After all the alleged failures, all the specific allegations that boys in their care were stripped of self-confidence in a hard-faced world inhabited by some deeply unpleasant characters, what do Chelsea do next?

Not just Chelsea either, if the latest former player to begin legal action against the club – a man, now 51, who says he cannot bear to pass Stamford Bridge or even watch them on television because of the psychological scars more than 30 years on – is correct in his assertion that there will be hundreds of others throughout the sport who have experienced the same kind of deplorable racism that he is alleging.

This man was talented enough to earn a professional contract and share a dressing room with Kerry Dixon, Pat Nevin and David Speedie but quit the sport in 1985, he says, because the alleged racial abuse from his own coach, Gwyn Williams, had left him feeling physically sick about going into the club.

He contacted solicitors after finding out, via the Guardian’s story in January, that three other former youth-team players, this time from the 1990s, had lodged legal claims against Chelsea, citing Williams again in what one claimant has described as a “feral environment” where black boys were treated like a “race of fucking dogs”.

Lawyers working on the relevant cases tell me they have been contacted by other players from the same era. And don’t imagine it is just Chelsea who might be feeling twitchy about where all this leads. These stories can quickly gather legs. Who can be sure, across the sport as a whole, that a trickle of complaints will not soon turn into a tidal wave? Or that other clubs will not be affected in the same way?

To make it very clear, Williams is flatly denying that he has ever racially abused anyone. He has issued a statement through his solicitor, Eddie Johns, to that effect and I did ring him when the first allegations surfaced. His response on that occasion was to say he did not know me and ask me to list the other football journalists on this newspaper before ringing off when it turned out they also were not familiar to him. Since then he has turned down a number of invitations to give his version of events and explain, presumably, why he thinks these players would make this up. He is not saying anything more. And that is fine, entirely his prerogative – though I would want to defend myself if I was being accused of what he is.

Graham Rix, who is named extensively in the 1990s claims, is also represented by the same solicitor. Rix, formerly Chelsea’s youth-team coach, has been accused of, among other things, throwing a cup of coffee in the face of a black player. Johns says his clients “deny all and any allegations of racial or other abuse”, that they cooperated with a police investigation that did not lead to charges being pressed and have helped the Football Association.

As for Chelsea, the encouraging part is that their response goes much further than the statement they released to me earlier this week, saying: “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.”

When I started thinking about writing this column the idea was to suggest Chelsea gave serious thought to commissioning an independent investigation. As it turns out, they had already done so, bringing in external legal counsel so there can be no accusations of a whitewash.

Chelsea have passed on what they have to the FA, the Premier League and, in some cases, the police, as well as offering in-house counselling to at least one former player. It cannot be easy for the current regime to deal with the fallout of something that allegedly happened under a different set of owners, yet the modern Chelsea have at least shown they want to establish the full facts – and that, for now, is all that can be asked of them.

Equally I get the feeling they will be as horrified as any right-minded person by what is being alleged. The description, for example, from one of the youth-team players in the 1990s about the dressing-room environment at Harlington, at the age of 13, when Rix was coach. “He’d walk in and go: ‘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?’ Let me tell you something – that is the most demoralising feeling you could ever have. I’m telling you that now. It’s so demoralising. You’re sat there with these other little kids from all parts of Europe and different parts of the world. I remember a little boy called Javier said to me: ‘Why? Why?’ I remember this boy, Javier. I’ve never seen him since. He couldn’t understand it. He was like: ‘Why? Porque? I remember.”

Apologies, by the way, if the language jars. This newspaper’s policy is not to pebbledash its pages with asterisks and we would rather tell the story in grown-up form, rather than a censored version. Or, at least, a shortened version of the story. The above quote was a single paragraph from the transcript of the player’s interview with two FA safeguarding officials last October.

Other allegations include that Rix or Williams called him a “darkie”, a “nignog”, a “black bastard”, a “wog”, “midnight”, “jigaboo” and various other insults. The player alleges he was told by Williams to “fuck off back to Africa” and “sell drugs or rob old grannies”. Williams, he says, used to tell 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”. In total there are 49 pages of it – all along the same lines. It’s a grim and disturbing read. And, if possible, the independent lawyers need to track down Javier, and everyone else who was there at the same time.

As for the former pro who alleges he was subjected to sometimes daily abuse from Williams, from 1979 to 1985, I can also disclose some examples from his evidence for the first time. His claim alleges that he turned up in a new jumper once and Williams asked him: “Have you been out on the rob with the other darkies on your estate?” When the player put wet-look gel on his curly hair, Williams allegedly shouted on the bus: “What are you wearing that stupid nig-nog hairstyle for?”

On another occasion the team went on a pre-season trip to Switzerland. “I got into an altercation with one of my team-mates who hit me around the head with a glass bottle,” the former player says. “It didn’t smash but it was a serious assault so I went to him [Williams]. The only response was: ‘Stop being a little coon snitch.’”

Pretty shocking, isn’t it? As is the claim of Renu Daly, of Hudgell Solicitors, which is representing the player, that across the sport as a whole there might be “potentially hundreds, if not thousands, of young people” who experienced racial abuse in the relevant decades. Her client says the same – “I am 100% certain it happened to many young black kids” – and if those numbers are anywhere near correct it is not just Chelsea who need to take this very seriously.

Snubbing Anfield for Costa Rica game is a Kop out

After the game against Italy on Tuesday England have two more friendlies to prepare for the World Cup, with Nigeria also due to visit Wembley but, first, a match against Costa Rica in Leeds.

But why Elland Road? And why did the Football Association decide not to go through with its original plans to stage the match at Anfield?

Various reasons – one being that Gareth Southgate and his coaching staff had misgivings about the lack of privacy at Melwood, Liverpool’s training ground. Yet I’m also reliably informed that one of the reasons why Liverpool’s name was crossed off was because the people making these decisions suspected the FA would not be welcomed by everyone on Merseyside because of everything surrounding Hillsborough and the possibility, at the time, that the game might clash with the forthcoming criminal trial.

Another issue was potentially letting the Sun into Anfield when the club have banned the newspaper and, again, the bad feeling that might cause. England’s last game at Anfield was 12 years ago, and who can say how long it will be before they return to Merseyside?

Friday night in Amsterdam – what did FA expect?

Yes, England’s finest have done the nation proud again judging by those videos of bikes being hurled in canals and beer thrown over sightseers (I mean, why drink it if it can be chucked over three middle-aged women?). It is cringeworthy and wearisome in equal measures. More than anything, though, it is entirely predictable. Did the FA, after complaining about the stag-do mentality of England’s fans, really think it wise to arrange a Friday night game in Amsterdam?