility that the case against the deceased is true.

Wilkins has denied this, saying “I knew Eddie very well. It makes no sense whatsoever to me. Eddie was a great guy.” Wilkins refused to believe the famed scout could have do anything he is accused of, saying he “never heard anything like this.”