Manchester United stands accused in a High Court civil case of failing to protect a claimant from alleged sexual abuse by former employee Billy Watts during the 1980s.
The legal claim, filed last week by law firm Simpson Millar, centres on Watts, who held multiple roles at United’s training ground including caretaker, groundsman, and kit man. Watts died in 2009 and was subject to disciplinary action in 1989, leading to his redeployment from The Cliff training facility.
The claimant, whose identity remains confidential for legal reasons, alleges he suffered sexual and physical abuse as a child while under the club’s care and supervision. It remains unclear whether the claimant was an academy player at the club.
Kate Hall, abuse law expert at Simpson Millar, praised the claimant’s courage in coming forward after decades. “He, like many survivors, has had to relive incredibly painful memories in order to seek justice,” Hall stated. The law firm criticised the club for declining to engage constructively with the legal process despite participating in the 2021 Sheldon Review.
The Sheldon Review, an independent report commissioned by the Football Association (FA) in 2016, investigated historical child sexual abuse in English football between 1970 and 2025 and was published in 2021. While Watts was not named directly in the review, it cited multiple allegations against a caretaker at United who is now deceased.
The report detailed allegations that the caretaker made inappropriate comments of a sexual nature, physically pulled an individual into an office against his will, followed an individual into a sauna at the training ground and wrestled with him. Additional allegations included attempts to touch individuals inappropriately in the showers, with youth team players reportedly referring to the caretaker as a “pervert”.
The review revealed that United referred the matter to the FA in 2016 and discovered that Watts had been reassigned from the training ground to the club’s stadium following an internal investigation in the 1980s, though the reasons for his redeployment remain unclear.
Watts appeared in United’s official 1988 yearbook with a staff profile that read, “We’ve never been able to find out just what Billy does! Suffice to say that he always seems to be busy and is quite the fixture now at The Cliff, our main training ground.”
When allegations emerged publicly in 2019, United stated they had cooperated fully with the Sheldon Review. The club said it conducted multiple interviews as part of wide ranging enquiries, including with employees from the 1970s and 1980s, and that all information regarding Watts had been included in its official submissions to the review.
Manchester United declined to comment when approached by the BBC about the current legal action. The club’s silence on the matter contrasts with their earlier statements about cooperating with historical abuse investigations.
The case forms part of a broader scandal that emerged in 2016 when allegations about former youth coaches and scouts across UK football came to light, leading to investigations by over 20 police forces and the FA establishing a helpline with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).
Simpson Millar emphasised that any compensation awarded in such cases serves as both formal recognition of harm suffered and a means of accessing essential support, including therapy and counselling, to help survivors begin recovery from their experiences.
