Ex-players struggling with dementia denied crucial PFA funds after Molango rejects charity role

New chief executive Maheta Molango has declined the chance to become a trustee of the PFA’s charity arm, leaving Gordon Taylor’s acolytes in charge of the organisation and numerous ex-players struggling to access funding desperately needed to help them cope with dementia. 

Sportsmail has learned that following his decision to step away from the charity Molango has no control of the £62million it holds in cash reserves, making him powerless to help the dozens of ex-players suffering from dementia, including two families who were recently denied a request for £100,000.

Molango is listed a director the PFA charity at Companies House, but is understood to be standing down from the Board leaving the organisation in the hands of chairman Brendan Batson, a long-term ally of Taylor. 

Maheta Molango’s decision to step away from the PFA’s charity arm means that ex-chief Gordon Taylor’s acolytes are in control

That is the frank view of Sportsmail columnist Chris Sutton as the dementia scandal continues

The previous regime at the PFA run by Taylor have repeatedly resisted demands by this newspaper and others to set up proper funding and research programmes to help deal with football’s dementia crisis, while to compound matters Sportsmail has also been told that the PFA charity do not have a written policy for allocating funding.

In his role as PFA chief executive Molongo recently met with founders of dementia charity Head for Change Judith Gates and John Stiles, son of World Cup winner Nobby who sadly passed away last year. 

At the meeting Molango is understood to have told them that while the PFA have an ‘absolute commitment’ to addressing the issue of dementia establishing a support fund for sufferers they currently lack the financial capacity to do so.

Gates and Stiles then spoke to Batson to demand immediate assistance to the tune of £100,000 the families of two ex-players suffering from dementia and in desperate need for support. They were told that the PFA was considering a request from one family and had asked for more information.

The son of Nobby Stiles (above) who sadly passed away last year, was told the PFA lack the financial capacity to address the issue 

Gates and Stiles also asked what the PFA Charity’s criteria for providing long-term support to sufferers was but, from his response, say they were given to understand that there was no written policy.

The Charity Commission launched an inquiry into the PFA Charity three years ago. Batson was appointed in 2013. It remains to be seen if Molango is keeping clear of the union’s charity arm until the Commission delivers what many believe will be an incredibly damaging report.

Sportsmail columnist Chris Sutton – whose father Mike also passed away from the disease last year – is staggered by the current situation.

‘It’s ludicrous,’ he said. ‘If you’re the new CEO of a company you don’t take power away from yourself, whether it’s short-term or not.

‘The situation we have now is that acolytes of Taylor’s – the people who sat at the side of him like nodding dogs while he turned his back on those in need – are in control.

Sutton – whose father Mike passed away from the disease – is staggered by current situation

‘The lunatics are in charge of the asylum. That can’t be right. We thought the new chief exec was going to go in and shake things up but he’s actually stepped aside. Taylor’s cronies were complicit in the decision making over decades that has harmed hundreds and now they’re in control?’Sutton, who has campaigned tirelessly for immediate action, added that he was ‘staggered’ by the existing set-up

‘Families need help now,’ he said. ‘There’s £61.9m in the bank and they can’t help them? It’s staggering. Chief execs don’t go in and give up power. The bottom line is these families need help now and they’re not getting it. The money is there. The guy who goes in to make change and who makes promises is now saying he is helpless – it’s pathetic.’

Sutton also blasted the apparent lack of a criteria to help those in need. ‘That there is still no criteria is unreal,’ he added. ‘They help some and they don’t help others, just as it’s always been. 

‘The two families who they were asked about – what criteria do they need? They are suffering badly with dementia – what more does the PFA need to know?’

The PFA have been approached for comment.