{"id":92582,"date":"2023-09-07T16:34:30","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T16:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stopsmokingway.com\/?p=92582"},"modified":"2023-09-07T16:34:30","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T16:34:30","slug":"manchester-united-admit-they-invited-convicted-paedophile-to-old-trafford-as-special-guest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stopsmokingway.com\/soccer\/manchester-united-admit-they-invited-convicted-paedophile-to-old-trafford-as-special-guest\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester United admit they invited convicted paedophile to Old Trafford as \u2018special guest\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Geoff Konopka was invited to Old Trafford (Peter Byrne\/PA)<\/p>\n

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Manchester United have admitted they invited a convicted paedophile to Old Trafford as a \u201cspecial guest\u201d before discovering his crimes. <\/p>\n

Geoff Konopka was the manager of United\u2019s first women\u2019s team from 1983 to 2001. In 2011 he was sentenced to four years in prison and placed on the sex offenders\u2019 register for a decade, after being found guilty of 19 counts of indecent assault and gross indecency against girls under 16 years old. <\/p>\n

The 79-year-old was welcomed back to the club last year to attend a Women\u2019s Super League match against Everton, where many children were among the 20,000 spectators, despite having an \u201cactive suspension\u201d on the Football Association\u2019s safeguarding system which prohibited him from working in the game. <\/p>\n

United say they were unaware of Konopka\u2019s past when he was invited to the match, and they have now cut all ties. He had been celebrated in the Old Trafford museum but has now been removed. <\/p>\n

Former players had emailed United officials to express \u201cdisgust\u201d at seeing pictures of Konopka on the club\u2019s website last summer. The episode was then laid bare in an investigation by The Times<\/em>, which submitted evidence of Konopka\u2019s convictions to the club.<\/p>\n

The club responded: \u201cManchester United has recently received information around these convictions, and as a matter of urgency has been in contact with the relevant legal and football authorities to substantiate the facts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe club has taken appropriate action after receiving this information and will have no further connection with the individual. Manchester United expresses its heartfelt sympathy to the victims and all those affected by these abhorrent crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Konopka told The Times<\/em> his crimes were \u201chistorical\u201d and took place 30 years before his sentencing, before he worked at Manchester United on a voluntary basis. <\/p>\n

Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Geoff Konopka was invited to Old Trafford (Peter Byrne\/PA) Sign up to Miguel Delaney\u2019s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nManchester United admit they invited convicted paedophile to Old Trafford as \u2018special guest\u2019 - stopsmokingway<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/stopsmokingway.com\/soccer\/manchester-united-admit-they-invited-convicted-paedophile-to-old-trafford-as-special-guest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Manchester United admit they invited convicted paedophile to Old Trafford as \u2018special guest\u2019 - 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