A former schoolboy footballer has told a jury how the ex-Southampton youth coach Bob Higgins abused him on a ferry returning from a trip to Sweden and encouraged him to address him as “dad”.
The witness said that he had such respect for Higgins, who also worked at Peterborough United, that he would have crossed a motorway blindfolded if the coach had told him to.
When he signed for Southampton in the 1970s, the boy – who is not related to Higgins – autographed photos for the coach, writing on one: “To my dad, from your loving son” and on another: “To Bob, the greatest coach in the world. Thanks.”
Salisbury crown court has been told that Higgins is a predatory paedophile who used his “supreme power” to carry out a campaign of sexual abuse against schoolboy footballers over a quarter of a century.
Higgins, now 65, allegedly abused boys on football camps, at the home he shared with his wife, Shirley, and in his car. He denies 50 counts of indecent assault against 24 boys.
The alleged ferry assault does not form part of any of the charges against Higgins because the alleged incident took place in international waters and would not come under the jurisdiction of the English and Welsh courts.
The former schoolboy footballer said he was taken by Higgins to Sweden aged 14 where the coach had a business connected to a competition in Gothenberg called the Gothia Cup.
He said: “I had just turned 14. Bob approached me and said ‘I have got a business trip’. We were there for a week. We went on the ferry from Harwich [in Essex] and got the ferry back. I had the same cabin as Mr Higgins.
“On the journey home, we got on to the ferry and had something to eat and a wander around. When it came to the evening, I expected just to go to sleep. During the course of that night, Bob came and laid alongside me. He put his arms around me and asked me how the week went, what I thought of Sweden.”
The witness claimed Higgins touched him intimately. “He put his hand over my shoulder and down the front of my underpants.”
The player said Higgins was “god like” and added: “He encouraged me to call him dad. It was a strange thing, but he just kept on and on. Being naive, I just decided I would call him dad. At that time if he had told me to cross the motorway blindfolded, I would have done it.”
He added: “Football-wise, I had a lot of respect for Bob, for his coaching and coaching ability. It was always, unfortunately, tinged.”
Later, an alleged victim identified as F told the jury that Higgins tricked the young footballers into stripping and allowing him to touch them by saying that even England stars had “naked massages”.
The former youth player also claimed that Higgins and his wife became friends with his parents. “He was almost putting a stop on me saying anything by making sure my family were happy. I just couldn’t say anything,” F said.
The trial continues.