Three more former Aston Villa youth players have come forward to allege that they suffered sustained bullying and abuse from their coaches, Kevin MacDonald and Tony McAndrew, during torrid, unhappy years at the club in the late 1990s.
Greg Walters, who has since built a career in financial services, joined Villa as a “scholar” at 16 in 1998, the first year of the new academy system. He recalls constant, personal abuse and criticism in his two years at the club, no praise at all; the coaches routinely calling the young players “cunts”; and MacDonald and McAndrew joining in training sessions confrontationally, including lunging at players with two-footed tackles. Walters rejects any argument that this was a professional approach aimed at toughening players up or was “old school,” the accepted culture of the time. Instead he believes that it destroyed his confidence and that of other promising players, few of whom developed to professional careers.
“I’m a Villa fan, so it was a dream come true when I was spotted by a scout and taken on as a scholar. But once I had been there for a while, I was a nervous wreck. There was no enjoyment, and I lost my confidence, in football and generally.
“We all accepted the need for discipline, but this went further than discipline, and it wasn’t about mentally preparing us; the way they spoke to us and treated us was an abuse of their position. When I was released, although I was upset, it was like a relief.”
One other former player, who did not want to be named for personal reasons, makes similar claims, saying that as an adult he has realised that it was wrong. “If they called me a cunt five times in a day, that was a good day,” he says. “It was hell, day in and day out. Looking back, it wasn’t ‘old school’, it was crap school. I think it has had a bad impact on me over my whole life, and now I cannot stand any form of bullying, or negativity.”
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