• Former youth players claim coaches bullied and abused them• Tony McAndrew latest coach alleged to have bullied in 1990sThree more former Aston Villa youth players have come forward to allege that they suffered sustained bullying and abuse from their coaches, Kevin MacDonald and Tony McAndrew, during torrid, unhappy years at the club in the late 1990s.Greg Walters, who has since built a career in financial services, joined Villa as a “scholar” at 16 in 1998, the first year of the new academy system. He recalls constant, personal abuse and criticism in his two years at the club, no praise at all; the coaches routinely calling the young players “cunts”; and MacDonald and McAndrew joining in training sessions confrontationally, including lunging at players with two-footed tackles. Walters rejects any argument that this was a professional approach aimed at toughening players up or was “old school,” the accepted culture of the time. Instead he believes that it destroyed his confidence and that of other promising players, few of whom developed to professional careers. Related: Aston Villa remove Kevin MacDonald from coaching after new bullying claims It was an unhappy time. It’s more than half my life ago now, but it’s still one of the biggest things I think about Related: Gareth Farrelly: ‘It was a toxic, bullying culture for young players at Aston Villa’ Continue readingreadfullarticle
