A former physiotherapist at a Premier League club has been identified as a suspected large-scale offender in football’s sexual abuse scandal.

More than 20 alleged victims are believed to have come forward and an investigation is now under way to establish whether he was allowed to get away with it because complaints were “brushed under the carpet”.

Phil Edwards was a key member of Graham Taylor’s backroom staff at Watford during the 1990s who went on to work as an anti-doping tester, with sources telling The Athletic that included work on behalf of the Football Association. He was regarded by a number of players at Vicarage Road as a personal friend before his death last summer, 17 days after he had been arrested on suspicion of abusing a teenage boy.

The police have now received 16 complaints about Edwards, many involving footballers from Watford’s junior system, but the true number is thought to be substantially higher when taking into account how many alleged victims have contacted the club separately.

One of the complainants, a player who came through Watford’s academy structure, has told The Athletic he would be “very surprised if it didn’t reach the 50 mark or more”.

Speaking on the provision of anonymity, he described Edwards as a “predator” and said a number of his team-mates had suffered the same way. “He’s a paedophile who abused people,” the former player said. “I was abused. It’s vivid. I was asked to go into a room unaccompanied. I was told to strip off, down to my boxer shorts at first and then I was told to take them off so I was completely naked.

“Then I was told to perform a series of stretches and actions in front of him. I was put in uncompromising positions with Phil watching on — me jogging on the spot, jumping up and down. It was wrong and I knew it was wrong. I’ve battled with it ever since.”

Former Watford physio Phil Edwards. (Photo: UPPA/Photoshot Photo)

The former player makes the highly damaging allegation that Watford were told about Edwards 20 years ago and did nothing about it. “I spoke to the players in my youth team after he had left and it was flagged up with people at the club, but it was brushed under the carpet and basically people were saying ‘That’s the sort of thing he did.’”

He added: “I know people who are in bad places as a result of this. The club have to face up to their responsibility.”

Watford have told The Athletic in response that they do not feel they can comment on that specific allegation without knowing the identity of the player and due to the ongoing investigation.

A file has been put together by Watford for Clive Sheldon, the QC undertaking the FA’s independent inquiry into football’s abuse scandal, and the club have launched their own investigation.

Watford are trying to speak to every first-team and academy player who came into contact with Edwards during the relevant period. Of the former players who have already been interviewed, six have taken up the club’s offer of professional therapy.

Another alleged victim was informed by Watford there had been 21 complaints to the club, according to information passed to The Athletic. He is a former Watford youngster and, speaking anonymously, described Edwards as “vile, unprofessional, not even worth speaking about due to his sickening actions”.

He said he was “glad that someone had the courage to come forward and get Edwards arrested” but saddened the death of the man at the centre of the allegations means there could be no criminal proceedings.

“I have mixed emotions,” he said. “I’m glad he is no longer here to subject anybody else to the same treatment that I had to suffer. However, I’m annoyed and angry that no criminal action was ever undertaken to confirm him being guilty and provide any justice.”

Edwards, who left Watford after Taylor’s 1997-98 team won the old Second Division, died on June 17 last year at the age of 60. He was on police bail at the time, having been arrested on May 31 on suspicion of sexual activity with a teenage boy and abusing a position of trust.

A number of former Watford players attended his funeral but The Athletic has also learnt that others, including one who was previously regarded as a close friend, deliberately stayed away because of the details that have started to come out about his alleged wrongdoing.

The complaints have revealed a pattern of alleged offending whereby Edwards would tell boys to strip off for an exercise workout or sometimes a full medical examination. One player was allegedly told to remove his shorts and pants and made to jump on a small trampoline so Edwards could observe him. Others talk about Edwards crouching down or even lying on the ground to look at their naked bodies while they stood over him.

Some recall times when players would go to see Edwards because they needed treatment for routine football injuries, even a sprained ankle, and it would lead to them allegedly being asked to remove their clothes for a more detailed examination. Edwards, who is understood to have joined the club when Kenny Jackett was manager, is also said to have invited certain boys back to his house.

“Do I class myself as a victim?” the first player to speak to The Athletic said. “It’s difficult to say. It was abhorrent and it has had a huge impact on how I live my life. It happened only once, I would never go in there (Edwards’ room) again.”

In common with many survivors of sexual abuse, the former player said he had spent the last 20 years feeling a certain amount of guilt because “had I blown the whistle earlier it might have stopped it for others. My concern wasn’t about me, it was about those who had been abused afterwards.”

He added: “That’s the first-team physio. Would I tell my mum? No, because I know what she would have done. You’re a child and you’re impressionable. If you want to be a footballer, you don’t question it. You’re not mature enough. You think it’s weird but you don’t want to say anything.”

His reaction when he heard about Edwards’ death was “shock and relief” and he has taken legal advice with a view to suing Watford. “I think the club are ultimately culpable,” he said. “They were responsible for a child in their care and they failed.”

Edwards, who treated all age ranges from the first team down to junior level, was based for about 20 years at the Woodside leisure centre in Watford, where the club’s under-16s and younger sides trained on Thursday evenings. It was here where the alleged offence leading to his arrest is understood to have taken place.

