MARTON, England — Andrew Woodward grew up with a soccer ball between his feet. His room, in a working-class housing estate, was filled with posters of famous players and his head with dreams of becoming a defender for England. When he was 9, he scored a goal from the halfway line in a school match and raced across the field into the arms of his father, who said he was “the proudest dad in the world.”
Two years later, Mr. Woodward was spotted by Barry Bennell, a well-known soccer scout and youth coach in northern England. It was September 1984, and Mr.