Report: Graham Rix, Gwyn Williams accused of racism, bullying at Chelsea

Warning: Story contains coarse language

Graham Rix, a former youth-team coach and caretaker manager at Chelsea, is reportedly under the spotlight with Gwyn Williams.

Rix and Williams are accused of racism and bullying while at Chelsea, as three of the Blues' former youth-team footballers launched legal claims against the club after allegations its black players were subjected to horrific racism, reports the Guardian's Daniel Taylor. Physical attacks are apparently part of the allegations, including one instance when Rix threw a cup of hot coffee in the face of a young prospect.

Taylor reports Chelsea submitted the evidence to the Football Association and launched its own inquiry as police decided against taking any action. The Blues released a statement reading: "We take allegations of this nature extremely seriously. We are absolutely determined to do the right thing, to fully support those affected, assist the authorities, and support their investigations."

The allegations date back to the 1990s, when Rix was the youth-team coach at Chelsea. Williams worked at Stamford Bridge for more than a quarter-century. They were members of the backroom staff as Glenn Hoddle, Ruud Gullit, and Gianluca Vialli established the Blues as one of the more glamorous clubs in the United Kingdom.

Below is a list of the allegations:

• Black players in the youth team being treated "like a race of fucking dogs."
• Rix shouting at a player who was showering "that if his heart was as big as his cock, he would be a great player that ran more," followed by saying the player should be "the only person in the whole stadium to be able to enjoy the 40-degree heat," as "blacks were always winning the long-distance Olympic events in the heat, if they weren't chucking spears."
• Rix or Williams calling a player "darkie," "nignog," "black bastard," "wog," "midnight," "jigaboo," and other insults.
• Player told by Williams to "fuck off back to Africa" and "sell drugs or rob old grannies."
• Williams punishing a player by telling him to "go and clean my office, Richard Pryor - shine my shoes like a good wog" or "pick up your lip, it's dragging on the floor."
• Williams seemingly targeting a minor by "flicking my scrotum, flicking my penis, patting my bum."
• Williams telling a minor: "You little black bastard, you coon, you little wog, how are you doing?"
• Williams walking in the dressing room and saying: "Hey, look at the fucking blackies here then. Fucking rubber lips. Look at their fucking big noses. You black bastard. Been fucking robbing cars, have you?"
• Racial slurs of "coon," "wog," "monkey," "smoking wacky-backy," "black bastard," "fucking black bastard," "mango muncher," "nigger."
• A player being struck on the back of the head and kicked twice while sitting on the floor when asking Rix to stop "digging me out."
• Rix hurling a ball into a player's face from a throw-in, leaving him with a bleeding nose.

In an interview with the FA's safeguarding officials, one player said: "Gwyn Williams has been at the club since 1979. He was powerful. He was Ken Bates' mate. The guy (Williams) is a walking piece of dirt, but he had power. It was said he had the biggest black book in London - he knew everyone. That guy was the governor. No matter what role he had, that man had power." He also declared: "The amount of times I wanted to say something to Ruud Gullit. But Ruud Gullit didn't even know what was going on. They didn't do these things in front of Ruud."

The alleged instance of hot coffee being thrown took place after Rix asked the prospect whether he "tried to fuck any of our white girls" on the weekend. "It burnt my face," the player declared. "I went to grab him. I wanted to kill this guy. Then I had to think ... black boy, six foot whatever, hits a white coach - he's out of football. So I had to hold myself in and I went in to put water on my face because it was burning."

It's not the first time Rix and Williams have faced legal problems.

In March 1999, Rix admitted to two charges of unlawful sex with a 15-year-old girl and indecent assault. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison and served six months, and was also put on the sex offenders' register for 10 years. Despite the admission, Chelsea reinstated him after his release, and he was appointed as caretaker manager in 2000.

Williams was accused of directing homophobic comments toward Graeme Le Saux, who, in his 2007 autobiography, wrote: "He would wander up to me before training and say: 'Come on, poof, get your boots on.'" He was dismissed by Leeds United for gross misconduct in 2013, the result of emailing pornographic images of women to colleagues.