It has taken nearly 30 years for Celtic to do the decent thing.
But it’s been a lifetime of hell for the survivors who were victims of the sick paedophiles who ran Celtic Boys Club.
The men who preyed on teenage starlets who dreamed of pulling on the Celtic jersey and walking on to the Parkhead pitch, have one by one been convicted in court and jailed
But for the victims whose lives have been ruined by the sick monsters who abused them, the financial compensation will never feel like a victory.
Because nothing – no amount of money – can make up for the innocence that was stolen from them by fiends like James Torbett and Frank Cairney.
Long before the Daily Record exposed the rot at the core of Celtic Boys Club, these victims kept the sordid secret of the abuse, because like all of the victims of sexual abuse, a part of them felt ashamed.
They didn’t tell parents or family or friends what happened to them.
They just tried to get on with their lives.
But for most of them they just couldn’t cope with the demons.
Some turned to alcohol, others to drugs, because every childhood memory they had was blighted by sexual abuse.
The fact is, for years Celtic were aware of the rumours circulating about abuse at the
Boys Club. Celtic knew about it.
The Celtic hero, Jock Stein, physically kicked Jim Torbett out of the Boys Club.
But little did he know that Torbett was only a small part of what was going on with others running the club.
It could be argued that it was a different era then, and sexual abuse in clubs and sports was something that even if people knew, they didn’t talk about it.
But the truth is, Celtic should have talked about it. And they should have investigated fully. They didn’t. And that failure will be a stain on Celtic forever.
It was only when the Daily Record got involved that the truth came out. When we published our front page exposing the monsters, and told the heartbreaking stories from men broken by the sick sexual assaults that were rife, the floodgates opened.
From the outset, it was always going to be a near impossible story to tell and to prove.
As Chief Reporter at the time, along with crime reporter Charles Beaton and Iain Ferguson, we began investigating the allegations.
At first, some of the victims we approached were reluctant to talk. They had kept the terrible secret that had shaped their lives hidden from everyone.
But one evening I got a call back from one victim to say he would speak to me.
He wept as he told a life- shattering story of being abused by Jim Torbett on an away trip. The starlet was just 13.
He went on to play with Celtic but, like others, his life spiralled out of control. Others we spoke to told us how they felt shame because Torbett abused them on away trips and even in his home, where he regularly took boys.
But they felt helpless.
Who was going to believe a teenage boy if he accused the boss of the club of sexually abusing him?
Playing for Celtic was all they dreamed of. Speaking up would ruin any chance they had.
But their lives were already ruined from the moment they were molested.
When our story was published, the phones at the Daily Record started ringing and ringing.
Dozens upon dozens of men in their 30s and 40s were in tears as they told of being molested from the dressing room to the showers to trips abroad and across Scotland.
The abuse was rife.
And the bulk of the complaints were about Frank Cairney, a revered figure at Celtic Boys Club and in youth football beyond.
With all this evidence we exposed the lot of them, despite threats from the abusers that they would sue us.
Let them sue us, the Editor told me the night we went to print. They didn’t sue us. Because they knew they were guilty. They crawled back under the stone where they festered, claiming their innocence.
But it was too late. Soon the police took statements from all the people who told the Record their story.
Trial after trial followed.
Torbett was jailed, then jailed again as more allegations emerged. Cairney, who got away with the first cases, was then jailed after more victims came forward.
It has never felt to me like a victory for investigative journalism because the survivors were never properly acknowledged by Celtic Football Club.
The club brought in smart lawyers and took the position that the Boys Club was separate and nothing to do with them.
But that was simply not true.
The Boys Club was at the very heart of Celtic, with many starlets going on to greater things with Celtic. The truth is they didn’t want to pay up.
Now they have found a scrap of decency and the survivors will get something to perhaps ease them into their late middle age. But it should have been done years ago, instead of these men having to go through this lengthy legal battle.
At least one survivor went to his grave without acknowledgment that he was a victim. Others are wrecked mentally by the torment and the years of waiting.
There is nothing to congratulate Celtic for in finally bringing this to a close.