Three more former Aston Villa youth players have come forward to allege 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 during 1998, the first year of the new academy system. He recalls constant, personal abuse and criticism in his two years at the club, with no praise at all. The coaches routinely called the young players “cunts” and MacDonald and McAndrew joined 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 up players or was “old school”, the accepted culture of the time. Instead he believes it destroyed his confidence and that of other promising players, few of whom developed to professional level.

“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 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.”

Last week Villa commissioned an investigation led by a barrister, Jack Mitchell, following the allegations of the former youth player Gareth Farrelly that MacDonald’s youth regime was bullying, characterised by “constant verbal and physical abuse”.

Farrelly claims McAndrew, a Middlesbrough captain in the 1970s who joined Villa alongside MacDonald with the then manager Brian Little from Leicester City in 1994, was also physically and verbally abusive. Walters and the two other former Villa youth players who have since talked to the Guardian say they will be prepared to give evidence to the investigation if they feel it is credible.

Greg Walters, pictured this month, says it was a dream come true to join Aston Villa but ‘once I had been there for a while I was a nervous wreck’. Photograph: Fabio de Paola/Guardian

Villa have defended MacDonald previously by arguing he has a strong record for bringing players through. But Walters and Farrelly challenge that, arguing that Villa, a prestige, Premier League club at the time, could attract very promising players but not many progressed to professional careers. Walters agrees with Farrelly, from his own experience, that the regime destroyed more potential than it fulfilled.

The Villa players could see coaches at other clubs did not treat their players like that, and even at Villa other coaches were different, “top drawer”, Walters says, including Gordon Cowans, one of the club’s playing legends. “Gordon Cowans was a great coach, all the players looked up to him,” he says.

Walters says that in 2006 he saw McAndrew again, at the funeral for the beloved Villa kitman Jim Paul, and that McAndrew apologised to him. “He said that he knew he had given me ‘a hard time’ and that he was sorry, but said he had been in a dark place himself and hadn’t liked himself at the time. But what good was that to me?”

Greg Walters in action for Aston Villa Under-17s. Photograph: AI Project/Darren Walsh/Action Images

Contacted by the Guardian, McAndrew declined to comment on the allegations of bullying and abuse, or on Walters’ recollection of the apology. “The conversation was between me and Greg,” McAndrew said.

Another former player from Villa’s academy in the late 1990s had been outstanding as an under-16 player but, making very similar accusations of bullying and verbal abuse to Farrelly and Walters, says his experience at Villa “massively affected my confidence” and, like the others, he fell out of love with football.

He never made it through to a full professional career, and does not want to be named publicly, also for personal reasons, but is prepared to recount his experiences to the Villa investigation.

Like Walters, he says he identified with Farrelly’s recollections of a “toxic, bullying culture” at Villa. He remembers the regime as confusing, with sustained verbal “hammerings” even when the team had won; calling players cunts; putting players down if they achieved well, trained with the first team or won international caps; the kicking and two-footed tackles in training by MacDonald and McAndrew.

He remembers particularly one incident in the dressing room at Villa Park after playing an FA Youth Cup match for Villa, aged 18. McAndrew, he says, was “having a dig” at him, and, having become quite rebellious by then, the player shook his head. “‘Tony said: ‘You shake your head at me again, I’ll put it through that fucking window.’”

The former player said his father went to the academy to complain about that, but McAndrew did not come to the meeting and nothing was done about the incident.

Asked by the Guardian about that threat to put the player’s head through the window, McAndrew said: “I’m not commenting on that.” He did not respond to confirm or deny any of the former players’ specific accounts of bullying.

One of those players left Villa before the end of a four-year professional contract and went on loan.

He believes the bullying regime at Villa had a seriously detrimental impact on his personality, recalling, like Farrelly, becoming defensive and confrontational. He too fell out of love with football, says he has not kept his Villa shirts and very rarely talks about football.

“It resonated when Gareth Farrelly described being exhausted at Villa: I felt tired and depressed. It was an unhappy time. It’s more than half my life ago now, but it’s still one of the biggest things I think about and try to bury.”

Kevin MacDonald’s behaviour is being investigated by Aston Villa. Photograph: Adam Holt/Reuters

A Premier League investigation last year found MacDonald guilty of bullying a young Villa player, whose father had complained that his son was showing signs of depression because of verbal and emotional abuse.

“There is evidence of bullying, aggressive behaviour, and unacceptable language by Mr MacDonald,” the investigation found, also telling the father that “several club personnel” at Villa failed to deal with the complaint properly and did not focus on players’ welfare.

The Premier League required changes to the club’s academy system, but MacDonald was permitted to stay on as the Under-23 coach. Reading about that 2017 case and outcome prompted Farrelly, now a qualified solicitor after a Premier League career with Villa, Everton and Bolton Wanderers, to speak out about his experiences.

After receiving questions from the Guardian, Villa, who have had a new chief executive since August, Christian Purslow, removed MacDonald from “player-facing duties” and announced the investigation.

McAndrew left Villa last year after more than 20 years coaching young players at the club.

A club source said MacDonald has been instructed not to comment, pending the outcome of the investigation, and that the club will not be commenting until the investigation is complete.