Watford’s inquiries have involved speaking to a number of former players who say they trusted Edwards at the time, therefore following his instructions, but now look back and feel naive, disturbed and foolish that they did as he asked without realising it might be wrong or inappropriate.

Many feel uncomfortable and concerned, having grown older and in some cases been treated by other physiotherapists, to realise Edwards’ conduct was not the norm. There are reports that when Edwards was massaging them he spent an inordinate amount of time on their thighs and buttocks. In some cases, it has been described as a form of mental abuse, as well as possible sexual abuse, because of the effect it has had psychologically on the relevant players.

The Athletic has also spoken to a former official from a youth team in Watford who sent a number of players to Edwards and now strongly regrets not suspecting that some of the treatments, which again involved players having to strip for assessments, were inappropriate. A number of players have been in touch with him since Edwards’ arrest to discuss their own concerns.

The allegations against Edwards were similar to some of those facing Kit Carson, a former coach and scout who had worked at Norwich City, Peterborough United and Cambridge United before he drove into a tree, dying from his injuries, on the day he was supposed to be going to court last January.

Carson, whose alleged crimes occurred over a 30-year period, was facing 13 charges relating to 11 boys under the age of 16. He had denied all the charges, which involved making youth-team players strip for allegedly bogus examinations. A coroner found that Carson had deliberately set out to kill himself rather than face trial.

A post-mortem revealed Edwards died from heart disease after a period of poor health, which had included suffering a stroke. The coroner has discontinued the inquest. It will be for Sheldon and his legal team to explore the extent of Edwards’ alleged crimes and what, if anything, Watford knew at the time and did about it.

Sheldon was appointed after Andy Woodward’s revelations about the years of abuse he suffered at the hands of Barry Bennell, the former Crewe Alexandra youth-team coach and Manchester City talent-spotter, led to what the FA chairman, Greg Clarke, has described as a tidal wave and the biggest crisis in the history of the sport.

Over three years since Woodward waived his anonymity to speak out, there is still no date for Sheldon’s report to be released, which stems in part from the sheer number of cases.

No police statistics have been available since March 2018, a month after Bennell was sentenced to 31 years in prison, but at that time more than 2,800 incidents had been referred to Operation Hydrant, the specialist unit investigating the sexual abuse of children in football. In total, 849 alleged victims had come forward, naming 300 suspects and referencing 340 clubs at all levels. Of those, 77 were professional clubs, though the figures are likely to be considerably higher now, nearly two years on.

In the meantime, Watford are coming to terms with the possibility that one of their members of staff might have been a serial offender. That, plainly, has not been easy for the club or the players who regarded Edwards as a talented colleague and, in some cases, a friend.

One has told The Athletic he refuses to believe what is being alleged and that will not change unless it can be proven. He was one of Edwards’ clients from the age of 14. There was never any issue and he would, “absolutely put my neck on the line for him, until someone can point me in another direction, until something sticks and, even then, it would be hard.”

Others have depicted Edwards as a difficult person to get to know, acknowledging he was a skilled injury healer but that he had poor people skills and that there were often rumours about him. Edwards, who had no real football background, was well known in Watford and his practice was often over-subscribed, especially in the years when there were not so many physiotherapists as there are now.

The matter is particularly sensitive for Watford because it goes back to the era when Taylor and Elton John had been reunited at the club.

Sheldon’s inquiry has already heard that Taylor, who died three years ago, was involved in a cover-up when he was Aston Villa manager in the late-1980s. He allegedly discouraged two boys from reporting a scout, Ted Langford, who remained at the club and was later convicted of sexual offences relating to four boys over a 13-year period.

Edwards, who lived alone in a flat in Wilstone, Hertfordshire, used to lecture about physiotherapy at universities as well as training new members of the profession. He is also reported to have worked for Birmingham City and Barnet. Neither of those clubs, however, appear to have any official record of him as an employee.

As for the FA, the English game’s governing body has been asked if it can confirm whether Edwards was ever one of its employees, in his capacity as a drug-tester, but has chosen not to do so. A statement read: “The FA has commissioned an independent QC to conduct a review into what, if anything, the FA and clubs knew about the allegations of child sexual abuse at the relevant time, what action was taken or should have taken place. It is therefore inappropriate for the FA to comment while that review is ongoing.”

Dino Nocivelli, a specialist abuse lawyer from Bolt Burdon Kemp, which is representing one of the players, said: “I am sadly very aware that the number of people who have come forward alleging they were abused by Edwards as children is likely to be only a small proportion of the real extent of those affected by his alleged acts.

“The current number of allegations against Edwards marks him as a potentially prolific child-abuser and I would ask anyone who has suffered abuse at his hands or has any information that may be helpful to come forward so a full investigation can take place.”

Watford’s support line — 01923 496374 — will remain open and the club can be emailed at [email protected] in confidence. The club say they have co-operated fully with Hertfordshire police, as well as all the relevant authorities, and are determined, under the current regime, to act appropriately, offering full support for all the relevant people.

“We understand there will be levels of concern at the accusations of historic abuse during a period in the 1990s and the club is determined to discover the veracity of these allegations and how they may have impacted on those who came in contact with Mr Edwards via Watford FC,” the club’s statement reads on its website.