The furore over Chelsea FC’s former chief scout accused of being a paedophile took a new twist when it emerged that he once trained Barry Bennell, the youth coach charged this week with indecent assault.

A Daily Telegraph investigation uncovered a secret payment made by Chelsea to a former junior player who claimed he was sexually assaulted by Eddie Heath, the club’s chief scout in the Seventies.

It can now be disclosed that Heath oversaw the club’s youth team set up at a time when Bennell played for one of Chelsea’s junior sides. There is no suggestion that Bennell was a victim or even aware of allegations against Heath.

The Crown Prosecution Service announced on Tuesday that it had charged Bennell, 62, with eight offences of sexual assault against a boy while, it is understood, he was youth coach at Crewe Alexandra. It is understood Bennell left Chelsea in the 1970s.

Heath is accused of sexually assaulting the unnamed former Chelsea youth player in the 1970s. The alleged victim came forward – emboldened by the unmasking of Jimmy Savile – to lodge a complaint with Chelsea FC and the Metropolitan Police.

The Premier League club, owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, then settled the claim at a time when Heath’s alleged victim threatened to go public.