FORMER professional footballer Dean Radford fought back tears as he told a court that he “would do anything” for “paedophile” coach Bob Higgins because of the “power” he held over his future as a player.

The 47-year-old said the defendant abused him when he was 14 and a member of Southampton’s youth training squad.

He said his accusations against Higgins only came to light a few years later when he and other apprentice players at Southampton FC were joking about the coach, calling him nicknames like “chocolate fingers” and “Twix”.

The 65-year-old defendant, who ran the youth team coaching for Southampton and Peterborough United, is on trial at Salisbury Crown Court accused of 50 counts of indecent assault against 24 complainants between 1971 and 1996.

The court has heard that Mr Radford’s claims against the defendant went to trial in the early 1990s and Higgins was acquitted of the charges.

Adam Feest QC, prosecuting, has told the jury that Mr Radford’s allegations are not charges in the current trial and are being presented only as evidence against the defendant because of double jeopardy laws.

Mr Radford, who grew up in Bristol, told the court he would stay over at Higgins’ home for weekend training sessions.

He said that, in the evenings, the coach would cuddle him and other boys and move his hand on to his groin area.

He said the defendant’s wife, Shirley, was present in the same room and would later call him in to see Higgins in his bedroom where he gave the defendant a kiss on the forehead after he pulled him towards him.

Mr Radford told the court that Higgins sexually assaulted him after he suffered an injury to the bottom of his spine after doing sit-ups and the coach had told him his actions would “ease the bruising”.

He said the defendant would also put his hand on his leg on car journeys during which Higgins would play Lionel Richie songs Stuck On You and Penny Lover on the stereo.

On one occasion Mr Radford said he spent “one-and-a-half hours with my head in his lap”.

When asked by Alistair MacDonald QC, defending, why he had written favourable letters about the defendant in subsequent years, Mr Radford said: “I idolised him.

“At the time he was doing it I wanted to be a footballer more than anything. He knew that and I felt I had to go along with what he was doing.”

Higgins, of Southampton, denies the charges and the trial continues.