BBC · Mar 17, 2021
Bob Higgins: Southampton 'should have been watching' abuse coach
Solent News & Photo Agencyimage captionBob Higgins had denied molesting boys over a period of 25 yearsSouthampton FC should have monitored a football coach after concerns were raised he was a danger to young boys, a report has said.
Bob Higgins was jailed for 24 years in 2019 for sexually touching trainees in the 1970s and 1980s.
A report by Clive Sheldon QC into sex abuse in football said a headteacher warned the club in the 1970s but it was dismissed as "malicious gossip".
Southampton said it was "deeply sorry" and admitted "considerable failings".
A former trainee who was abused by Higgins described the report's findings as "very vague" and said it was "like a box-ticking exercise".