The footballer tells for the first time how a relative of Barry Bennell cast a grim shadow over his family, years before the paedophile coach began abusing him
On the night before we were due to meet, Andy Woodward took himself away to spend some time alone. He wasn’t feeling great, was the truth. He wanted to find a bit of peace and he wanted to be in a place where he could remember a time in his life when everything felt so much more innocent.
His old primary school was pulled down a few years ago to make way for a housing estate. But the playing fields are still in use and it was here, as a 10-year-old, that he remembers bringing the ball out of defence, playing for his first junior football team, and trying a shot from the halfway line. The ball flew into the top corner and his father, Terry, ran on the pitch to give him a hug. And now, more than 35 years on, something drew Andy back to that same spot. He found a place to sit under a tree and stayed there for longer than he could even remember, lost in his own thoughts.
Written by Daniel Taylor
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/jun/03/andy-woodward-barry-bennell-cousin-mothers-sister-murdered under the title “Andy Woodward: a 1970s murder and the shocking twist to my Barry Bennell story”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
