Bob Higgins
THE Football Association was guilty of inexcusable “institutional failings” in delaying the implementation of child safeguarding measures between 1995 and the spring of 2000, an independent review of historical sexual abuse has concluded.
The long-awaited Sheldon Report criticises the FA for failing to look again at allegations against Southampton youth coach Bob Higgins when the standard of proof in disciplinary cases was lowered in 2003.
Higgins was sentenced to 24 years in prison in 2019 after being found guilty of 46 counts of indecent assault against 24 people between 1971 and 1996.
The review by Clive Sheldon QC said high-profile convictions – including one for serial abuser Barry Bennell in the United States in 1995 – should have served as the catalyst for change, but that it took another five years for the FA to put adequate processes in place.