Former Chelsea player speaks out about the horrific racist abuse he suffered from two managers when he was a teenager – including on his FIRST DAY at the club

Jimmy Aggrey has spoken out about the Chelsea racism scandal which led to an independent investigation by a children's charity and the Football Association involving the police.

The governing body described the situation, in which young players were racially targeted against the club, as “despicable abuse”. Four former players filed a civil suit against Chelsea. Aggrey has waived his right to anonymity.

Gwyn Williams, who spent 27 years with the Blues, has been recognized by charity Barnardo's for subjecting boys to a “daily tirade of racist abuse”. One of the men involved, Graham Rix, was sent to prison for child sex offences. , was the other.

The day before the trial, Chelsea agreed to an out-of-court settlement, not accepting liability but apologizing for “the terrible past experiences of some of our former players”.

Speaking to The Athletic, he explained how he experienced racism on his first day at the club, admitting he had no joy and his time was “full of stress”.

“I had never experienced racism before,” he said. “I knew it existed. I had seen it on TV and heard my parents talking about it, but I had never been told anything directly. Then I arrived for my first day at Chelsea and my first meeting with Gwyn Williams. His first words were, “Who is this gangly fucking bastard?” “. It was my welcome to Chelsea. I was 12 years old.

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“Between them, they took away a big part of my childhood. They were a team, each as bad as the next. And yet, I look at them now and I just feel pity. I refuse to let them keep me in some sort of mental prison.

It was hoped that Aggrey, who was six feet tall at the age of 16 and, now 45, pursued an acting career, playing in Sky One's Dream Team, could succeed at Chelsea.

Explaining the abuse in detail, he described how it was sometimes physical, with players punished for poor performances.

“Before, I was afraid of being picked up for training,” he said of Williams. “We were going to the locker room. He'd come in, “Hey, look at this fucking bullshit here. Fucking rubber lips.” Let me tell you something, it was the most demoralizing feeling you could have. to have.

“I remember walking up to the training ground and thinking, 'Oh my God, what am I doing?' I can't wait for this day to end'

“It was relentless, and it also got physical. Gwyn would slap you. He would punch you in the scrotum. Or if he was really angry and thought you had a bad game, he would punch you on the side of the head. It was hard, a man was hit. “You little black bastard…you slut.” I was 13 years old. It asked a lot of me. He spoke to me that way every time he saw me.

Each player received a six-figure sum following the conclusion of the settlement in 2022.

Williams, 76, was widely considered to have retired, but The Athletic reports that he was handed an FA ban – banning him from taking part in the game – in 2019.

The FA does not announce sanctions for safeguarding, even those who reported Williams were not informed of the decision.

The Athletic also reported that Rix, a former Chelsea youth team coach, was suspended between March 2017 and March 2019 while the FA investigated his role in the scandal.

Rix, 66, was until two weeks ago the manager of non-league club Fareham Town. A decision by a safeguarding committee in 2019 concluded that Rix “may pose a risk of harm” to children in terms of psychological abuse, but the FA ruled it did not have enough evidence to support the allegations of racism against him.

Police decided there was not enough evidence to take action, while both men denied the allegations.