Fulham FC has said it is “deeply troubled” by the dozens of “disturbing” sexual abuse allegations against its former owner Mohamed al Fayed.
The Premier League club also said it is “in the process of establishing whether anyone at the club is or has been affected” by the late Egyptian businessman’s alleged behaviour.
The statement comes after the billionaire former Harrods owner, who died in August last year aged 94, was described as a “monster” by lawyers representing 37 alleged sexual abuse victims at a London press conference.
The allegations have surfaced after an investigation by the BBC.
A former employee of Harrods, a luxury department store in London, has told Sky News Fayed would “cherry pick” women from the shop floor and once they were called to his office they “couldn’t say no”.
There have not been any allegations against Fayed in relation to his ownership of Fulham FC between 1997 and 2013.
However, Gaute Haugenes, who managed the club’s women’s team between 2001 and 2003, has told the BBC extra precautions were taken to protect female players from Fayed.
He said: “I read all the newspapers yesterday of course and to be honest it’s not the biggest surprise…
“We were aware he liked young, blonde girls. So we just made sure that situations couldn’t occur. We protected the players.”
In a statement on Friday, Fulham FC said: “We are deeply troubled and concerned to learn of the disturbing reports following yesterday’s documentary.
“We have sincere empathy for the women who have shared their experiences.
“We are in the process of establishing whether anyone at the club is or has been affected.”
The club has urged anyone with information related to the allegations to get in touch with them.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told Sky News this morning: “I’m really pleased to see that Fulham is doing a full investigation, that they’ve invited women to come forward to talk about what potentially happened to them.
“Obviously, I can’t comment on the allegations themselves, but I think that investigation is right and necessary.”
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‘Mohamed al Fayed was a monster’
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A ‘dark psychological trap’
The former Harrods employee who spoke to Sky News described him as “demonic” and said he “controlled everything with fear”.
She said: “He [Fayed] used to say, ‘I want that one up in my office now’. He used to carry Viagra around in his pocket, and people were so scared of his ‘floor walks’ – if you weren’t smiling enough you were in the shit, if you smiled too much you were also in the shit.”
The ex-employee, who worked at Harrods in her first job after leaving university, also said: “The power dynamic was so strong, in the blink of an eye you would lose your career and they would try and destroy you. It was this dark psychological trap and everybody was caught.”