Agreement agreed in Celtic Boys Club cases of sexual abuse

More than 20 legal claims of historical abuse in the Celtic Boys Club have been resolved by a sum of seven figures, the lawyers say.

Some 30 former players had launched a class action against Celtic PLC for damage.

Thompson’s lawyers said that 70% of those cases had been resolved and more agreements are expected in the coming weeks.

The firm said that Celtic had not made any formal admission of responsibility or any apology.

Several former coaches and officials of the Boys Club have been convicted in recent years of sexual crimes against teenage players that cover decades.

In 2023, a judge approved for a collective action group, where people demand in the name of a much larger group, to proceed against Celtic for alleged abuse in the Celtic Boys Club.

Laura Connor, from Thompson’s lawyers, said the firm’s clients had wanted their voices to be heard.

“This litigation has been much more complex and long by the defender, while our clients have acted with dignity resolved at all times,” he said.

“Finally, they have achieved success and can take this compensation as confirmation that Celtic Boys Club was inextricably linked to Celtic Football Club.”

She said that those involved in the case had been “very angry” for how long it had taken to reach a conclusion, but that there was now a feeling of relief.

Thompsons said the agreements had been agreed in 22 of the 28 cases involved in group procedures.

Eight other cases are still outstanding. These involved the abuse of former coach Jim McCafferty, who died in prison in 2022.

Celtic has not yet commented on the agreement.

For the victims of predatory coaches at Celtic Boys Club, this has been a long time.

The litigation is related to historical claims of sexual aggression by the convicted pedophiles Jim Torbett, the founder of the Boys Club, and Frank Cairney, a former coach.

In 2017, the BBC Scotland dissemination team first revealed a series of new accusations against Torbett, who had previously been imprisoned for abusing three players in the 1970s.

The team tracked him to California and was soon arrested and imprisoned.

Cairney, another former coach, was also imprisoned as more and more victims presented themselves demanding justice.

The Boys Club, which was established in 1966, was perhaps the most successful food club of its generation in Scotland.

He had close links with the senior club, sharing players, officials and local. The boys played in the famous green and white rings of Celtic.

The legal case has depended on if Celtic the company was a separate entity from the Boys Club.

Celtic had argued that it was, and that, therefore, it was not legally responsible for the abuse that took place for decades at the hands of multiple abusers.

This was a position by which the company was very criticized, since the evidence that the Boys Club was part of Celtic’s fabric seemed convincing.

The lawyers who acted for the former players argued that the Boys Club and Celtic were “intimately connected” and that the senior club was “indirectly responsible” by the assaults.

That argument now seems established.

Several cases are still outstanding, but lawyers expect them to be completed in the coming months, perhaps bringing a very necessary closure to what many believe is one of the darkest episodes in the history of Scottish football.