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Twenty-two legal claims of historical abuse at Celtic Boys Club have been completed for an amount of seven digit, a law firm announced.
Thompsons Solicitors acts on behalf of about 30 former players amid an American class action against Celtic PLC for damages.
The remaining eight are expected to be completed in the coming weeks, Thompsons attorneys added.
Celtic indicated in September 2023 that they tried to resolve the legal claims after a judge had previously given the lead for group rights to continue.
The action is related to historical abuse at the youth club – which was not formally attached to Celtic FC – by convicted pedophiles James Torbett and Frank Cairney.
Torbett was the founder of the club, while Cairney was a former coach.
Laura Connor, partner and head of the Life Impact team at Thompsons Solicitors, said the clients of the firm wanted their votes to be heard.
Laura Connor, partner at Thompsons Solicitors
Talk to Sky News’ Scotland Correspondent Connor GilliesMs. Connor said the settlements were “decades for decades”.
She added: “These cases were defended for a number of years and many of it were made public – the approach that Celtic used to distance themselves from the Celtic Boys Club.
‘And that was really the most important problem in these cases.
“There are beliefs. We know that our clients have been abused as they told us.
“The cases centered on that we prove that Celtic was responsible for the boys’ club and the coaches at the Boys Club.
“Although there were no formal admissions in this respect, our clients can certainly take now that the remuneration they have been awarded as a reflection of the relationship now accepted.”
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Celtic Boys Club was founded in 1966 as a feeding team on the senior Celtic side.
Celtic repeatedly demanded that they be a separate entity of the youth club, but advocates acting on behalf of the victims argued that both were “intimate connected” because they shared players, kit, officials and premises.
After a hearing at the highest Civil Court of Scotland, the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Lord Arthurson gave the lead for the group’s action to continue.
Group proceedings are similar to American class actions and have been brought into the law Scotland in 2020.
Ms Connor described the compensation as a ‘significant moment’.
However, she noted: “I don’t think anyone is celebrating a successful result here, because the compensation doesn’t change what happened to them, or its impact, but hopefully it can now be used positively to move forward.”
Ms. Connor added: “I would say that it has worsened a number of time I saw the injuries because it has been on for a number of years about the duration it took for Celtic to resolve the claims.
“They felt as if they were not believed, they were not accepted, and that efforts were made to avoid it if individuals were compensated.”
Celtic FC has previously said that they are ‘upset about any form of historical abuse’.
The club was contacted for further comment.
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