A FORMER Chelsea youth player has spoken out on radio about alleged racial abuse at the club which turned his life into a “living nightmare.”

The player, known as “John,” disclosed his experience during six years from 1979 to 1985, aged 13 to 19, under coach Gwyn Williams. Williams has previously and repeatedly denied all allegations.

“There were initial experiences which were very good for me, but it soon became a living nightmare because I was subjected to constant racism by Gwyn Williams over a period of six years,” John told BBC Radio 5 Live yesterday

“I would be in Gwyn Williams’s care six days a week. My footballing destiny was in his hands. If you make it to pro level, if the club was going to offer you a pro contract, it would be on his recommendation.

“He used the ‘n’ word various times, it would always have been the ‘n’ word or coon or darkie, shoe shine, sambo, all kinds of racial slurs and most of the time it was aimed at me.”

Chelsea are investigating the claims. In January, Chelsea approached Barnardo’s, the children’s charity, to commission an independent review into historic allegations of racism.

Chelsea said in a statement: “We take allegations of this nature extremely seriously and they will be fully investigated.”

John alleged he experienced extensive racist language daily.

“First time I ever met Gwyn Williams I received racism from him from the get go. When he picked me up for school boy training in the club minibus, I was greeted with the words: ‘You all right shoe shine?’

“Being a naive 13-year-old boy I didn’t know what shoe shine meant, I kind of brushed that off and thought well it’s a bit weird to call me that because I didn’t know what shoe shine meant at that particular time.”

John says he suffered panic attacks and used a minor injury as an excuse to stay away from Williams, so Chelsea subsequently terminated his contract.

“I just sunk into a deep depression after that. I didn’t want anything to do with football,” he said.