Rangers manager Mark Warburton admits he has been sickened by the historic sex abuse scandal that has rocked British football, but believes the game will do whatever is necessary to deal with the issue.
Police confirmed on Friday that 83 potential suspects have been identified with 639 cases being referred to them by the NSPCC since revelations first emerged last month.
The matter has been brought closer to home this week with former Celtic, Hibs and Falkirk kitman Jim McCafferty charged in Northern Ireland with sexual activity with a child, while the current Partick Thistle board have said they uncovered allegations against a former club physio dating back to 1992 while conducting their own internal investigation.
Motherwell have also released a statement saying they have brought in a forensic accountant to examine employee records from the 1970s and 1980s in a similar pro-active probe.
“It is a subject you have to be very careful with,” said Warburton, whose own club said during the week that a former scout was released and reported to the police in 1990 after an allegation was made against him.
“From our point of view, the club made a statement about the Rangers perspective. From my point of view, it is very sad.
“It is sickening news that you hear and your thoughts always have to be with the victims. You hope clubs will deal with it appropriately.”
When asked if he thought football was committed to getting to the heart of the issue, he said: “Absolutely. I’m sure every individual club and every individual league and association will give this the focus and attention it more than deserves.”
Warburton believes the game has moved on through the years, with measures now in place that encourage the next generation coming through to be open and honest.
“People don’t understand how much has gone into the academy systems up and down the country,” he said. “The academy should prepare the boys tactically and physically but also mentally because it is a tough game and a tough business.
“When someone plays in front of 50,000 people and the first two passes go astray and the boos rain down on them, they have to be strong.
“If they pick up the paper on Sunday morning and get four out of 10 they have to deal with it whether they are 38 or 18.“That psychological support they receive at the academies means the boys are coming out mentally stronger. Young players are emotionally stronger to deal with the challenges they face in the game today.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel