The report, which covers the period from 1970 to 2000 and five, says there was no excuse for what it calls the F A's institutional failings.

Our sports editor Dan Ronan, has the story.

It's English football's worst scandal failures by both the A and a host of clubs laid bare in a damning report on child sexual abuse.

There was an institutional failing by the way they acted far too slowly in developing their child protection arrangements once they were aware of child protection being a problem within the sport and they should have done more to keep Children safe.

Accusing the FBI of inexcusable failings, Sheldon said the governing body had delayed new safeguarding measures between 1995 2000, but there was no evidence it knew of a problem before then nor that there'd been a pedophile ring or cover up.

This is a dark day, but we are referring to non recent cases.

We have to hold hands up and apologize for the mistakes of the past, make sure we don't repeat them.

But that's not to say that football is not in a safe environment Today.

It is.

Sheldon found the failed to ban two of the most notorious football pedophiles, Barry Burnell and Bob Higgins, both former youth coaches now serving long sentences.

These were among the survivors present throughout Bernal's trial and sentencing in 2018 today.

One of them, Gary Cliff, abused by Burnell when he played for Manchester City Junior team, learned that Sheldon found the clubs.

Then senior management failed to investigate despite being aware of concerns.

How does that make you feel?

Um, it's sort of indicated, but I don't think he's gone far enough throughout the whole report that I've read it.

There's a theme of people knew or suspected, but none of the officials had the gumption to raise it with anyone.

But it's disappointed in that respect.

It's taken too long.

It's been it's been hell, you could say.

I've waited 35 years for this.

It was the emergence four years ago of channels crimes when working here at CRU in the eighties, that opened the floodgates.

Hundreds of former players coming forward with their own allegations.

Sheldon cleared the club's former manager, Dario Graddy, of any major wrongdoing, but found that he should have done more to investigate concerns about vinyl.

The scale of abuse identified by Sheldon is staggering.

The investigation spanned four decades, the reports saying they were known to be 240 suspects and 692 survivors and eight clubs were criticized.

Today came apologies from Southampton from Newcastle United and here at Manchester City, whose own independent inquiry found that allegations about Burnell were met with a wholly inadequate response by senior management who were worried about the club's reputation more than two decades ago.

Another of channels victims, former youth player Ian Ackley, became the first survivor to speak out.

We have no idea of how much this is going on, where it's going on and to what degree, not just in football, but in other sports, and we need to be ever vigilant and we need to ask the right questions when we place our Children in the care of these people, Sheldon said.

Safeguarding could still improve football, forced to confront a scandal that shamed the sport and told to ensure there's never a repeat.