A SCOTTISH former footballer claims he was preyed upon by the coach at the centre of a child sex abuse scandal.

Dougie Gilligan, from Hamilton, said he had suffered “low level” abuse at two Butlin’s camps in England and Wales in the late 1970s.

He warned that sexual abuse in football could be a “huge” problem after a number of former players spoke up about being targeted by the convicted sex offender and former Crewe Alexandra coach Barry Bennell.

Mr Gilligan made his comments after it emerged that Bennell, 62, had been rushed to hospital after being found unconscious in a Hertfordshire hotel. Thames Valley Police said they had responded to a fear for welfare incident.

Mr Gilligan said: “He [Bennell] was very much like a kind of man’s man. Somebody that a young boy would look up to. Very well connected in football, did a lot of name-dropping with famous footballers. Had a lot of football strips.

“Thinking back on it, a classic predatory paedophile groomer to be honest. But at the time, as a 13-year-old boy, you don’t see that.

“He abused me on a very minor level, but I reacted to it quite aggressively.”

Bennell, who worked for Crewe, Manchester City, Stoke and junior teams in north-west England and the Midlands, abused boys from the 1970s onwards.

He was jailed for four years for raping a British boy on a 1994 football tour of Florida, and then, aged 44, was given a nine-year sentence for 23 offences against six boys in England in 1998. He was jailed for a third time in 2015 after admitting abusing a boy at a 1980 football camp in Macclesfield.

Those making allegations against him include former Manchester City man David White and youth player Jason Dunford, plus ex-Crewe player Steve Walters and youngster Chris Unsworth.

Mr Gilligan, who later played football semi-professionally, said he had spoken to the police in 1996 and had been ready to testify before Bennell pled guilty.

Mr Gilligan said Bennell had abused him while he was staying overnight at the former coach’s chalet with two other boys.

“I woke up... I basically give him short shrift and told him where to get off and that was it,” he told BBC Scotland. “I feel kind of lucky, I dodged the bullet a little bit in that it was low level from my perspective. I don’t see it as major in comparison to what I’ve heard of some of the revelations recently.”

The Scottish Football Association (SFA) is meeting to discuss child safety within the game. The association has been urged to launch a full investigation to determine the extent of sexual abuse in the game. The English FA has appointed an independent lawyer to assist with an internal review of its handling of allegations.

Former SFA chief executive Gordon Smith said it was important the body prepared for cases to come to light in Scotland.