Ashley Thompson: 'My experiences of the Fulham academy left me considering suicide'

Ashley Thompson spent his early teens playing football in the Fulham academy. He considers suicide after his experiences there.

Ashley Thompson had depression and suicidal thoughts after leaving the Fulham academy at the age of 18.

Thompson was released by Fulham academy at the age of 16. He was denied a trip to Austria and his belongings were taken away. Thompson was also made to stand in front of his team-mates in the gym and had his rashes pointed at. He had a cut that got infected and he was given antibiotics. The penicillin made him ill and covered his body in a rash. His mother took him to A&E. When he told the club they berated him. Max Noble wrote an interview about his treatment at Fulam. Noble suffered depression and anxiety. iReporter is interested in hearing more stories from young people who have been treated badly in football academies.

The club will liaise with all relevant parties as the process continues. Lynda read the interview with Noble and cried. She is worried about her grandson joining the academy system. The boys were groomed. They were told to do something by adults. The adults that groom the boys are the adults who hold their dreams in their hands. It is a hidden, dark, dirty secret that football has been able to hide for God knows how many years. There is no solution to this problem. This is football. We need to stop the next generation going through the same thing.” It needs to be out there. “It needs the anything we can do to prevent the future generation from going though the similar thing’.