Chelsea are facing a massive legal bill as victims of racist abuse are suing the club as well as those who were sexually abused by former chief scout Eddie Heath.

The club issued a public apology yesterday after releasing official reports into both cases and promised to “fully support those affected”. Gary Johnson, one of the ex-players molested by Heath and paid £50,000 in compensation three years ago, has urged Chelsea to “do the right thing”.

It is understood that more than 20 people are taking legal action against Chelsea over being sexually abused by Heath, who worked at the club in the 1970s.

An investigation conducted by Charles Geekie QC found Heath to be a “dangerous and prolific child abuser”.

Meanwhile, several individuals are making a claim over being racially abused by former employees Gwyn Williams and Graham Rix, who deny the claims, in the 1980s and 1990s.

Children’s charity Barnardo’s conducted this investigation and found black players were “subjected to a daily tirade of racial abuse” and that “Williams was the instigator of such abuse”.

The report did go on to say Rix “could be aggressive and bullying”, but “he was not racially abusive”.

However, Standard Sport understands that those who have come forward maintain that Rix was also an offender and will continue to make him part of their case.

Chelsea are committed to assessing compensation claims for victims in both situations. Johnson, who joined the club as a youth player in 1970 and was the first to make a complaint against Heath having been attacked at the age of 13, was given £50,000 in 2016.

Speaking about the 252-page report on Heath that was released yesterday, Johnson told the BBC: “You get rid of it and it all comes back now the report is out,” he said. “It brings up tearfulness and uncertainty. I’m no spokesperson but it doesn’t take away the anger or the stress. I am shocked by the number of victims. Let’s hope we can look forward to this severity not happening again. The least they can do is apologise but I want the club to do the right thing. I don’t mean just offering apologies.”

Geekie’s report on Heath led to a damning appraisal of Dario Gradi, who was working as Chelsea’s assistant manager. It detailed how he received a complaint that one boy had been indecently assaulted in the showers, but Gradi didn’t take any action. Instead he admitted in evidence provided to Geekie that “I’d got no intention of getting Eddie Heath into trouble”.

Heath went on to attack many more boys and Geekie wrote: “Mr Gradi is the single example of a clear account of an adult in a position of responsibility being informed about an allegation in relation to Mr Heath. The complaint … was not referred to more senior members of the club and an opportunity to prevent Mr Heath from going on to abuse others was lost.”

Gradi, who is the director of football at Crewe, has been suspended by the FA pending an investigation into abuse in football since 2016.