Overview
- The civil claim, filed last week by Simpson Millar, alleges United failed to protect an anonymous claimant from abuse while under the club’s care.
- The allegation relates to Billy Watts, a former caretaker, groundsman and kit man at The Cliff in the 1980s, who died in 2009.
- Simpson Millar says the club has so far declined to engage constructively with the legal process, and Manchester United declined to comment.
- The FA-commissioned Sheldon Review in 2021 recorded multiple allegations about an unnamed deceased caretaker and noted internal disciplinary action in 1989 that led to Watts being moved away from the training ground.
- It has not been confirmed whether the claimant was a youth player, and the case now proceeds through the civil courts.