Bennell spent many years coaching and scouting boys for several junior teams affiliated to Manchester City, bringing through several players who went on to become international footballers

Surrounded by some of the boys he coached, this is the paedophile Barry Bennell in his Manchester City strip during the days when his talent-spotting for the club earned him a reputation as one of the best star-makers in the football business.

Bennell spent many years coaching and scouting boys for several junior teams affiliated to City, bringing through several players who went on to become international footballers for the club and elsewhere. Although City did not formally employ him, he was paid expenses to run teams such as Whitehill FC, where David White, the future England player says Bennell sexually abused him at the age of 11.

Crewe director of football Dario Gradi expresses sympathy for victims of Barry Bennell Read more

Bennell’s teams were based at Platt Lane, City’s old training ground, and wore the team’s strip for matches. He also had past links with Stoke City before joining Crewe in a role that led to becoming youth-team coach at Gresty Road.

Manchester City said in a statement: “The club is aware of allegations that Barry Bennell had an association with Manchester City football club in the 1980s. As a result the club is currently undertaking a thorough investigation of any past links he might have had with the organisation.”

The Guardian has also learned Bennell was previously involved with a junior team that had a tie-up with Chelsea and trained at Stamford Bridge once a season. Bennell was once a young prospect at Chelsea and it was there he first met Dario Gradi, the manager who employed him at Crewe, having originally been one of the coaches at Stamford Bridge.

Bennell, pictured here in 1983, has served three prison sentences totalling 15 years in England and the United States since he was first arrested in 1992 and has multiple convictions for sexually abusing boys he coached. Now 62, he is out of prison on licence. Andy Woodward and Steven Walters, two former Crewe players, waived their right to anonymity to tell the Guardian they had been targeted by Bennell, who has been described by the American authorities as having “almost an insatiable appetite” for young boys.

White has since come forward to say he was another of Bennell’s victims and another former England international, Paul Stewart, has said he was sexually abused by another coach in the Manchester area. Cheshire Police said on Wednesday that 11 new people had come forward since Woodward went public about the man who had abused him for several years from the age of 11. Many other potential victims have contacted Woodward directly and the Guardian has spoken to two former players who have independently named another man from the football world who abused them in the 1980s.

Crewe Alexandra: how a football talent factory has been thrown into turmoil | Owen Gibson Read more

On Thursday Gradi, Crewe’s director of football and former manager, expressed sympathy for Bennell’s victims. Gradi, who was manager of Crewe from 1983 until 2007, also said no one at the club was aware of Bennell’s crimes until Bennell was arrested in the US in 1994.

“I would like to express sympathy to the victims of Barry Bennell not only at Crewe Alexandra, but at other clubs in the north-west,” Gradi said. “The first I knew of Barry Bennell’s crimes was when he was arrested in the United States in 1994. I knew nothing of his crimes before this time when he was employed by us. No one at the football club knew of Bennell’s crimes until his arrest in 1994 and his subsequent prosecution in the United Kingdom.

“The football club also co-operated fully with the authorities in 2003. The club are in the process of a review and I won’t be making any further comment until this is finalised.”

A new NSPCC hotline for footballers, opened with the support of the Football Association, received more than 50 calls in the first two hours.

• The NSPCC’s hotline is 0800 023 2642 and Child Line for children and young people can be contacted on 0800 1111.

• NAPAC, the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, can be contacted on 0808 801 0331.

• In the UK, The Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14.